Experience and political philosophy

pp. 9-41

in: Davide Orsi, Michael Oakeshott's political philosophy of international relations, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

Abstract

This chapter examines Oakeshott's thought in the light of its idealist sources and shows that he presents a consistent conception of philosophical activity and knowledge. It emerges that Oakeshott maintains a sense of the distinctness and autonomy of modes of experience. Philosophy is a critical activity that identifies the presuppositions of various ideas and forms of understanding, assesses their limited validity, and aims at universal concepts. Oakeshott's theory of "conversation of mankind" may be regarded as an original interpretation of the idealist conception of dialectic and the ground for Oakeshott's critique of rationalism. It is on this basis that the broader problem of the relation between philosophy and practice is considered.