What Is Michael Oakeshott's Argument Of Human Conduct?

In his seminal work on cultural relativism – On Human Conduct, Michael Oakeshott suggests that ‘Human conduct’ is an ideal character, as well as a instrument of theoretical inquiry. He suggests that the performing an action is usually in line with satisfying certain wants. In his book “On Human Conduct”, Michael Oakeshott elaborates on the concept of human conduct, which he considers to be completely distinct from human behavior. For him, conduct never stems from an impulse, physiological need or even organic will. Instead, any human conduct exhibits only human intelligence. Therefore, human conduct, according to Oakeshott, is a response mediated by an agent, and is contingent with a situation that is directly attributable to a desired outcome. This
Further, Oakeshott argues that human conduct postulates an agent, which is largely defined by the human’s own understanding; and with each understanding, the human is invited to participate in actions, perform a conduct or choose from among a large collection of actions, which would be most suitable as a response to the situation in which the human finds himself.
In Oakeshott’s arguments, the term ‘agent’ is most important, because it is considered to be free. Since Oakshott does not believe human conduct to be mediated by organic will, the agent is completely free and unconstrained. Therefore, all conduct is performed in the context of situations that are clearly understood, and engagements that are purely formed out of intelligence. Though Oakeshott argues that this agent is free, he does not exclude this agency from allowing humans to