ABSTRACT
Michael Oakeshott’s political theory forms part of a more general philosophical position that is elaborate and complex. Both the political theory and the general philosophy may be read on at least two different levels; the philosophy as an attempt to overcome certain damaging attacks upon idealist epistemology, thus placing idealism upon a modified and more secure foundation, the political theory as an effort to move British politics away from an obsession with utopian reformism and toward a renewed respect for the rights of individuals.
