Isaiah Berlin
CBE FBA | |
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Born | |
Died | 5 November 1997 Oxford, England, United Kingdom | (aged 88)
Alma mater | Corpus Christi College, Oxford |
Spouse |
Aline de Gunzbourg (m. 1956) |
Era | 20th-century philosophy |
Region | Western philosophy |
School | |
Institutions | |
Doctoral students | |
Other notable students | |
Main interests |
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Notable ideas |
Sir Isaiah Berlin
Born in
An annual Isaiah Berlin Lecture is held at the Hampstead Synagogue, at
, has had a lasting influence.Early life
Berlin was born on 6 June 1909 into a wealthy
One particular childhood memory of the February Revolution marked his lifelong opposition to violence, with Berlin saying:
Well I was seven and a half and something, and then I was – did I tell you the terrible sight of the policeman being dragged – not policeman, a sharp shooter from the rooftop – being dragged away by a lynching bee […] In the early parts of the revolution, the only people who remained loyal to the Tsar was the police, the Pharaon, I've never seen [the term] Pharaon in the histories of the Russian Revolution. They existed, and they did sniping from the rooftops or attics. I saw a man like that, a Pharaon […]. That's not in the books, but it is true. And they sniped at the revolutionaries from roofs or attics and things. And this man was dragged down, obviously, by a crowd, and was being obviously taken to a not very agreeable fate, and I saw this man struggling in the middle of a crowd of about twenty […] [T]hat gave me a permanent horror of violence which has remained with me for the rest of my life.[16]
Feeling increasingly oppressed by life under
Berlin's native language was Russian, and his English was virtually nonexistent at first, but he reached proficiency in English within a year at around the age of 12.[18] In addition to Russian and English, Berlin was fluent in French, German, and Italian, and he knew Hebrew, Latin, and Ancient Greek. Despite his fluency in English, however, in later life Berlin's Oxford English accent would sound increasingly Russian in its vowel sounds.[19] Whenever he was described as an English philosopher, Berlin always insisted that he was not an English philosopher, but would forever be a Russian Jew: "I am a Russian Jew from Riga, and all my years in England cannot change this. I love England, I have been well treated here, and I cherish many things about English life, but I am a Russian Jew; that is how I was born and that is who I will be to the end of my life."[20][21]
Education
Berlin was educated at
made astonishing feats in the school's Junior Debating Society and the School Union Society. The rapid, even flow of his ideas, the succession of confident references to authors whom most of his contemporaries had never heard, left them mildly stupefied. Yet there was no backlash, no resentment at these breathless marathons, because Berlin's essential modesty and good manners eliminated jealousy and disarmed hostility.[22]
After leaving St Paul's, Berlin applied to Balliol College, Oxford, but was denied admission after a chaotic interview. Berlin decided to apply again, only to a different college: Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Berlin was admitted and commenced his literae humaniores degree. He graduated in 1928, taking first-class honours in his final examinations and winning the John Locke Prize for his performance in the philosophy papers, in which he outscored A. J. Ayer.[23] He subsequently took another degree at Oxford in philosophy, politics and economics, again taking first-class honours after less than a year on the course. He was appointed a tutor in philosophy at New College, Oxford,[citation needed] and soon afterwards was elected to a prize fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford, the first unconverted Jew to achieve this fellowship at All Souls.[24]
While still a student, he befriended Ayer (with whom he was to share a lifelong amicable rivalry),
Personal life
In 1956 Berlin married Aline Elisabeth Yvonne Halban, née de Gunzbourg (1915–2014), the former wife of nuclear physicist
He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the
Berlin died in Oxford on 5 November 1997, aged 88.[5] He is buried there in Wolvercote Cemetery. On his death, the obituarist of The Independent wrote: "he was a man of formidable intellectual power with a rare gift for understanding a wide range of human motives, hopes and fears, and a prodigiously energetic capacity for enjoyment – of life, of people in all their variety, of their ideas and idiosyncrasies, of literature, of music, of art".[36] The same publication reported: "Isaiah Berlin was often described, especially in his old age, by means of superlatives: the world's greatest talker, the century's most inspired reader, one of the finest minds of our time. There is no doubt that he showed in more than one direction the unexpectedly large possibilities open to us at the top end of the range of human potential."[36] The front page of The New York Times concluded: "His was an exuberant life crowded with joys – the joy of thought, the joy of music, the joy of good friends. ... The theme that runs throughout his work is his concern with liberty and the dignity of human beings .... Sir Isaiah radiated well-being."[37]
Thought
Part of a series on |
Liberalism |
