Oakeshott on Practice, Normative Thought and Political Philosophy

Orsi, Davide

doi:10.1080/09608788.2015.1007117

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Human conduct is the intelligent response of historical agents to understood situations, and it is shaped by the interpretation of pre-existing beliefs, and of the moral practices in which the agent is situated (Oakeshott, 1975: 31–90). Agents’ identities are not fixed and defined once and for all, but instead they are what they have become in their history and in their interpretation of the moral resources in which they are situated (Oakeshott, 1975: 37; see Orsi, 2015; Turner, 2010: 203). Civil association and enterprise association are two opposed ways of understanding political relationships, and are the two incommensurable manners of conceiving the nature of authority and law.…”

Section: Civil Association and Enterprise Associationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Michael Oakeshott’s political philosophy of civil association and constructivism in International Relations

Orsi

2015

Journal of International Political Theory

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This article shows the relevance of Oakeshott’s political philosophy for the contemporary constructivist debate in International Relations. First, the article argues that Oakeshott’s perspective stresses that political institutions are based on norms and relationships which result from human understanding. Second, it elaborates on Nicholas Rengger’s recent work and reveals that Oakeshott’s On Human Conduct presents considerations pertaining to international politics that are consistent with his broader political philosophy. These observations concern the nature of war, the historical role of colonialism and the evolution of international society. Third, this article discusses Terry Nardin’s notion of ‘practical association’ and Christian Reus-Smit’s criticism of it. It contends that international civil association is a relationship between states based on understood and socially constructed moral values and practices. Finally, the article claims that customary international law declares and reflects these values and practices. As such, it reveals that Oakeshott’s notion of authority and his theory of civil association illuminate the possibility of an international legal order without a legislative office. This is of particular relevance also because of the Hobbesian influence on Oakeshott. Overall, this article illustrates how Michael Oakeshott’s theory of civil association sheds light on the nature of international society and law.

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Section: Civil Association and Enterprise Associationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Michael Oakeshott’s political philosophy of civil association and constructivism in International Relations

Orsi

2015

Journal of International Political Theory

Self Cite

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“…It is, in itself, a controversial question whether there is such a distinction and, if so, how we should understand it. However, even though Modood invokes Oakeshott as a source of the idea of pursuit of intimations, Oakeshott himself apparently did not think of this as a methodology for political theory (Orsi, 2015). Oakeshott offered the idea of the pursuit of intimations as a description of political reasoning, which he argued was necessarily dialectical, circumstantial, conditional and contingent in the sense that it had to appeal to shared assumptions.…”

Section: Critical Distance In Contextualismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextualist political theory about multiculturalism in a post-multiculturalist context

Lægaard

2020

Ethnicities

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Many theorists of multiculturalism have proposed contextualism as an approach particularly suited for theorizing multiculturalism. The so-called Bristol School of Multiculturalism (BSM) is characterized by a ‘bottom up’ and claims-based approach eschewing appeal to abstract political principles. Tariq Modood has articulated this contextualist approach as a version of Michael Oakeshott’s idea of politics as ‘the pursuit of intimations’. The question is how such an approach fares when applied to the specific political and social context characteristic of, especially European, political reality of the last 10–15 years. Political opposition to multiculturalism at ideological and rhetorical levels has characterized this context. At the legal level, many of the laws and rules in place actually protecting minority groups have furthermore not had the form of group rights or policies of recognition proposed by multiculturalist theories. The question therefore arises whether a contextualist approach that takes its point of departure in the facts of such a context can deliver a justification of a recognizable multiculturalist political theory. This is a version of the general problem of critical distance facing contextualism. Modood’s version of the approach appeals to the internal diversity of traditions to answer this problem. However, this leads to additional questions about the nature of the theory and the way in which it is action-guiding. Consideration of these questions qualifies the understanding of in which sense the BSM approach is contextual.

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Philosophy and International Relations

Orsi¹

2016

Michael Oakeshott's Political Philosophy of International Relations

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Oakeshott on Practice, Normative Thought and Political Philosophy

Cited by 4 publications

References 21 publications

Michael Oakeshott’s political philosophy of civil association and constructivism in International Relations

Michael Oakeshott’s political philosophy of civil association and constructivism in International Relations

Contextualist political theory about multiculturalism in a post-multiculturalist context

Philosophy and International Relations

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