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In 1921, at the age of eleven, Isaiah Berlin arrived in England from Riga, Latvia. By the time he was thirty he was at the heart of British intellectual life. He has remained its commanding presence ever since, and few would dispute that he is Britain's greatest living thinker. His reputation extends worldwide - as a great conversationalist, intellectual historian, and man of letters. He has been called the century's most inspired reader.
Yet Berlin's contributions to thought - in particular to moral and political philosophy, and to liberal theory - are little understood, and surprisingly neglected by the academic world. In this book, they are shown to be animated by a single, powerful, subversive idea: value-pluralism, which affirms the reality of a deep conflict between ultimate human values which reason cannot resolve.
Though bracingly clear-headed, humane, and realist, Berlin's value-pluralism runs against the dominant Western traditions, secular and religious, which avow an ultimate harmony of values. It supports a highly distinctive restatement of liberalism in Berlin's work - an agonistic liberalism, which is founded not on rational choice but on the radical choices we make when faced with intractable dilemmas.
It is this new statement of liberalism, the central subject of John Gray's lively and lucid book, which gives the liberal intellectual tradition a new lease on life, a new source of light, and which comprises Berlin's central and enduring legacy.
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Subjects
Contributions in philosophy, Contributions in political science, Great Britain, Philosophy, Political science, Philosophers, great britain, Philosophy, british, Philosophy, modern, 20th century, Political science, philosophy, Berlin, isaiah, sir, 1909-1997, Great britain, biographyPlaces
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Isaiah Berlin: An Interpretation of His Thought
2020, Princeton University Press
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0691213380 9780691213385
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Isaiah Berlin: An Interpretation of His Thought
2013, Princeton University Press
in English
0691157421 9780691157429
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Book Details
Edition Notes
Includes bibliographical references (p. [169]-177) and index.
Originally published: Hammersmith, London : HarperCollins Publishers, 1995.
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In 1921, at the age of eleven, Isaiah Berlin arrived in England from Riga, Latvia. By the time he was thirty he was at the heart of British intellectual life. He has remained its commanding presence ever since, and few would dispute that he was one of Britain's greatest thinkers. His reputation extends worldwide--as a great conversationalist, intellectual historian, and man of letters. He has been called the century's most inspired reader.
Yet Berlin's contributions to thought--in particular to moral and political philosophy, and to liberal theory--are little understood, and surprisingly neglected by the academic world. In this book, they are shown to be animated by a single, powerful, subversive idea: value-pluralism which affirms the reality of a deep conflict between ultimate human values that reason cannot resolve. Though bracingly clear-headed, humane and realist, Berlin's value-pluralism runs against the dominant Western traditions, secular and religious, which avow an ultimate harmony of values. It supports a highly distinctive restatement of liberalism in Berlin's work--an agnostic liberalism, which is founded not on rational choice but on the radical choices we make when faced with intractable dilemmas. It is this new statement of liberalism, the central subject of John Gray's lively and lucid book, which gives the liberal intellectual tradition a new lease on life, a new source of life, and which comprises Berlin's central and enduring legacy.
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