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Though like Our Lord and Socrates he does not publish much, he thinks and says a great deal and has had an enormous influence on our times
—Maurice Bowra on Isaiah Berlin's publishing record.[38]
Lecturing and composition
Berlin did not enjoy writing, and his published work (including both his essays and books) was produced through dictation to a tape-recorder, or by the transcription of his improvised lectures and talks from recorded tapes. The work of transcribing his spoken word often placed a strain on his secretaries.[39] This reliance on dictation extended to his letters, which were recorded on a Grundig tape recorder. He would often dictate these letters while simultaneously conversing with friends, and his secretary would then transcribe them. At times, the secretary would inadvertently include the author's jokes and laughter in the transcribed text.[39] The product of this unique methodology was a writing style that mimicked his spoken discourse—animated, quick, and constantly jumping from one idea to another. His everyday conversation was literally mirrored in his works, complete with intricate grammar and punctuation.[39]
"Two Concepts of Liberty"
Berlin is known for his inaugural lecture, "Two Concepts of Liberty," delivered in 1958 as Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at Oxford.[40][41] The lecture, later published as an essay, reintroduced the study of political philosophy to the methods of analytic philosophy. Berlin defined 'negative liberty' as absence of coercion or interference in private actions by an external political body, which Berlin derived from the Hobbesian definition of liberty. 'Positive liberty' Berlin maintained, could be thought of as self-mastery, which asks not what we are free from, but what we are free to do. Berlin contended that modern political thinkers often conflated positive liberty with rational action, based upon a rational knowledge to which, it is argued, only a certain elite or social group has access. This rationalist conflation was open to political abuses, which encroached on negative liberty, when such interpretations of positive liberty were, in the nineteenth century, used to defend nationalism, paternalism, social engineering, historicism, and collective rational control over human destiny.[42]
Counter-Enlightenment
Berlin's lectures on
Value pluralism
For Berlin, values are creations of mankind, rather than products of nature waiting to be discovered. He argued, on the basis of the epistemic and empathetic access we have to other cultures across history, that the nature of mankind is such that certain values – the importance of individual liberty, for instance – will hold true across cultures, and this is what he meant by objective pluralism. Berlin's argument was partly grounded in
"The Hedgehog and the Fox"
"The Hedgehog and the Fox", a title referring to a fragment of the ancient Greek poet Archilochus, was one of Berlin's most popular essays with the general public, reprinted in numerous editions. Of the classification that gives the essay its title, Berlin once said "I never meant it very seriously. I meant it as a kind of enjoyable intellectual game, but it was taken seriously."[46]
Berlin expands upon this idea to divide writers and thinkers into two categories: hedgehogs, who view the world through the lens of a single defining idea (examples given include Plato), and foxes, who draw on a wide variety of experiences and for whom the world cannot be boiled down to a single idea (examples given include Aristotle).[47]
Positive liberty
Berlin promoted the notion of "positive liberty" in the sense of an intrinsic link between positive freedom and participatory, Athenian-style, democracy.[48] There is a contrast with "negative liberty." Liberals in the English-speaking tradition call for negative liberty, meaning a realm of private autonomy from which the state is legally excluded. In contrast French liberals ever since the French Revolution more often promote "positive liberty" – that is, liberty insofar as it is tethered to collectively defined ends. They praise the state as an essential tool to emancipate the people.[49][50]
Other work
Berlin's lecture "Historical Inevitability" (1954) focused on a controversy in the
Commemoration
A number of commemorative events for Isaiah Berlin are held at Oxford University, as well as scholarships given out in his name, including the Wolfson Isaiah Berlin Clarendon Scholarship, The Isaiah Berlin Visiting Professorship, and the annual Isaiah Berlin Lectures. The Berlin Quadrangle of Wolfson College, Oxford, is named after him. The Isaiah Berlin Association of Latvia was founded in 2011 to promote the ideas and values of Sir Isaiah Berlin, in particular by organising an annual Isaiah Berlin day and lectures in his memory.
Published works
Apart from Unfinished Dialogue, all books/editions listed from 1978 onwards are edited (or, where stated, co-edited) by Henry Hardy, and all but Karl Marx are compilations or transcripts of lectures, essays, and letters. Details given are of first and latest UK editions, and current US editions. Most titles are also available as e-books. The twelve titles marked with a '+' are available in the US market in revised editions from Princeton University Press, with additional material by Berlin, and (except in the case of Karl Marx) new forewords by contemporary authors; the 5th edition of Karl Marx is also available in the UK.
