In “Philosophy and Its Moods: Oakeshott on the Practice of Philosophy,” Kenneth McIntyre continues the discussion of Oakeshott’s conception of philosophy begun by Boucher but takes a somewhat different view. Though he admits that Oakeshott’s conception of philosophy as a fundamentally skeptical activity devoted to relentless interrogation of the conditions of human understanding remains unchanged…
In “The Victim of Thought: The Idealist Inheritance,” David Boucher examines the relationship of this theory of knowledge or experience to philosophical—and especially British—idealism. He makes two fundamental points about this relationship. First, he argues that although idealism was on the wane in Britain the 1920s and 1930s, Oakeshott’s brand of idealism was hardly as…
What about his private, intimate life? This brings us to the first essay in this volume, Robert Grant’s “The Pursuit of Intimacy, or Rationalism in Love.” As the title suggests, this essay is concerned with Oakeshott’s love life, which he considered to be not merely peripheral but in many ways the main business of his…
Since I’m deeply in Boëthius mode for my forthcoming edited book of essays on A Confederacy of Dunces, this invocation of Boëthius and Taleb grabbed me. Here is Joshua Hochschild’s review of Taleb’s collected works. Boethius the patron saint of bullshit detectors. Taleb displays familiarity with many expected theorists of epistemological humility: Montaigne and Hume, Hayek…
As someone who is a big fan of Shils I’m very much looking forward to this. edward shilsideologyLiberal educationMichael OakeshottMichael PolanyiSocial theorySociologyStephen TurnerTradition
For those who’ve never read that most subtle, cultivated, humane and refined of minds Michael Oakeshott’s concerns resonate as deeply as ever. For the novice, I’d recommend his mid-career Rationalism in Politics, a most elegant collection of essays. A more difficult, but for me the vital underpinning cutting across all his work, is his equally elegant and…
Austrian EconomicsBenedetto Crocecosmos & taxisFriedrich HayekMichael OakeshottSpontaneous orderWilhelm von Humboldt
Today marks the deadline for submissions. ConservatismLiberalismMichael OakeshottPhilosophyPoetry
My copy of Tim’s festschrift finally arrived today. It’s a well-deserved and beautifully produced and edited collection. Over the years Tim has been immensely supportive of my endeavors, most notably the Oakeshott Association. For more on Tim see here. HobbesLiberal educationMichael OakeshottPolitical philosophyTimothy Fuller
One of the contributors to this volume, the very excellent historian of ideas Efraim Podoksik, has alerted me to this about-to-be published title. Don’t let the typos on Bloomsbury’s page detract you. Conservatismefraim podoksikhistory of political thoughtLiberalismMark GarnettMichael OakeshottPolitical philosophy
manwithoutqualities 