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The Religious Sensibility of Michael Oakeshott

Here is the opening to Elizabeth Corey’s essay for the Companion. I have often thought that one of the best introductions to the philosophy of Michael Oakeshott is a children’s book by Arnold Lobel. Grasshopper on the Road describes the journey of a remarkably even-tempered grasshopper who meets various other insects on his way down…

Oakeshott on Aesthetic Experience

Here is a trailer of Corey Abel’s essay “Whatever It Turns Out To Be: Oakeshott on Aesthetic Experience,” the eighth essay in the run-up to the Companion’s official publication on October 19: Orbaneja, a fictional painter from a real town, is criticized by Don Quixote for painting so badly that he produces only “whatever emerges,” so…

Michael Oakeshott on the History of Political Thought

Martyn Thompson’s contribution to the Companion: My concern is twofold. First, I shall outline what I take Oakeshott to have meant by the phrase “the history of political thought” and then I shall consider some criticisms from Oakeshott’s perspective of the theory and practice of Quentin Skinner, the leading figure in the so-called Cambridge School…

First Impressions

The new companion has landed in my mailbox. A fine production and my congrat to you and Paul for your efforts in bringing it to press. In an earlier message, you said there would be some surprises here, or words to that effect. Wow! What a stunner from Robert Grant! I think most of us…

Oakeshott and Hobbes

Here is a trailer from possibly the greatest living Hobbes scholar – Noel Malcolm – who we were lucky enough to nab for our Companion. Even those who know only a little about Michael Oakeshott know that he had a strong and abiding interest in the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes. His edition of Leviathan (1946)…

Oakeshott as Conservative

Rob Devigne (or maybe it’s really Jack Nicholson) looks at Oakeshott’s ostensibly conservative stance – as several in this volume point out, this is very tricky territory indeed. Oakeshott is not a conservative that even most self-avowed conservatives would typically recognise. The identification of Michael Oakeshott with conservatism is fraught with debate. To be sure, some…

Oakeshott on Law

STEVEN GERENCSER trailer from A Companion to Michael Oakeshott To write about law in relationship to Michael Oakeshott’s ideas generally, or his thoughts on politics in particular, presents a complicated task, not because law is an obscure concept in Oakeshott, and not because it is a topic about which he has written little. In fact,…

Companion to Oakeshott

The publisher has finally got a page up for Paul and my Companion. We’re getting there  . . . click on the graphic below and our dedicated page for more details. a companion to michael oakeshottOakeshott