- +ISBN 978-0691156507.
- The Age of Enlightenment: The Eighteenth-Century Philosophers, New American Library, 1956. Out of print. Second edition (2017) available online only.[56]
- +ISBN 978-1400846634.
- Four Essays on Liberty, Oxford University Press, 1969. Superseded by Liberty.
- Vico and Herder: Two Studies in the History of Ideas, Chatto and Windus, 1976. Superseded by Three Critics of the Enlightenment.
- Russian Thinkers (edited by Henry Hardy and Aileen Kelly), Hogarth Press, 1978. 2nd ed. (revised by Henry Hardy), Penguin, 2008. ISBN 978-0141442204.
- +Concepts and Categories: Philosophical Essays, Hogarth Press, 1978. Pimlico. ISBN 978-0691157498.
- +ISBN 978-0712666909. 2nd ed., 2013, Princeton University Press.
- +Personal Impressions, Hogarth Press, 1980. 2nd ed., Pimlico, 1998. ISBN 978-0691157702.
- +The Crooked Timber of Humanity: Chapters in the History of Ideas, John Murray, 1990. 2nd ed., Pimlico, 2013. ISBN 978-0691155937.
- The Magus of the North: J. G. Hamann and the Origins of Modern Irrationalism, John Murray, 1993. Superseded by Three Critics of the Enlightenment.
- +The Sense of Reality: Studies in Ideas and their History, Chatto & Windus, 1996. Pimlico. ISBN 978-0691182872.
- The Proper Study of Mankind: An Anthology of Essays (edited by Henry Hardy and Roger Hausheer) [a one-volume selection from the whole of Berlin's work], Chatto & Windus, 1997. 2nd ed., Vintage, 2013. ISBN 978-0099582762.
- +The Roots of Romanticism (lectures delivered in 1965), Chatto & Windus, 1999. [imlico. ISBN 978-0691156200.
- +ISBN 978-0691157658.
- +The Power of Ideas, Chatto & Windus, 2000. Pimlico. ISBN 978-0691157603.
- +Freedom and Its Betrayal: Six Enemies of Human Liberty (lectures delivered in 1952), Chatto & Windus, 2002. Pimlico. ISBN 978-0691114996.
- Liberty [revised and expanded edition of Four Essays on Liberty], Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0199249893.
- The Soviet Mind: Russian Culture under Communism, Brookings Institution Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0815728870.
- +Political Ideas in the Romantic Age: Their Rise and Influence on Modern Thought (1952), Chatto & Windus, 2006. ISBN 978-0691126951.
- (with Beata Polanowska-Sygulska) Unfinished Dialogue, Prometheus, 2006. ISBN 978-1591023760.
Letters
- ISBN 978-0712635653.
- Enlightening: Letters 1946–1960 (edited by Henry Hardy and Jennifer Holmes), Chatto & Windus, 2009. ISBN 978-1844138340.
- Building: Letters 1960–1975 (edited by Henry Hardy and Mark Pottle), Chatto & Windus, 2013. ISBN 978-0701185763.
- Affirming: Letters 1975–1997 (edited by Henry Hardy and Mark Pottle), Chatto & Windus, 2015. ISBN 978-1784740085.
See also
References
- ^ a b Cherniss, Joshua; Hardy, Henry (25 May 2010). "Isaiah Berlin". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
- ^ Rosen, Frederick (2005). Classical Utilitarianism from Hume to Mill. Routledge. p. 251.
According to Berlin, the most eloquent of all defenders of freedom and privacy [was] Benjamin Constant, who had not forgotten the Jacobin dictatorship
- ^ Brockliss, Laurence; Robertson, Ritchie (2016). Isaiah Berlin and the Enlightenment. Oxford University Press.
Berlin refers to Diderot and Lessing as 'two of my favorite thinkers in the eighteenth century.'
- ^ His date of birth was officially registered as 24 May, according to the Julian calendar then in force in the Russian Empire. Latvian State Historical Archive, Rīgas rabināts, 4346. fonds, 2. apraksts, 58. lieta, 71. lp. o. p., 72. lp.
