This classic work, first published in 1933, is here published for the first time in paperback in recognition of its enduring importance. Its theme is Modality: human experience recognized as a variety of independent, self-consistent worlds of discourse, each the invention of human intelligence, but each also to be understood as abstract and an arrest in human experience. The theme is pursued in a consideration of the practical, the historical and the scientific modes of understanding.

Preface to this edition Paul Franco; Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Experience and its modes; 3. Historical experience; 4. Scientific experience; 5. Practical experience; 6. Conclusion; Index.

Michael Oakeshott (1901-90) was a philosopher and a political theorist who wrote widely on the philosophy of aesthetics, education, history, law, political philosophy and religion. He is perhaps best known as a conservative political and social thinker.