Oakeshott, Michael

Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990) was a British conservative political philosopher best known for his critique of rationalism in modern politics. His seminal essay collection Rationalism in Politics (1947, expanded 1962) attacks the rationalist mindset that reduces politics to abstract principles and social engineering. Oakeshott argued that such rationalism disregards the accumulated, tacit knowledge embedded in traditions and practices, leading to a sterile and often dangerous reconfiguration of political life. Unlike progressivist ideologies that seek to redesign society from first principles, Oakeshott emphasized the value of inherited practices and the contingency of political experience. He distinguished between "technical" knowledge (formal, rule-based) and "practical" knowledge (intuitive, contextual), holding that the latter governs most successful political conduct but cannot be codified or designed ex nihilo.

Tradition, Civil Association, and Constitutional Restraint

Oakeshott’s political ideal was a limited, non-ideological government grounded in constitutional practices and civil association rather than moral or ideological projects. He sharply differentiated between two modes of political engagement: "civil association" (where law facilitates individual action without dictating its purposes) and "enterprise association" (where the state directs citizens toward a common goal). His preference was for the former, arguing that the state should merely maintain a legal framework for free individuals rather than impose collective objectives. This view aligned him with Burkean conservatism but created an internal tension, as his principled aversion to ideology seemed at odds with espousing a conservative ideology of his own. Philosophically, Oakeshott was a proponent of objective idealism, influenced by British idealists such as F.H. Bradley. In Experience and Its Modes (1933), he argued that reality is mediated through modes of experience such as science, history, and practical activity each with its own logic. His rejection of empiricism and reductionism stemmed from this view, as he saw attempts to collapse politics into scientific models as epistemologically flawed and practically dangerous. Oakeshott maintained that human knowledge is multifaceted and that no single mode, especially the scientific or instrumental, should dominate.

From Hobbes to History

Oakeshott's reinterpretation of Thomas Hobbes, particularly in his 1946 edition of Leviathan, cast Hobbes not as a proto authoritarian but as a moral theorist concerned with the conditions for civil peace. His later works, including On Human Conduct (1975), developed this vision further by exploring the moral dimensions of political order without appealing to overarching ideologies. In On History (1983), he elaborated on the distinctiveness of historical understanding, emphasizing its interpretative nature and its detachment from both scientific explanation and moral judgment. Oakeshott’s educational thought, notably articulated in The Voice of Liberal Learning, rejected vocationalism and utilitarianism in university education. He envisioned the university as a place for reflection and initiation into the "conversation of mankind" , a pluralistic engagement with the various modes of understanding. Learning, for Oakeshott, was not the accumulation of skills for economic utility but the cultivation of individuality through tradition-informed freedom.

Oakeshott’s Rejection of Rationalist Politics

Michael Oakeshott, a major figure in British conservative thought, is most remembered for his sharp criticism of rationalism in political life. In Rationalism in Politics (1947; expanded 1962), he challenges the idea that politics can or should be shaped by abstract principles or technical expertise. Rationalists, according to Oakeshott, disregard the deep, experiential knowledge embedded in traditions. They favour engineered reforms based on theoretical models, often ignoring the social fabric that sustains real political order. For Oakeshott, politics isn’t a science of perfecting society, it's a practice rooted in inherited habits and historical continuity.

Practical Knowledge vs. Technical Knowledge

Central to Oakeshott’s thought is the distinction between two forms of knowledge: the "technical," which can be taught, codified, and applied through rules; and the "practical," which is learned through experience and cannot be fully articulated. Political action, he argued, relies more on this tacit, experiential understanding than on any formal system of reasoning. Attempts to replace traditional practice with ideological "blueprints" undermine stability and freedom. Oakeshott favoured a restrained, constitutionally bound state that acts within established norms rather than according to ideological visions. He supported a form of government that leaves space for individuals to pursue their own goals rather than organizing society around collective purposes. He criticized state-driven moral or political projects whether from the left or right because they impose unity where plurality and freedom should prevail.

Civil and Enterprise Associations

In On Human Conduct (1975), Oakeshott introduced a key distinction between two forms of association: civil and enterprise. Civil association is governed by laws that set conditions for cooperation without prescribing ends, while enterprise association involves collective action toward a shared objective. Oakeshott strongly preferred the former, seeing it as a framework that enables liberty, unlike the latter, which tends toward coercion. Philosophically, Oakeshott was aligned with a form of objective idealism. He believed human experience is always shaped by the lens through which it is interpreted be it historical, practical, or scientific. In Experience and Its Modes (1933), he showed how these modes of understanding are distinct and shouldn't be confused. His opposition to rationalist politics reflects this: the rationalist falsely believes political reality can be approached through detached, technical reasoning rather than lived experience.

Oakeshott also offered a novel reading of Thomas Hobbes. In his 1946 edition of Leviathan, he portrayed Hobbes not as a champion of absolutism, but as a moral philosopher who sought to articulate the basis of civil peace. Oakeshott used this interpretation to support his broader view that political order arises from shared understandings and not from imposed doctrines. Oakeshott’s vision of education, particularly in The Voice of Liberal Learning, stood against utilitarian and vocational models. He saw universities as places for intellectual exploration rather than job training. Learning, for him, was a way to become fully human to be initiated into the shared achievements of human culture through conversation, not indoctrination.

Morality, Politics, and Individual Freedom

Throughout his career, Oakeshott emphasized the importance of individual moral autonomy. He believed that political institutions should reflect a framework that allows individuals to pursue their own ends, not serve a collective mission. In later works like Morality and Politics in Modern Europe and The Politics of Faith and the Politics of Scepticism, he analysed modern liberal democracies as balancing between two impulses: one that trusts in human ability to shape the future (faith), and another that cautions against overreach (skepticism). His sympathies lay with the latter. After his death in 1990, several works were published that further shaped his legacy. These include Morality and Politics in Modern Europe (1993), which outlines the tension between individualist and collectivist moralities in liberal democratic thought, and The Politics of Faith and the Politics of Scepticism (1996), where he explores the dual impulses of modern political thought faith in human perfectibility and skepticism about centralized power. Oakeshott’s nuanced conservatism contributed to a distinctly British philosophical tradition that defended freedom not through grand doctrines, but through restraint, continuity, and the careful evolution of political order.

In conclusion, Michael Oakeshott’s political philosophy stands as a powerful and nuanced defense of a conservative disposition rooted in tradition, skepticism toward grand political schemes, and respect for the limits of human knowledge. Rejecting the rationalist illusion that society can be engineered according to abstract principles, Oakeshott championed the idea that political order emerges from the slow, adaptive accumulation of practical experience. His distinction between civil and enterprise associations, his defence of individual autonomy, and his reinterpretation of figures like Hobbes all served to reinforce a vision of politics as an open-ended conversation rather than a project with a fixed end. Whether in his reflections on education, his critique of ideological overreach, or his philosophical idealism, Oakeshott consistently argued for the preservation of pluralism, continuity, and constitutional restraint. His legacy endures not as a rigid doctrine, but as a temperament - one that values the inherited wisdom of tradition, the humility of political skepticism, and the freedom for individuals to shape their own lives within a shared legal framework.

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Oakeshott, Michael