Beyond Epistemology: Experience and Understanding in Michael Oakeshott

Usually, the criticism of the modern foundational epistemological project and the representational conception of knowledge is associated with the philosophies of Heidegger and Wittgenstein. However, in an epigone of British idealism such as Michael Oakeshott, one can also recognize a singular position against philosophical foundationalism, representational epistemology, the theory of truth as correspondence and universalist rationalism. This article aims to reconstruct Oakeshott's philosophical inquiries into the conditions of human experience and understanding. Through the exegesis of his philosophical essays, we propose an integral reading of his systematic reflection on the modalities of human knowledge, which coherently combines idealistic, skeptical, and hermeneutical motives beyond the temptations of traditional epistemology.