The politics of faith and the politics of scepticism
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The politics of faith and the politics of scepticism
(Selected writings of Michael Oakeshott)
Yale University Press, 1996
- : hard
- : pbk
Available at / 26 libraries
-
No Libraries matched.
- Remove all filters.
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Paperback size is 23 cm
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: hard ISBN 9780300066258
Description
"What should governments do?" Arguing that while some political thinkers have thought it proper for humans to control as far as possible, and others have argued for a free approach to government, this text suggests the most desirable form of government lies somewhere between these interpretations.
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9780300105339
Description
Michael Oakeshott, the foremost British political philosopher of the twentieth century, died in 1990, leaving a substantial collection of unpublished material. Yale University Press is continuing to make available the best of these illuminating works.
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, two different answers have dominated our thought since the fifteenth century. One, exemplified by such thinkers as Rousseau and Marx, expresses a belief in the capacity of human beings to control, design, and monitor all aspects of social and political life, a belief fostered by the intoxicating increase in power available to governments in modern times. On the other hand, sceptics such as Montaigne, Pascal, and Hobbes argued that governments cannot, in principle, produce perfection and that we should prevent concentrations of power that may result in tyrannies that oppress the dignity of the human spirit. Oakeshott exposes the pitfalls of both positions and shows the value of a middle ground that incorporates scepticism with enough faith to avoid total quietism. Readers of Oakeshott will find here the thinking that lies behind his famous definition of politics as "the pursuit of intimations.".
by "Nielsen BookData"