Here’s a FT interview with Robert Shapiro, a D.C. insider, who has never forgotten the influence Oakeshott had on him. Robert has always been a very gracious correspondent – hopefully he’ll be kind enough to show me his art collection if I make it back to DC some time. In addition to chairing Sonecon, Dr.…
I chanced upon this freely available review of Rorty’s notorious PMN (30th anniversary edition). It reminded me that I’d read PMN long before reading Oakeshott and that coming across Rorty’s invocation of Oakeshott’s conversational metaphor had no resonance for me. Even though I’m not in sympathy with Rorty and Oakeshott’s relativism I’m amazed at the…
I chanced upon this online version of arguably my favourite philosophical book. The opening paragraph should be something every student should read and have posted above ones desk: An interest in philosophy is often first aroused by an irrelevant impulse to see the world and ourselves better than we find them. We seek in philosophy…
I’ve finally received a copy of Aryeh Botwinick’s book that I noted last year. The topic of Oakeshott’s scepticism has occupied Aryeh for a good decade now when he presented a paper at the inaugural conference of the MOA in 2001 entitled “Unifying Skeptical Motifs in Oakeshott’s Thought”. Thanks is due to none other than…
Religion, Politics and the Future of Liberal Education: The Tenth Anniversary Meeting of the Michael Oakeshott Association, 2001-2011 UNIVERSITY OF TULSA OCTOBER 13-16, 2011 2011 marks the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Michael Oakeshott Association, a group established to encourage the critical study of one of the twentieth century’s most important political philosophers.…
At last here is the book in which my essay “Ryle and Oakeshott on the know-how/know-that distinction” appears, masterly edited by Corey Abel. A draft of the paper can be found here. Don’t get hung up by the use of the word “conservatism” in the collection’s title – Oakeshott’s conservatism bears no resemblance to those…
Here is a just published paper that draws heavily on Oakeshott. Ratio Juris. Vol. 23 No. 4 December 2010 (460–78) Abstract. There is a vast literature on the meanings of legal penalties. However, we lack a theory that explains them according to the formation of the modern state. Oakeshott’s theory can help explain this phenomenon, leading to…
I want to give a plug for this new book edited by James Connelly and Stamatoula Panagakou. They have worked tirelessly in keeping interest in idealism alive and have brought together a who’s who of experts in this field. However unfashionable and derided idealism might be, I for one still find it a fertile tradition…
Here’s a new book by Aryeh Botwinick that will hit the shelves in November much sooner than the listed February of next year (or so Aryeh has been advised by PUP). Chapter 1 is available for download.
Here is an unlikely appreciation of Oakeshott by Robert Paul Wolff self-described as: “in politics I am an anarchist, in religion I am an atheist, and in economics I am a Marxist.” Wolff seems to appreciate the quality of Oakeshott’s mind and of course his mellifluous style and doesn’t get bogged down in one-dimensional ritualized…
manwithoutqualities 