5.3b Micheal Oakshott & Ayn Rand

Question 1

Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990)

Answer 1

Michael Oakeshott was a British political philosopher who wrote ‘Rationalism in Politics’ (1962) and ‘On Human Conduct’ (1975).

Question 2

Oakshott: Tradition

Answer 2

Oakeshott wrote that to be conservative is to “prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried” and to prefer “the actual to the possible”.

Conservative tradition is to prefer the familiar to the unknown and to trust customs and historical structures rather than to try and make radical change.

Question 3

Oakshott: Human imperfection

Answer 3

Oakeshott believed that humans are intellectually imperfect - political ideas are so broad and complex that we as humans are unable to grasp them.

Question 4

Oakshott: Pragmatism

Answer 4

Oakeshott believed that conservatism should be pragmatic.

Instead of being highly ideological, conservatives should make practical decisions.

Oakeshott believed that the state should be maintained, but not overhauled or changed in a revolutionary way- as this would not be in the conservative tradition.

He believed that increased state intervention was a bad thing, and that changing society through social engineering was not in the conservative spirit.

Question 5

Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

Answer 5

Ayn Rand was a conservative thinker who had radical ideas and proposed neoliberal policies.

She is famous for writing ‘Atlas Shrugged’, which has a strong focus on freedom and individuality.

Question 6

Rand: Objectivism

Answer 6

Rand supported the philosophical idea of objectivism, which argues that we can gain objective knowledge through the use of logic and reason.

Objectivists believe that knowledge exists outside of consciousness, and so can be discovered and perceived.

Objectivism also argues that pursuing individual happiness is the purpose of life.

She supported ideas of human rationality, and that we should trust individuals to make decisions for themselves.

Rand opposed conservative paternalism.

Question 7

Rand: Rationalism

Answer 7

Rand believed that because humans are rational and self-interested beings, we have a duty to put our interests before other people’s and that altruism (putting others before one’s self) is immoral.

Rand was a rational egoist, because she believed that acting in one’s own interest was rational.

Rand was also an ethical egoist, because she believed that we are morally obliged to act in our own interest.

Question 8

Rand: Freedom

Answer 8

Rand supported a laissez-faire economic system and believed this was the only way for individuals to be truly free.