Britský filozof a politický teoretik, ktorý písal o filozofii histórie, filozofii náboženstva, estetike a filozofii práva. Je široko považovaný za jedného z najdôležitejších konzervatívnych mysliteľov 20. storočia, hoci bol niekedy charakterizovaný aj ako liberálny mysliteľ. Oakeshott bol zdesený zostupom k politickému extrémizmu, ktorý sa odohral v Európe v 30. rokoch 20. storočia, a jeho prežívajúce prednášky z tohto obdobia odhaľujú odpor k nacionálnemu socializmu a marxizmu. Jeho dielo je hlboko zamerané na povahu politiky a obranu tradície.
Oakeshottovo dílo je pojímáno jako zásadní příspěvek do konzervativní tradice. Vybrané eseje ho ukazují jako myslitele, který promýšlí otázky, jako jsou podstata politična, lidské přirozenosti, racionality, vztahu mezi politikou a hodnotami, času a historie, aj. Nabízený svazek, z velké části výběr z jeho poválečných článků, které vyšly v roce 1962 pod titulem Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays, podává obraz jeho politického myšlení.
Michael Oakeshott's classic discussion of modality and human experience in relation to the practical, the historical and the scientific modes of understanding is presented in a new series livery with a specially commissioned preface, written by Paul Franco, for twenty-first-century readers, in recognition of its enduring importance.
The sixth volume in the series Michael Oakeshott: Selected Writings. From the 1920s to the 1980s Oakeshott filled dozens of notebooks with his private reflections, both personal and intellectual. Their contents range from aphorisms to miniature essays, forming a unique record of his intellectual trajectory over his entire career.
Rationalism in Politics, first published in 1962, has established the late Michael Oakeshott as the leading conservative political theorist in modern Britain. This expanded collection of essays astutely points out the limits of "reason" in rationalist politics.Oakeshott criticizes ideological schemes to reform society according to supposedly "scientific" or rationalistic principles that ignore the wealth and variety of human experience. "Rationalism in politics," says Oakeshott, "involves a misconception with regard to the nature of human knowledge." History has shown that it produces unexpected, often disastrous results. "Having cut himself off from the traditional knowledge of his society, and denied the value of any education more extensive than a training in a technique of analysis," the Rationalist succeeds only in undermining the institutions that hold civilized society together. In this regard, rationalism in politics is "a corruption of the mind."Timothy Fuller is Professor of Political Science and Dean of the College at Colorado College.