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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 February 2009
Michael Oakeshott, one of the most important political thinkers in the second half of the twentieth century, has been understood to be a skeptical conservative, a romantic, a liberal individualist, an historian of political thought, a philosopher, a charismatic teacher. Each of these characterizations conveys something to be found in his life and work. This essay offers an intellectual portrait of his life's work from early to late through consideration of his major works from Experience and its Modes (1933) to Rationalism in Politics (1962; 1991), to the culmination in On Human Conduct (1975). His understanding of political philosophy is examined. The usefulness of the aforementioned characterizations is assessed.
1 Introduction to Hobbes's, Leviathan, ed. Oakeshott, Michael. Blackwell's Political Texts Edition, 1946Google Scholar. I refer to this version because when Oakeshott published a collection of his Hobbes essays in 1975, Hobbes on Civil Association, he revised the original introduction substantially. Comparison of the two versions is instructive for those who wish to follow Oakeshott's thinking on Hobbes.
2 Religion, Politics and the Moral Life, ed. with introduction by Timothy Fuller, (London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993).
3 Experience and Its Modes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1933).
4 The Voice of Poetry in the Conversation of Mankind (London: Bowes and Bowes, 1959). This was reprinted in Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (London: Methuen, 1962). A new and expanded edition of Rationalism in Politics, ed. with introduction by Timothy Fuller, was published in 1991 (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund).
5 Social and Political Doctrines of Contemporary Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939).
6 See note 4.
7 See note 2.
8 The Politics of Faith and the Politics of Scepticism, ed. with introduction by Timothy Fuller (London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996).
9 On History and Other Essays (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1983). New edition with introduction by Timothy Fuller (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1999).
10 On Human Conduct (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975).
11 The Voice of Liberal Learning: Michael Oakeshott on Education, ed with introduction by Timothy Fuller (London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989); new edition with foreword by Timothy Fuller, (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2001).
12 From the essay, “Political Education,” in Rationalism in Politics. This was Oakeshott's inaugural address in 1951 as professor at the London School of Economics.
13 Oakeshott's account of this story from Chuang Tzu is found in the title essay of Rationalism in Politics.