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The Voice of Judaism in the Conversation of Mankind: Thoughts on Michael Oakeshott

March 1, 2007 | Alan Mittleman

Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990) was a leading British social and political theorist, often credited as a father of libertarian thought. His wide-ranging oeuvre engaged fundamental problems in philosophy, such as epistemology and the analysis of experience, aesthetics, as well as the nature of human conduct and the modern state. Above all, he theorized the necessary postulates of human liberty. Oakeshott's thought was characterized by areas of agreement and of tension with the Jewish political tr