Essays
Complete Bibliography of Oakeshott’s Works
– A complete bibliography of all of Michael Oakeshott's published works, compiled by the Michael Oakeshott Association.Introduction to Leviathan
– Oakeshott, Michael. "Introduction to Leviathan." In Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays, 2nd edition, pp. 221-294. Liberty Fund: Indianapolis, 1991.Oakeshott’s acclaimed introduction to the 1946 Blackwell edition of Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan which spurred a rethinking of Hobbes’s thought and influenced a generation of subsequent Hobbes scholars.
Rationalism in Politics
– Oakeshott, Michael. "Rationalism in Politics." In Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays, 2nd edition, pp. 5-42. Liberty Fund: Indianapolis, 1991.From this site’s Introduction: In this, possibly his most renowned essay, “Oakeshott sketches out the ideal type of the ‘Rationalist,’ whose conduct is grounded not in tradition or habit but in self-conscious reflection, relying on… More
On Being Conservative
– Oakeshott, Michael. "On Being Conservative." In Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays, 2nd edition, pp. 407-437. Liberty Fund: Indianapolis, 1991.Oakeshott’s classic reflection on the disposition, as opposed to the ideology, of conservatism.
Work and Play
– Oakeshott, Michael. "Work and Play." First Things 54 (1995): 29-33Excerpt: Without pretending to be scientific about it, the world may be imagined to be a vast collection of existences—things and substances of various compositions and kinds—each of which is what it is, and moves, changes, grows, or decays as it does by… More