This book is Michael Oakeshott's discussion of the relationships between the most important perspectives from which we experience the world.

This classic work of analytical philosophy is here published for the first time in paperback.

Since Michael Oakeshott spoke of education as initiation into 'the conversation of mankind' more than fifty years ago, the idea has inspired a diverse array of thinkers and continues to be invoked today by those seeking to resist the influence of managerialism and narrow instrumentalism in educational policy and practice. Education and Conversation draws together papers written by scholars from both the analytic and continental philosophical traditions to offer a variety of perspectives on the implications of Oakeshott's educational ideas. The metaphor of the conversation of mankind is explored, together with the roots of Oakeshott's thinking in his early philosophical work, the relevance of his ideas to the concept of Bildung, and the significance of his political conservatism in evaluating the seemingly progressive potential of his educational ideas. In addition, concepts prominent in Oakeshott's thought are taken up and brought to bear on contemporary philosophical discussions about education, learning and development, including the nature of initiation, the phenomenology of listening, and the value of the liberal arts tradition. Education and Conversation shows how the idea of conversation illuminates both the character and the ends of education, yielding insight into the scope and limits of the philosophy of education and the character of philosophical inquiry more generally.

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 Arendt's expression. The book's 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.

List of members issued with v. 35-46 with separate paging.