View source for Isaiah Berlin

{{Short description|British philosopher (1909–1997)}}
{{about |the 20th-century philosopher|the 18th-century rabbi|Isaiah Berlin (rabbi)}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox philosopher
|region           = [[Western philosophy]]
|era              = [[20th-century philosophy]]
|honorific_prefix = [[Sir]]
|name             = Isaiah Berlin 
|honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|OM|CBE|FBA|size=100%}}
|image            = IsaiahBerlin1983.jpg
|caption          = Berlin in 1983 
|birth_date       = {{birth date|1909|6|6|df=yes}}
|birth_place      = [[Riga]], [[Governorate of Livonia|Livonia]], [[Russian Empire]]<br />(now [[Latvia]])
|death_date       = {{death date and age|df=yes|1997|11|5|1909|6|6}}
|death_place      = [[Oxford]], England
|spouse           = {{marriage|Aline de Gunzbourg|1956}}
|alma_mater       = [[Corpus Christi College, Oxford]]
|school_tradition = {{hlist | [[Analytic philosophy|Analytic]] | [[liberalism]]<ref name=sep/>}}
|notable_ideas    = {{hlist | [[Negative liberty|Negative]]/[[positive liberty]] distinction | [[Counter-Enlightenment]] | [[value pluralism]]}}
|notable_works    = "[[Two Concepts of Liberty]]"
|institutions     = {{Plainlist|
* [[New College, Oxford]]
* [[All Souls College, Oxford]]
* [[Wolfson College, Oxford]]}}
|main_interests   = {{hlist | [[Political philosophy]] | [[philosophy of history]] | [[history of ideas]] | [[ethics]] | [[Marxism]] | [[modern history]] | [[Russian history]] | [[Russian literature]] | [[Romanticism]]}}
|doctoral_students= {{flatlist|
* [[Frederick C. Beiser]]
* [[James H. Billington]]
* [[David McLellan (political scientist)|David McLellan]]
* [[Larry Siedentop]]
* [[Yuli Tamir]]
* [[Charles Taylor (philosopher)|Charles Taylor]]
}}
|notable_students = {{flatlist|
* [[Marshall Berman]]
* [[G. A. Cohen]]
* [[Bob Rae]]
}}
}}
'''Sir Isaiah Berlin''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OM|CBE|FBA}} (6 June 1909<ref>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.</ref> – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, [[philosopher]], and [[historian of ideas]].<ref name = bbcobit/> Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks were sometimes recorded and transcribed, and many of his spoken words were converted into published essays and books, both by himself and by others, especially by his principal editor from 1974, [[Henry Hardy]].

Born in [[Riga]] (now the capital of [[Latvia]], then a part of the [[Russian Empire]]), he moved to [[Petrograd]], Russia, at the age of 6, where he witnessed the [[Russian Revolution]]. In 1921 his family moved to England, and he was educated at [[St Paul's School, London]], and [[Corpus Christi College, Oxford]].<ref name = conccat/> In 1932, at the age of 23, Berlin was elected to a prize fellowship at [[All Souls College, Oxford]]. In addition to his own output, he translated works by [[Ivan Turgenev]] from Russian into English. During the [[Second World War]] he worked for the [[British Diplomatic Service]]. 

From 1957 to 1967 Berlin was [[Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory]] at the [[University of Oxford]]. He was the president of the [[Aristotelian Society]] from 1963 to 1964. In 1966 he played a role in creating [[Wolfson College, Oxford]], and became its founding president. Berlin was appointed a [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] in 1946, [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in 1957, and appointed to the [[Order of Merit]] in 1971. He was the president of the [[British Academy]] from 1974 to 1978. He also received the 1979 [[Jerusalem Prize]] for his lifelong defence of civil liberties, and in 1994 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws at the [[University of Toronto]], for which occasion he prepared a "short credo" (as he called it in a letter to a friend), now known as "A Message to the Twenty-First Century", to be read on his behalf at the ceremony.<ref>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 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109142250/http://www.sjpcommunications.org/images/uploads/documents/Isaiah_Berlin.pdf |date=9 January 2021 }}</ref>

An annual Isaiah Berlin Lecture is held at [[Hampstead Synagogue]], at [[Wolfson College, Oxford]], at the British Academy, and in Riga. Berlin's work on [[Contributions to liberal theory#Isaiah Berlin|liberal theory]] and on [[value pluralism]], as well as his opposition to [[Marxism]] and [[communism]], has had a lasting influence.

