Sounds So Nice...

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I had to blog it twice:

The rationalist finds "the intricacy of the world of time and contingency so unmanageable that he is bewitched by the offer of a quick escape into the bogus eternity of an ideology."-- Michael Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics

Comments

  1. Avram9:18 AM

    Am I supposed to be able to understand this without the context.

    Is Mr. Oakeshott trying to say "well what the appropriate action in a difficult situation is depends on the context at that time, so the idealogues who say they have principles and say things should be done this way and that way no matter what, they're ignoring the time element"?

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  2. gcallah9:24 AM

    It's a comment on the motive driving someone to embrace an ideology. Generally, I put up quotes because I like them, but a secondary motive is to pehaps get people who are puzzled by them to look up the context!

    And, please: Not being an ideologue does not mean not having principles!

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