Botwinick Michael Oakeshott's Skepticism

Course Book
ISBN: 978-1-4008-3695-6
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 272 Seiten

Reihe: Princeton Monographs in Philosophy

The English philosopher Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990) is known as a conservative who rejected philosophically ambitious rationalism and the grand political ideologies of the twentieth century on the grounds that no human ideas have ultimately reliable foundations. Instead, he embraced tradition and habit as the guides to moral and political life. In this book, Aryeh Botwinick presents an original account of Oakeshott's skepticism about foundations, an account that newly reveals the unity of his thought.

Botwinick argues that, despite Oakeshott's pragmatic conservatism, his rejection of all-embracing intellectual projects made him a friend to liberal individualism and an ally of what would become postmodern antifoundationalism. Oakeshott's skepticism even extended paradoxically to skepticism about skepticism itself and is better described as a "generalized agnosticism." Properly conceived and translated, this agnosticism ultimately evolves into mysticism, which becomes a bridge linking philosophy and religion. Botwinick explains and develops this strategy of interpretation and then shows how it illuminates and unifies the diverse strands of Oakeshott's thought in the philosophy of religion, metaphysics, epistemology, political theory, philosophy of personal identity, philosophy of law, and philosophy of history.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Botwinick, Aryeh

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Erkenntnistheorie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface and Acknowledgments xi

Chapter 1: Introduction: Epistemological Backdrop 1

Chapter 2: Metaphysics 29

Chapter 3: Philosophy of Religion and Philosophy of Science 49

Chapter 4: Political Theory 117

Chapter 5: Philosophy of Conversation and Philosophy of Personal Identity 132

Chapter 6: Philosophy of Law and Philosophy of History 194

Notes 223

Index 241

Über Autor(innen)

Aryeh Botwinick is professor of political science at Temple University. He is the author of Skepticism, Belief, and the Modern; Postmodernism and Democratic Theory; and Skepticism and Political Participation.