The Democratic Theory of Michael Oakeshott by Michael Minch

Author:Michael Minch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Oakeshott, democratic theory, political theory, liberal theory, democracy, deliberative theory
ISBN: 9781845403881
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2012
Published: 2012-03-19T00:00:00+00:00

is the only kind of argument in which an agent can recommend an action to himself, and its reasons are the only kind of reasons which may legitimately be adduced for having made this rather than that choice ... .

Doing as an engagement of reflective consciousness, then, postulates a deliberation ... But deliberating as a specific activity ... may be recognized as a counterpoise to the inherent uncertainty of doing. 139

That is, deliberation is a necessary or essential aspect of what a person chooses, if that choice is a reflection of intelligence (on Oakeshott’s terms, as discussed above), and one might also clearly conclude if such choice is to be rational. This is a mode of thought which is personal before it becomes interpersonal. Further, deliberation is a means to “abate contingency”. Unsurprisingly, having discussed deliberation as I have just summarized, he turns to the matter of persuasion and persuasive speech. Because deliberation is “the characteristic idiom of reflection in conduct, persuasion may be said to be the characteristic idiom of speech”. His point seems to be that persuasion is the “distinctive character” in “argumentative discourse, in negotiation, or in debate” where such utterance is “unequivocally” about “persuasive argument” designed to recommend and to prompt choice about what shall be done. 140 Although he offers an argument for the claim that persuasion is the characteristic idiom of speech, it is, I think, unpersuasive. His argument aside (it is a small matter for the concerns here, so I need not examine it), it is hard to conclude that persuasion is what is characteristic about speech. I have quoted this claim, however, because it does intimate the importance for Oakeshott of not only deliberation but also of persuasion.

After explaining deliberation in the first essay, he turns to its application and meaning in the second, in respect to the civil condition. What distinguishes political thought and utterance, he argues, “is its character as deliberation about respublica in terms of the bonum civile ; that is, about the conditions cives should be authoritatively required to subscribe to and be constrained to observe”. 141 This engagement is deliberative and argumentative and intends to be persuasive. Such political deliberation is “conditional upon the postulates of human conduct, and of moral and civil association ... ”. 142 Importantly, he folds the meaning of deliberation, argumentation, and the intent to persuade into the parameters set by the proper postulates of human conduct and civil association, which he notes is moral association. Indeed, he writes, “Civil association is a moral condition” as he begins his discussion of what deliberation entails. 143 Deliberation and argument, then, among other things, will properly respect the agency, individuality, freedom, contingency, and moral character of others.

It follows that, because civil association is a moral condition,

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