- ^ a b "Philosopher and political thinker Sir Isaiah Berlin dies". BBC News. 8 November 1997. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
- ^ "Concepts and Categories – Philosophical Essays" (PDF). Pimlico. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 May 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
- ^ The New York Review of Books, 23 October 2014, "A Message to the 21st Century", http://www.sjpcommunications.org/images/uploads/documents/Isaiah_Berlin.pdf Archived 9 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Joshua L. Cherniss and Steven B. Smith (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Isaiah Berlin, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2018, p. 13.
- ^ a b Isaiah Berlin: In Conversation with Steven Lukes, Salmagundi, No. 120 (Fall 1998), pp. 52–134
- ^ a b "Isaiah Berlin: Connection with Riga" (PDF). Retrieved 24 March 2018.
- ^ In their matrimonial record from 1906, available at the Jewish genealogy site JewishGen.org, mother's name is spelled Musya Volshonok.
- ^ Ignatieff 1998, p. 30
- ^ Ignatieff 1998, p. 21
- ^ Ignatieff 1998, p. 26
- ^ Ignatieff 1998, p. 24
- ^ Isaiah Berlin and the Policeman Posted on 29 March 2014, Lesley Chamberlain
- ^ Ignatieff 1998, p. 31
- ^ Ignatieff 1998, pp. 33–37
- ^ The Book of Isaiah: Personal Impressions of Isaiah Berlin, edited by Henry Hardy, (Boydell & Brewer 2013), p. 180
- ^ Cultural Diversity, Liberal Pluralism and Schools: Isaiah Berlin and Education (Routledge, 2006), Neil Burtonwood, p. 11
- ^ Dubnov A.M. (2012) "Becoming a Russian-Jew". In: Isaiah Berlin. Palgrave Studies in Cultural and Intellectual History'. Palgrave Macmillan, New York
- ^ Bonavia, Michael (1990). London Before I Forget. The Self Publishing Association Ltd. p. 29.
- ^ Ignatieff 1998, p. 57
- ^ "Sir Isaiah's modest Zionism". Haaretz.
- ^ Exiles Memorial Center.
- ^ "A Biography of Isaiah Berlin".
- JSTOR 4634869. Archived from the original(PDF) on 21 October 2013.
- ^ London Gazette, 1 January 1946.
- ^ Brooks, David (2 May 2014), "Love Story", The New York Times.
- ^ "Lady Berlin – obituary". The Telegraph. 26 August 2014. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ Ignatieff 1998, p. 268
- ^ "Founding Council". The Rothermere American Institute. Archived from the original on 17 November 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
- ^ Isaiah Berlin, Building: Letters 1960–1975, ed. Henry Hardy and Mark Pottle (London: Chatto and Windus, 2013), 377–378.
- ^ a b Hardy, Henry (7 November 1997). "Obituary: Sir Isaiah Berlin". The Independent. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
- ^ Berger, Marilyn (10 November 1997). "Isaiah Berlin, Philosopher And Pluralist, Is Dead at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
- Noel Annanquoted in Lloyd-Jones, p. 53.
- ^ a b c Ignatieff 1998, p. 113
- ISBN 978-0-415-21246-5.
Isaiah Berlin's essay 'Two Concepts of Liberty'* is one of the most important pieces of post-war political philosophy. It was originally given as a lecture in Oxford in 1958 and has been much discussed since then. In this extract from the lecture Berlin identifies the two different concepts of freedom – negative and positive – which provide the framework for his wide-ranging discussion.
- ^ "Two Concepts of Liberty". berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ISBN 9781786838957.
- S2CID 144957435.
- OCLC 443072603.
- OCLC 14371928.
- OCLC 26358922.
- ISBN 978-0-295-74738-5.
- ^ Isaiah Berlin, "Two concepts of liberty." Liberty Reader (Routledge, 2017) pp. 33–57 online.
- ^ Michael C. Behrent, "Liberal Dispositions: Recent scholarship on French Liberalism." Modern Intellectual History 13.2 (2016): 447–477.
- ^ Steven J. Heyman, "Positive and negative liberty." Chicago-Kent Law Review. 68 (1992): 81–90. online
- ISBN 978-0691157702– via press.princeton.edu.
- ^ "The Isaiah Berlin Day in Riga 2015". www.fondsdots.lv.
- ^ "Isaiah Berlin Lectures".
- ^ "Ben-Gurion University of the Negev – Rare correspondence between Sir Isaiah Berlin and David Ben-Gurion on "Who is a Jew?" donated to BGU". in.bgu.ac.il.
- ^ "Isaiah Berlin Society". St Paul's School.
- ^ "The Age of Enlightenment" (PDF). 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
Sources
- OCLC 42666274. Authorised biography.
