Experience and Its Modes

Michael Oakeshott, Experience and Its Modes. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1933.

“Mr. Oakeshott’s thesis … is so original, so important and so profound that criticism must be silent until his meaning has been long pondered … the chapter on history is the most penetrating analysis of historical thought that has ever been written … the… More

A Guide to the Classics

Michael Oakeshott and G.T. Griffith, A Guide to the Classics, or, How to Pick the Derby Winner. London: Faber and Faber, 1936.

“[To the 1930’s] also belongs the book that Oakshott co-authored with Guy Griffith, A Guide to the Classics, which, to the disappointment of many a student of political philosophy turned out to be not about Plato and Aristotle but about the fine art of judging horseflesh and… More

The Social and Political Doctrines of Contemporary Europe

Michael Oakeshott, The Social and Political Doctrines of Contemporary Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1939.

“In 1939 Oakeshott published the anthology, The Social and Political Doctrines Doctrines of Contemporary Europe. Its chapters concern Representative Democracy as well as Catholicism, Communism, Facism, and National Socialism. He writes about “representative democracy” in… More

Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays

Michael Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays. London: Methuen, 1962.

“It is the breadth of Oakeshott’s critique of rationalism, the scope of his skepticism about the role of self-conscious ideals, principles, and purposes in politics, that in many ways distinguishes it from the critiques of his contemporaries.” Paul Franco, Bowdoin… More

On Human Conduct

Michael Oakeshott, On Human Conduct. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.  

From this website’s Introduction to Michael Oakeshott: “Oakeshott’s career was bookended by two major philosophical works—the first, Experience and its Modes, and the second, the 1975 publication of On Human Conduct. He said in its preface that the book’s themes “have… More

Hobbes on Civil Association

Michael Oakeshott, Hobbes on Civil Association. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1975.

This book consists of Oakeshott’s four principal essays on Hobbes and on the nature of civil association as it pertains to ordered liberty. The essays are: “Introduction to Leviathan” (1946) “The Moral Life in the Writings of Thomas Hobbes” (1960) “Dr. Leo Strauss on… More

On History and Other Essays

Michael Oakeshott, On History and Other Essays. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1983.

“In this book’s first three essays, Professor Michael Oakeshott sets out to establish the nature, conditions, and limits of historical inquiry, but, for once, professional historians may find that a philosopher has explained their work and unique contribution to human… More

The Voice of Liberal Learning

Michael Oakeshott, The Voice of Liberal Learning. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1989.

Timothy Fuller has here performed the valuable task of bringing together Michael Oakeshott’s most important essays on education. Fuller also includes a helpful introduction which distinguishes Oakeshott’s view from those of Allan Bloom and E.D. Hirsch, and which situates… More

Morality and Politics in Modern Europe

Michael Oakeshott, Morality and Politics. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993.

“In Morality and Politics in Modern Europe, Oakeshott argues that two conflicting moralities underlie two opposed understandings of the office of government in modern Europe. On one hand is the morality of individuality, according to which the role of government is to frame and… More

Religion, Politics, and the Moral Life

Michael Oakeshott, Religion, Politics, and the Moral Life. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993.

“Michael Oakeshott’s interest in religion and theology was especially prominent in his essays of the 1920s and 1930s. This book consists of four important unpublished pieces, together with six essays by Oakeshott that originally appeared in remote and inaccessible journals. Much… More

The Politics of Faith and the Politics of Skepticism

Michael Oakeshott, The Politics of Faith and the Politics of Skepticism. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.

“In this polished and hitherto unknown work, Oakeshott argues that modern politics was constituted out of a debate, persistent through centuries of European political experience down to our own day, over the question “What should governments do?” According to Oakeshott,… More

What is History? And Other Essays

Michael Oakeshott, What is History? And Other Essays. Thorverton: Imprint Academic, 2004.

“This highly readable new collection of thirty pieces by Michael Oakeshott, almost all of which are previously unpublished, covers every decade of his intellectual career, and adds significantly to his contributions to the philosophy of historical understanding and political… More

Lectures in the History of Political Thought

Michael Oakeshott, Lectures in the History of Political Thought. Thorverton: Imprint Academic, 2006.

Oakeshott’s memorable lectures on the history of political thought, delivered each year at the London School of Economics, will now be available in print for the first time. Based on manuscripts in the LSE archive for 1966–67, the last year of Oakeshott’s tenure as Professor of… More

The Concept of a Philosophical Jurisprudence: Essays and Reviews 1926-51

Michael Oakeshott, The Concept of a Philosophical Jurisprudence: Essays and Reviews 1926-51. Thorverton: Imprint Academic, 2006.

“This volume brings together for the first time over a hundred of Oakeshott’s essays and reviews, written between 1926 and 1951, that until now have remained scattered through a variety of scholarly journals, periodicals and newspapers. A new editorial introduction explains how… More

The Vocabulary of a Modern European State: Essays and Reviews 1952-88

Michael Oakeshott, The Vocabulary of a Modern European State: Essays and Reviews 1952-88. Thorverton: Imprint Academic, 2008.

“The Vocabulary of a Modern European State is the companion volume to The Concept of a Philosophical Jurisprudence and completes the enterprise of gathering together Oakeshott’s previously scattered essays and reviews. As with all the other volumes in the series it contains an… More

Early Political Writings 1925-30

Michael Oakeshott, Early Political Writings 1925-30. Thorverton: Imprint Academic, 2010.

“Michael Oakeshott (1901–90) made his reputation as a political philosopher, but for a long time it seemed as if he had little interest in politics before 1945. His major pre-war work, Experience and its Modes (1933) was an examination of the nature of philosophy and its relation… More