== Early life ==
[[File:Isaiah Berlin plaque Riga.JPG|thumb|Plaque marking what was once Berlin's childhood home (designed by [[Mikhail Eisenstein]]) in Riga, engraved in Latvian, English, and Hebrew with the tribute "The British philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin lived in this house 1909–1915"]]
[[File:Spb_06-2012_English_Embankment_01.jpg|thumb|The [[English Embankment|Angliyskaya Embankment]] in [[Saint Petersburg]], where Berlin lived as a child during the Russian Revolutions]]
Isaiah Berlin was born on 6 June 1909 into a wealthy [[Jewish]] family, the only son of Mendel Berlin, a timber trader (and a direct descendant of [[Shneur Zalman]], founder of [[Chabad Hasidism]]), and his wife Marie (''née'' Volshonok).<ref>Joshua L. Cherniss and Steven B. Smith (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Isaiah Berlin, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2018, p. 13.</ref><ref name="Isaiah Berlin 1998 pp. 52">''Isaiah Berlin: In Conversation with Steven Lukes'', Salmagundi, No. 120 (Fall 1998), pp. 52–134</ref> His family owned a timber company, one of the largest in the Baltics,<ref name="ISAIAH BERLIN:CONNECTION WITH RIGA">{{cite web|url=http://www.isaiahberlin.org/system/articles/en_pdfs/000/000/003/original/Isaiah_Berlin.Connection_with_Riga.pdf?1400230885|title=Isaiah Berlin: Connection with Riga |access-date=24 March 2018}}</ref> as well as forests in Russia,<ref name="Isaiah Berlin 1998 pp. 52"/> from where the timber was floated down the [[Daugava river]] to its sawmills in Riga. As his father, who was the head of the Riga Association of Timber Merchants,<ref name="ISAIAH BERLIN:CONNECTION WITH RIGA"/> worked for the company in its dealings with Western companies, he was fluent not only in [[Yiddish]], Russian, and German, but also in French and English. His Russian-speaking mother, Marie (Musya) Volshonok,<ref>In their matrimonial record from 1906, available at the Jewish genealogy site JewishGen.org, mother's name is spelled ''Musya Volshonok''.</ref> was also fluent in Yiddish and [[Latvian language|Latvian]].<ref name=ignatieff30>{{harvnb|Ignatieff|1998|p=30}}</ref> Isaiah Berlin spent his first six years in Riga and later lived in [[Andreapol]] (a small timber town near [[Pskov]], effectively owned by the family business)<ref name=ignatieff21>{{harvnb|Ignatieff|1998|p=21}}</ref> and [[Petrograd]] (now St Petersburg). In Petrograd, the family lived first on [[Vasilevsky Island]] and then on Angliiskii Prospekt on the mainland. On Angliiskii Prospekt, they shared their building with other tenants, including an assistant Minister of Finnish affairs namned Ivanov, Princess Emeretinsky, and the composer [[Maximilian Steinberg]] with his wife Nadezhda Rimskaya-Korsakova, the daughter of [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Berlin |first1=Isaiah |last2=Lukes |first2=Steven |date=1998 |title=Isaiah Berlin: In Conversation with Steven Lukes |journal=Salmagundi |issue=120, Fall|pages=59–60}}</ref> With the onset of the October Revolution of 1917, the fortunes of the building's tenants were rapidly reversed, with both Princess Emeretinsky and Rimsky-Korsakov's daughter soon being made to stoke the building's stoves and sweep the yards.<ref name=ignatieff26>{{harvnb|Ignatieff|1998|p=26}}</ref> Berlin witnessed the [[February Revolution|February]] and [[October Revolution]]s both from his apartment windows and from walks in the city with his governess, where he recalled the crowds of protesters marching on the [[Palace Square|Winter Palace Square]].<ref name=ignatieff24>{{harvnb|Ignatieff|1998|p=24}}</ref>

One particular childhood memory of the February Revolution marked his lifelong opposition to violence, with Berlin saying:

