Oakeshott and Confucian Constitutionalism

Is Michael Oakeshott relevant in East Asia? Some scholars find rich potential for a cross-cultural dialogue between the East Asian philosophical tradition, especially Confucianism and Daoism, and Oakeshott’s “poetic thinking.”1 Given Oakeshott’s interest in East Asian practical wisdom found in the teachings of Confucius and Zhuangzi, among others, this certainly is one way in which Oakeshott can be relevant in East Asia. But what about Oakeshott’s political theory, for which he is best known, despite some recent arguments against characterizing him as a “political” philosopher simpliciter?2 Given that Oakeshott’s political theory has long been neglected even by Anglo-American political theorists, it is hardly surprising that it is less popular, if not completely unknown, in East Asian academia. Even those who have been exposed to Oakeshott’s self-contained, postulates-constituted political theory, most fully articulated in his major work, On Human Conduct, are often puzzled over what to make of it, not only because of its unorthodox style but, more importantly, because of its self-conscious defiance of efforts to categorize it as either conservative or liberal,3 which are the terms casually employed to describe East Asian—especially South Korean and Japanese—domestic politics.