Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays

by Michael Oakeshott

Overview

Rationalism in Politics 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 and criticizes ideological schemes to reform society according to supposedly “scientific” or rationalistic principles that ignore the wealth and variety of human experience.

Timothy Fuller is Professor of Political Science at Colorado College.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780865970953
Publisher:	Liberty Fund, Incorporated
Publication date:	06/30/1991
Edition description:	New and Expanded Edition
Pages:	582
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.39(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Table of Contents

Preface to first edition xi
Foreword by Timothy Fuller xiii
Bibliography xxiii PART ONE
Reason and the conduct of political life 3
Rationalism in politics 6
Political education 43
Political discourse* 70 PART TWO
Dissecting rationalism 97
Rational conduct 99
The new Bentham*
132 The activity of being an historian 151
The study of politics in a university 184
* Indicates essay is new to this edition. PART THREE
On Hobbes 219
Introduction to Leviathan* 221
The moral life in the writings of Thomas Hobbes 295
Logos and telos* 351 PART FOUR
Reflections on modern politics 361
The masses in representative democracy* 363
The political economy of freedom 384
On being conservative 407
Talking politics* 438 PART FIVE
On the human condition 463
The tower of Babel 465
The voice of poetry in the conversation of mankind 488 Index 543