{{blockquote|Well I was seven and a half and something, and then I was&nbsp;– did I tell you the terrible sight of the policeman being dragged&nbsp;– not policeman, a sharp shooter from the rooftop&nbsp;– 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.<ref>[https://lesleychamberlain.wordpress.com/2014/03/29/isaiah-berlin-and-the-policeman Isaiah Berlin and the Policeman] Posted on 29 March 2014, [[Lesley Chamberlain]]</ref>}}

[[File:Sir ISAIAH BERLIN 1909–1997 Philosopher and historian of ideas lived here 1922–1928 (2).jpg|thumb|upright|[[English Heritage]] [[blue plaque]] at 33 Upper Addison Gardens, Holland Park, London]]

Feeling increasingly oppressed by life under [[Bolshevik]] rule, which identified the family as bourgeoisie, the family left Petrograd, on 5 October 1920, for Riga, but encounters with [[antisemitism]] and difficulties with the Latvian authorities convinced them to leave, and they moved to Britain in early 1921 (Mendel in January, Isaiah and Marie at the beginning of February), when Berlin was 11.<ref name=ignatieff31>{{harvnb|Ignatieff|1998|p=31}}</ref> In London the family first stayed in [[Surbiton]] where he was sent to Arundel House for preparatory school, then within the year they bought a house in [[Kensington]] and six years later in [[Hampstead]].

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.<ref name=ignatieff33>{{harvnb|Ignatieff|1998|pp=33–37}}</ref> In addition to Russian and English, Berlin was fluent in French, German, and Italian, and he knew [[Hebrew language|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.<ref>''The Book of Isaiah: Personal Impressions of Isaiah Berlin'', edited by Henry Hardy, (Boydell & Brewer 2013), p. 180</ref> 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."<ref>''Cultural Diversity, Liberal Pluralism and Schools: Isaiah Berlin and Education'' (Routledge, 2006), Neil Burtonwood, p. 11</ref><ref>Dubnov A.M. (2012) "Becoming a Russian-Jew". In: ''Isaiah Berlin. Palgrave Studies in Cultural and Intellectual History''. Palgrave Macmillan, New York</ref>

== Education ==
Berlin was educated at [[St Paul's School (London)|St Paul's School]] in London. According to Michael Bonavia, a British author (and son of [[Ferruccio Bonavia]]) who was at school with him, he
{{blockquote|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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bonavia|first=Michael|title=London Before I Forget|date=1990|publisher=The Self Publishing Association Ltd.|page=29}}</ref>}}

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.&nbsp;J. Ayer]].<ref name=ignatieff57>{{harvnb|Ignatieff|1998|p=57}}</ref> 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|date=April 2023}} 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/1.5061019|title=Sir Isaiah's modest Zionism|newspaper=Haaretz}}</ref>

While still a student, he befriended Ayer (with whom he was to share a lifelong amicable rivalry), [[Stuart Hampshire]], [[Richard Wollheim]], [[Maurice Bowra]], [[Roy Beddington]], [[Stephen Spender]], [[Inez Pearn]], [[J.&nbsp;L. Austin]] and [[Nicolas Nabokov]]. In 1940 he presented a philosophical paper on other minds to a meeting attended by [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]] at Cambridge University. Wittgenstein rejected the argument of his paper in discussion but praised Berlin for his intellectual honesty and integrity. Berlin was to remain at Oxford for the rest of his life, apart from a period working for [[British Information Services]] (BIS) in [[New York City]] from 1940 to 1942 and for the British embassies in [[Washington, D.C.]], and [[Moscow]] from then until 1946. Before crossing the Atlantic in 1940, Berlin took rest in Portugal for a few days. He stayed in [[Estoril]], at the Hotel Palácio, between 19 and 24 October 1940.<ref>[[Exiles Memorial Center]].</ref> Prior to this service, however, Berlin was barred from participation in the British war effort as a result of his being born in Latvia,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://contemporarythinkers.org/isaiah-berlin/biography/|title=A Biography of Isaiah Berlin}}</ref> and because his left arm had been damaged at birth. In April 1943 he wrote a confidential analysis of members of the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] for the [[Foreign Office]]; he described Senator [[Arthur Capper]] from Kansas as "a solid, stolid, 78-year-old reactionary from the corn belt, who is the very voice of Mid-Western "grass root" isolationism."<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/published_works/singles/bib139a/bib139a.pdf |title=American Profiles on Capitol Hill: A Confidential Study for the British Foreign Office in 1943 |author=Hachey, Thomas E. |journal=Wisconsin Magazine of History |date=Winter 1973–1974 |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=141–153 |jstor=4634869 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021185357/http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/published_works/singles/bib139a/bib139a.pdf |archive-date=21 October 2013 }}</ref>
For his services, he was appointed a CBE in the [[1946 New Year Honours]].<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/37407/pages/53 | title = London Gazette | date = 1 January 1946}}.</ref> Meetings with [[Anna Akhmatova]] in Leningrad in November 1945 and January 1946 had a powerful effect on both of them, and serious repercussions for Akhmatova (who immortalised the meetings in her poetry).<ref>{{Citation | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/02/opinion/brooks-love-story.html | first = David | last = Brooks | title = Love Story | newspaper = The New York Times | date = 2 May 2014}}.</ref>

