Thanks to this blog here is a five-part discussion between the wonderful Gilbert Ryle and James Urmson. (I notice from the Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy entry on Ryle that J.D. Mabbott must have known Ryle very well. Mabbott and Oakeshott were of course intellectual chums. According to Bob Grant, Oakeshott only ever communicated with two “official” philosophers,…
Here is a review of an intellectual biography of Ernest Gellner.
I was sorry to learn of the death of Tony (Lord) Quinton. My first contact with him was in the late-80s. Geoff Thomas, my Birkbeck tutor (who himself had Quinton as an examiner at Oxford), wrote to Quinton asking if he’d care to grant a young student an hour to chat about Oakeshott. Within the…
Here’s a forthcoming book on Oakeshott. Aryeh Botwinick spoke at the inaugural of the MOA on this topic. I never thought Oakeshott had anything to say about personal identity (at least in the Lockean tradition) – so I look forward to see what Botwinick says.
Jesse Norman, a very able philosopher and man of practice, has been elected as the new MP to represent the Hereford and South Herefordshire constituency. Philosophically speaking, Jesse has several strings to his bow. I first came to know him as an Oakeshottian – he edited The Achievement of Michael Oakeshott (Duckworth – unfortunately, no…
Here’s a new book on Oakeshott by Edmund Neill. Heretofore I haven’t come across Neill’s work but if Noel O’Sullivan says he’s OK, I guess that’s good enough for me. Two quibbles. First, it falls within a series entitled Major Conservative and Libertarian Thinkers – I thought that by now we’d gotten past these unhelpful Procrustean…
Here’s a nice rendering by Mary Campbell of a photo of Oakeshott given to me by his son Simon (the photo was taken at Caius circa 1933). Speaking of Oakeshott, the following must rate as the most bizarre invocation of Oakeshott I’ve come across (Jewish Political Studies Review 19:1-2, Spring 2007). Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990) was a…
I heard through my chum David Livingtone Smith who heard through Leiter that Anthony Flew had died a few days ago. I recall Flew to be a most generous fellow. We corresponded by snail mail to his residence in Reading (I still have the letters). I was of the mind to invite him to the…
Oakeshott has been added to the Special Forces Roll of Honour listing. Off course, many will have heard the Worsthorne story: I remember Perry Worsthorne’s story about spending a year or two with Oakeshott when he was an officer in the special intelligence unit called “Phantom” during the war, and then coming back to Cambridge, finding to his…
ryle, v. to give examples. “He ryles on and on without ever daring a conclusion.” Hence, n. An example. “His argument was elucidated by a variety of apt ryles.” “The original ryle has been chisholmed beyond recognition.” (2) A variety of smooth, lucid, thin ice that forms on bogs. The Philosophical Lexicon I chanced upon…
manwithoutqualities 