Foreign thinker
Michael Oakeshott
Michael OakeshottPolitical Philosophy and British IdealismBritish
In political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea; there is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place nor appointed destination. The enterprise is to keep afloat on an even keel.
Life and Thought
Michael Joseph Oakeshott (1901–1990) was a prominent British political philosopher and historian of ideas, and one of the most important theorists of modern conservatism in the twentieth century. He is best known for his critique of rationalism in politics, his emphasis on tradition and custom, and his conception of politics as a civil "conversation" rather than ideological planning. His political masterpiece is the book Rationalism in Politics.