== Personal life ==
In 1956 Berlin married Aline Elisabeth Yvonne Halban, ''née'' de Gunzbourg (1915–2014), the former wife of the nuclear physicist [[Hans von Halban]], and a former winner of the ladies' golf championship of France.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lady Berlin – obituary|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11056990/Lady-Berlin-obituary.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11056990/Lady-Berlin-obituary.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2021-03-24|website=The Telegraph|date=26 August 2014 |language=en-GB}}{{cbignore}}</ref> She was from an exiled half Russian-aristocratic and half ennobled-Jewish banking and petroleum family (her mother was Yvonne Deutsch de la Meurthe and her grandfather was Emile Deutsch de la Meurthe, brother of [[Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe]]) based in Paris.
[[File:Wolfson College Oxford Berlin Quad.jpg|thumb|300px|The Berlin Quadrangle, [[Wolfson College, Oxford|Wolfson College]]]]

He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1959,<ref name=aaas/> and a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1975.<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Isaiah+Berlin&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-08-01 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> He was instrumental in the founding, in 1966, of a new graduate college at Oxford University: [[Wolfson College, Oxford|Wolfson College]]. The college was founded to be a centre of academic excellence which, unlike many other colleges at Oxford, would also be based on a strong egalitarian and democratic ethos.<ref name=ignatieff268>{{harvnb|Ignatieff|1998|p=268}}</ref> Berlin was a member of the Founding Council of the [[Rothermere American Institute]] at [[Oxford University]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Founding Council |url=http://www.rai.ox.ac.uk/about/history/foundingcouncil |publisher=The Rothermere American Institute |access-date=22 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121117021312/http://www.rai.ox.ac.uk/about/history/foundingcouncil |archive-date=17 November 2012 }}</ref> As later revealed, when he was asked to evaluate the academic credentials of [[Isaac Deutscher]], Isaiah Berlin argued against a promotion, because of the profoundly pro-communist militancy of the candidate.<ref>Isaiah Berlin, ''Building: Letters 1960–1975'', ed. Henry Hardy and Mark Pottle (London: Chatto and Windus, 2013), 377–378.</ref>

Berlin died in Oxford on 5 November 1997, aged 88.<ref name = bbcobit /> 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".<ref name = independentobit /> 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."<ref name = independentobit /> 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."<ref name=nytobit />

Berlin's nephew is [[Efraim Halevy]] ({{langx|he|אפרים הלוי}}), [[Israelis|Israeli]] [[Intelligence (information gathering)|intelligence]] expert and diplomat, advisor to [[Ariel Sharon]], 9th director of the [[Mossad]] and the 3rd head of the [[Israeli National Security Council]].

==Thought==
{{Liberalism sidebar}}
{{quote box|align=right|width=33%|quote = 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|source= —[[Maurice Bowra]] on Isaiah Berlin's publishing record.<ref>Letter to [[Noel Annan]] quoted in Lloyd-Jones, p. 53.</ref>}}

=== 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.<ref name=ignatieff113>{{harvnb|Ignatieff|1998|p=113}}</ref> 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.<ref name=ignatieff113/> 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 vividly mirrored in his works, complete with intricate grammar and punctuation.<ref name=ignatieff113/>

