The Legendary Past Michael Oakeshott on Imagination and Political Identity [Hardcover]

The book explores Oakeshott's thought on the key role human imagination plays in relation to the political. It addresses four main themes: imagination, foundational narratives, the question of political societies identities as well as that of human living-together, to use Hannah Arendts expression. The books main objective is to show that Oakeshott may be rightfully understood to be a philosopher of the imagination as well as a foundationalist thinker in the Arendtian narrative constructivist tradition.

The persuasiveness of Riendeau's interpretation rests on her very careful reading of Oakeshotts texts, so that even the sceptical reader has to admit that her line of argumentation is not artificially imposed on Oakeshott but is based on the ideas and vocabulary found across his entire corpus. She thus makes a significant contribution to the scholarship, and from now on no Oakeshott scholar  whether he agrees or disagrees with her conclusions  should ignore this important study.

The book explores Oakeshott's thought on the key role human imagination plays in relation to the political. It addresses four main themes: imagination, foundational narratives, the question of political societies identities as well as that of human living-together, to use Hannah Arendts expression. The books main objective is to show that Oakeshott may be rightfully understood to be a philosopher of the imagination as well as a foundationalist thinker in the Arendtian narrative constructivist tradition.