“By one road or another, by conviction, by its supposed inevitability, by its alleged success, or even quite unreflectively, almost all politics today have become Rationalist or near-Rationalist.”
Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (1962)
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Michael Oakeshott 12
British philosopher 1901–1990Related quotes
“The only satisfied rationalists today are blinkered scientists or Marxists.”
Source: Sartre: Romantic Rationalist (1953), Ch. 7, p. 113

On Freedom (1958)
Context: The true Enlightenment thinker, the true rationalist, never wants to talk anyone into anything. No, he does not even want to convince; all the time he is aware that he may be wrong. Above all, he values the intellectual independence of others too highly to want to convince them in important matters. He would much rather invite contradiction, preferably in the form of rational and disciplined criticism. He seeks not to convince but to arouse — to challenge others to form free opinions.