ABSTRACT
One of the leading representatives of traditional or “classical” conservatism in the twentieth century was the British philosopher Michael Oakeshott (1901–1990), who insisted that politics must be rooted in tradition and experience, not abstract reason or principles. As he says in his essay “Political Education,” “In political activity… men sail a boundless and bottomless sea; there is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place nor appointed destination. The enterprise is to keep afloat on an even keel; the sea is both friend and enemy; and the seamanship consists in using the resources of a traditional manner of behaviour in order to make a friend of every hostile occasion.” Oakeshott develops this theme in the following selection from his essay “On Being Conservative.”
