Michael Oakeshott

Peter Christopher Grosvenor (Pacific Lutheran University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of York), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

Born 11 Dec 1901
Died 19 Dec 1990
Activity 1933-1990

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Philosopher
Political Theorist

Resources

Michael Joseph Oakeshott (1901-90) was one of the most distinguished British philosophers of the twentieth century. He was the leading exponent of philosophical idealism, specializing in political philosophy and in the history of political thought. Despite his life-long detachment from practical politics, his work has exercised an important influence on modern conservative thinking.

The turning point in Oakeshott’s academic career came in 1951, when he was appointed as chair of the Government Department at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), succeeding the socialist political theorist Harold Laski. His political philosophy was deeply indebted to Hegel, but Thomas Hobbes emerged as a special concentration.

Oakeshott’s writings are often judged to be difficult on account of his discursive literary style, his enduring resistance to over-simplification, his preference for metaphor over contemporary or even historical...

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3682 words

Citation: Grosvenor, Peter Christopher. "Michael Oakeshott". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 December 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12314, accessed 09 June 2026.]