The Cambridge Companion to Isaiah Berlin
£24.99
Part of Cambridge Companions to Philosophy
- Editors:
- Joshua L. Cherniss, Georgetown University, Washington DC
- Steven B. Smith, Yale University, Connecticut
- Date Published: November 2018
- availability: Available
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9781316503058
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Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997) was a central figure in twentieth-century political thought. This volume highlights Berlin's significance for contemporary readers, covering not only his writings on liberty and liberalism, the Enlightenment and Romanticism, Russian thinkers and pluralism, but also the implications of his thought for political theory, history, and the social sciences, as well as the ethical challenges confronting political actors, and the nature and importance of practical judgment for politics and scholarship. His name and work are inseparable from the revival of political philosophy and the analysis of political extremism and defense of democratic liberalism following World War II. Berlin was primarily an essayist who spoke through commentary on other authors and, while his own commitments and allegiances are clear enough, much in his thought remains controversial. Berlin's work constitutes an unsystematic and incomplete, but nevertheless sweeping and profound, defense of political, ethical, and intellectual humanism in an anti-humanistic age.
Read more- Provides a comprehensive overview of the work and importance of Isaiah Berlin, including the full range of ideas and themes that motivated his work
- Brings together essays about Berlin by leading political theorists and historians, offering a range of perspectives
- Offers both appreciative and critical perspectives on Berlin's body of work, showing not only its relation to Berlin's own time but his enduring importance for ours
Reviews & endorsements
'… the two opening pieces on Berlin the man, one by Amos Oz, who died in December, and the other by Hardy and Joshua Cherniss, are superb, two of the best essays ever written about him. … The book captures the range of Berlin's work, from his early writings as an analytic philosopher and on Karl Marx in the 1930s to his essays on Russian thinkers, the Enlightenment, Counter-Enlightenment and Romanticism, from nationalism to pluralism and liberalism.' David Herman, New Statesman
Customer reviews
02nd Mar 2019 by HRDH
David Herman's review in the 'New Statesman' of 1 March 2019 – http://bit.ly/2C2bMUj – includes this: 'the two opening pieces on Berlin the man, one by Amos Oz, who died in December, and the other by [Henry] Hardy and Joshua Cherniss, are superb, two of the best essays ever written about him. Oz’s piece is only two pages, but manages to capture so much of Berlin’s Jewish and Russian roots and is a reminder of how much Israelis such as Oz, Shlomo Avineri and Avishai Margalit have contributed to our understanding of Berlin. The rest of the book [...] falls into several parts: Berlin on philosophy, the human sciences and political theory, Berlin and the history of ideas and Berlin and politics. It concludes with a piece from his papers, “The Lessons of History”, from the mid-1960s. The book captures the range of Berlin’s work, from his early writings as an analytic philosopher and on Karl Marx in the 1930s to his essays on Russian thinkers, the Enlightenment, Counter-Enlightenment and Romanticism, from nationalism to pluralism and liberalism. The essays do a good job of putting his work on liberalism in the crucial context of the Cold War, which he described in 1949 as “the battle between the creeds … the greatest since the Reformation and its aftermath”. The book marks a shift in thinking about Berlin from liberalism to pluralism. His writings on Negative and Positive Liberty in the 1950s made his name as a liberal thinker. In recent years, however, there has been a greater emphasis on his writings on pluralism and the clash of values, which have made him more relevant to today’s concerns about multiculturalism and identity politics.
Review was not posted due to profanity
×Product details
- Date Published: November 2018
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9781316503058
- length: 324 pages
- dimensions: 229 x 154 x 19 mm
- weight: 0.46kg
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
Editors' introduction: why Berlin? Why now? Steven B. Smith and Joshua L. Cherniss
Part I. Berlin the Man:
1. On Isaiah Berlin Amos Oz
2. The life and opinions of Isaiah Berlin Henry Hardy and Joshua L. Cherniss
Part II. Berlin on Philosophy, the Human Sciences, and Political Theory:
3. Berlin, analytic philosophy, and the revival of political philosophy Naomi Choi
4. 'The sense of reality': Berlin on political judgment, political ethics, and leadership Joshua L. Cherniss
Part III. Berlin and the History of Ideas:
5. Berlin on the nature and purpose of the history of ideas Ryan Patrick Hanley
6. Isaiah Berlin on Marx and Marxism Aurelian Craiutu
7. Privileged access: Isaiah Berlin and Russian thought Kathleen Parthe
8. Isaiah Berlin on the enlightenment and counter-enlightenment Steven B. Smith
9. Berlin's romantics and their ambiguous legacy Gina Gustavsson
Part IV. Berlin and Politics: Liberalism, Nationalism, and Pluralism:
10. Isaiah Berlin on nationalism, the modern Jewish condition, and Zionism Fania Oz-Salzberger
11. Negative liberty and the Cold War Ian Shapiro and Alicia Steinmetz
12. Isaiah Berlin: contested conceptions of liberty and liberalism Alan Ryan
13. Pluralism, relativism, and liberalism George Crowder
14. Liberalism, nationalism, pluralism: the political thought of Isaiah Berlin William A. Galston
Epilogue.
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