Today marks the birth of Edmund Burke. I find it tiresome that Burke is viewed as some sort of crude reactionary – his work is eminently humane, thoughtful and civilized and despite his ostensibly conservative outlook, it resembles nothing that modern-day fundamentalists who lay claim to the mantle of conservatism, will recognize. As Ian Harris points…
Nice review in The Economist. I’ve always liked Ryan’s work especially his edited Social Explanation and Russell: A Political Life. It is also important that, as Mr Ryan puts it, “long-dead writers often speak to us with greater freshness and immediacy than our contemporaries.” James Madison has the best advice for Egyptian liberals who want to prevent Muhammad…
Here are some deep excerpts (the fifth in the series) from the dean of Oakeshott studies, Tim Fuller. In short, the practical life is constituted in efforts to alter our existence as we currently understand it or to ward off alterations that threaten what we at present take to be satisfactory. Initiating change or defending against…
These excerpts from Ken McIntyre’s essay Philosophy and its moods: Oakeshott’s insistence on the dispositional skepticism of philosophical activity leads to his rejection of both the importance of authority in philosophy and the relevance of philosophy to practical life. He writes that philosophy “recognizes neither ‘authorities’ nor ‘established doctrines,’” because such institutions present themselves as conclusions…
After a four year gestation with many, often quite bizarre twists and turns, today this project officially reaches its fruition. To read excerpts from each chapter, type “oakeshott” into this site’s search box. a companion to michael oakeshottBritish Idealismdead philosophersMichael OakeshottOakeshottPhilosophy of historyphilosophy of social sciencePolitical philosophyThomas Hobbes
Bob Grant’s highly distinctive essay on Oakeshott’s private life. In what follows I shall refer to Michael Oakeshott by his first name, as I also shall to those connected with him. This is partly to avoid the confusion of shared surnames, though I did actually come myself to address him by his first name. My…
Extract from Ken McIntyre’s chapter: Among non-academic intellectuals and political theorists, Michael Oakeshott is known primarily as a conservative political thinker who produced a series of essays in the 1950s which were critical of “rationalist” or “ideological” politics. Others who have read more deeply in Oakeshott’s corpus are aware of his contributions to the philosophy…
Noel Malcolm’s monumental 2,355 page edition of Leviathan is rightly attracting attention well beyond philosophical circles. And you can read Malcolm’s chapter on Oakeshott’s Hobbes in the forthcoming A Companion to Michael Oakeshott. But things are looking up for the Monster, thanks to the labours of Noel Malcolm, a polymath at All Souls College, Oxford, and a former journalist…
Here is the “dean” of Oakeshott exposition, Tim Fuller, and a taster from his essay for the Companion. My intention is to reflect on two themes that run through the whole of Oakeshott’s thought: first, the radical temporality of the human condition and, second, the character of modernity’s response to radical temporality. The first is,…
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…
manwithoutqualities 