Further reading
Books
- Baum, Bruce and Robert Nichols, eds. Isaiah Berlin and the Politics of Freedom: 'Two Concepts of Liberty' 50 Years Later, (Routledge, 2013).
- Benhabib, Seyla. Exile, Statelessness, and Migration: Playing Chess with History from Hannah Arendt to Isaiah Berlin (Princeton University Press, 2018)
- Blattberg, Charles. From Pluralist to Patriotic Politics: Putting Practice First, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 0198296886. A critique of Berlin's value pluralism. Blattberg has also criticised Berlin for taking politics "too seriously."
- Brockliss, Laurence and Ritchie Robertson (eds.), Isaiah Berlin and the Enlightenment, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
- Caute, David, Isaac and Isaiah: The Covert Punishment of a Cold War Heretic (Yale University Press, 2013)
- Cherniss, Joshua, and Steven Smith, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Isaiah Berlin (Cambridge University Press, 2018). excerpt
- Crowder, George. Isaiah Berlin: Liberty and Pluralism, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2004. ISBN 0745624766.
- Crowder, George. The Problem of Value Pluralism: Isaiah Berlin and Beyond (Routledge, 2019)
- Dubnov, Arie M. Isaiah Berlin: The Journey of a Jewish Liberal (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).
- Galipeau, Claude. Isaiah Berlin's Liberalism, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994. ISBN 0198278683.
- ISBN 069104824X.
- Hardy, Henry, ed. The Book of Isaiah: Personal Impressions of Isaiah Berlin Archived 1 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine (The Boydell Press, 2009).
- Ignatieff, Michael. Isaiah Berlin: A Life (Chatto and Windus, 1998)
- Lyons, Johnny. The Philosophy of Isaiah Berlin (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020). excerpt
- Müller, Jan-Werner, ed. Isaiah Berlin’s Cold War Liberalism (Springer, 2019).
- Walicki, Andrzej. Encounters with Isaiah Berlin: Story of an Intellectual Friendship (Peter Lang, 2011).
Tributes, obituaries, articles and profiles
- Sir Isaiah Berlin – May He Rest in Peace.
- A tribute to Isaiah Berlin & A conversation with Isaiah Berlin on The Philosopher's Zone, ABC, 6 & 13 June 2009.
- Isaiah Berlin and the history of ideas.
- The Isaiah Berlin Virtual Library, Wolfson College, Oxford.
- A podcast interview with Henry Hardy on Berlin's pluralism.
- A recording of the last of Berlin's Mellon Lectures, Wolfson College, Oxford.
- Biographical information on Sir Isaiah Berlin.
- A section from the last essay written by Isaiah Berlin, The New York Review of Books, Vol. XLV, Number 8 (1998).
- Ned O'Gorman, 'My dinners with Isaiah: the music of a philosopher's life – Sir Isaiah Berlin' – includes related article on Isaiah Berlin's commitment to ideals of genuine understanding over intellectual mastery, Commonweal, 14 August 1998.
- Tribute from the Chief Rabbi at his funeral.
- Anecdote from Wolfson College's tribute page.
- Hywel Williams: An English liberal stooge.
- Letter to Berlin from Tony Blair, 23 October 1997.
- Assaf Inbari, "The Spectacles of Isaiah Berlin", Azure (Spring 2006).
- Obituary by Henry Hardy.
- Joshua Cherniss, 'Isaiah Berlin: A Defence'Oxonian Review
- Joshua Cherniss, 'Freedom and Philosophers'Oxonian Review
- Isaiah Berlin, Beyond the Wit, Evan R. Goldstein.
- Berlin archive and author page from The New York Review of Books.
External links
External videos | |
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Booknotes interview with Michael Ignatieff on Isaiah Berlin: A Life, 24 January 1999, C-SPAN |
- Website and bibliography of Isaiah Berlin's writings
- Full text of Concepts and Categories Archived 19 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- Entry on Isaiah Berlin in the International Encyclopedia of Ethics
- Cherniss, Joshua; Hardy, Henry. "Isaiah Berlin". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Bibliography at Wolfson College
- Bragg, Melvyn, "War in the 20th Century", In Our Time, BBC Radio Four, including a discussion with Michael Ignatieff, biographer, of the ideas of Berlin, a year after the latter's death
- Sir Isaiah Berlin's Blue Plaque on Headington House
- Isaiah Berlin Day in Riga
- Broadcasts