Both Oakeshott and Polanyi were led, via their focus on knowledge that escaped the confi nes of the rational, to manifest a simultaneous respect for social traditions and the economic marketplace. Polanyi's critique of rationalism inspired him to valorize both the tacit knowledge embodied in networks of social tradition and the spontaneous orders that emerged out of largescale market interactions. Oakeshott's skepticism about abstract problem solving drove him to commend “traditional” forms of knowledge and to assail government interventions that were “consciously planned and deliberately executed.” The modern sensibility, they feared, was excessively sanguine about its capacity to construct entirely new social orders based on rational schemes. In contrast, they saw a hidden and often unarticulated wisdom in traditional beliefs and practices and an organic logic in the apparently chaotic exchanges that were characteristic of market societies.

Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, loc. 284