The Cambridge Companion to Isaiah Berlin
The Cambridge Companion to Isaiah Berlin
Steven B. Smith, Yale University, Connecticut
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.
- 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
Product details
December 2018Hardback
9781107138506
324 pages
235 × 157 × 23 mm
0.58kg
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.