==="Two Concepts of Liberty"===
{{main|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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Warburton |first=Nigel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2wxhpF_O6z0C&pg=PA127 |title=Freedom: An Introduction with Readings |date=2001 |publisher=Psychology Press |others=[[The Open University]] |isbn=978-0-415-21246-5 |language=en |chapter=Two Concepts of Liberty |quote=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. |author-link=Nigel Warburton |chapter-url=https://openlearnlive-s3bucket.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/22/1b/221beec2ccb7db1991ab275509134c013921e6b6?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3D%22a211_reading1.pdf%22&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4GIOSMQ5JGMSLFXY%2F20231231%2Feu-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20231231T081900Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=21600&X-Amz-Signature=9ddb1a9d0edc9cad07d831ad2b83ff577d3420ddb9ba7f62ad5f5ebd8d468c73}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Two Concepts of Liberty |url=https://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/published_works/tcl/#:~:text=Isaiah%20Berlin's%20inaugural%20lecture%20as,the%20Romantic%20Age%20(PIRA). |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kocis |first=Robert |title=Isaiah Berlin: A Kantian and Post-Idealist Thinker |date=17 November 2023 |publisher=University of Wales Press |isbn=9781786838957 |series=Political Philosophy Now |pages=71–95 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Counter-Enlightenment ===
{{main|Counter-Enlightenment}}
{{further|Three Critics of the Enlightenment}}
Berlin's lectures on [[the Enlightenment]] and its critics (especially [[Giambattista Vico]], [[Johann Gottfried Herder]], [[Joseph de Maistre]] and [[Johann Georg Hamann]], to whose views Berlin referred as [[the Counter-Enlightenment]]) contributed to his advocacy of an irreducibly pluralist ethical [[ontology]].<ref name=sep/> In ''Three Critics of the Enlightenment'', Berlin argues that Hamann was one of the first thinkers to conceive of human cognition as language – the articulation and use of symbols. Berlin saw Hamann as having recognised as the rationalist's [[René Descartes|Cartesian]] fallacy the notion that there are "clear and distinct" ideas "which can be contemplated by a kind of inner eye", without the use of language – a recognition greatly sharpened in the 20th century by Wittgenstein's [[private language argument]].<ref name=bleich/>

=== Value pluralism ===
{{main|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 [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]]'s later theory of language, which argued that inter-translatability was [[supervenient]] on a similarity in forms of life, with the inverse implication that our epistemic access to other cultures entails an ontologically contiguous value-structure.

With his account of value pluralism, Berlin proposed the view that moral values may be equally, or rather incommensurably, valid and yet incompatible, and may, therefore, come into conflict with one another in a way that admits of no resolution without reference to particular contexts of a decision. When values clash, it may not be that one is more important than the other: keeping a promise may conflict with the pursuit of truth; liberty may clash with [[social justice]]. Moral conflicts are "an intrinsic, irremovable element in human life". "These collisions of values are of the essence of what they are and what we are."<ref name=theproperstudyofmankind/> For Berlin, this clashing of incommensurate values within, no less than between, individuals constitutes the tragedy of human life. [[Alan A. Brown|Alan Brown]] suggests, however, that Berlin ignores the fact that values are commensurable in the extent to which they contribute to the human good.<ref name=modernpolitical/>

==="The Hedgehog and the Fox"===
{{main|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."<ref name=conversations/>

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]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Santos |first=Gonçalo |title=Chinese Village Life Today: Building Families in an Age of Transition |date=2021 |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |isbn=978-0-295-74738-5 |location=Seattle |pages=xiii}}</ref>

===Positive liberty===
Berlin promoted the notion of "[[positive liberty]]" in the sense of an intrinsic link between positive freedom and participatory, Athenian-style democracy.<ref>Isaiah Berlin, "Two concepts of liberty." ''Liberty Reader'' (Routledge, 2017) pp. 33–57 [https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mjacovid/Two%20Concepts.pdf online].</ref> 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"{{snd}}that is, liberty insofar as it is tethered to collectively defined ends. They praise the state as an essential tool to emancipate the people.<ref>Michael C. Behrent, "Liberal Dispositions: Recent scholarship on French Liberalism." ''Modern Intellectual History'' 13.2 (2016): 447–477.</ref><ref>Steven J. Heyman, "Positive and negative liberty." ''Chicago-Kent Law Review''. 68 (1992): 81–90. [https://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1306&context=fac_schol  online]</ref>

===Other work===
Berlin's lecture "Historical Inevitability" (1954) focused on a controversy in the [[philosophy of history]]. Given the choice, whether one believes that "the lives of entire peoples and societies have been decisively influenced by exceptional individuals" or, conversely, that whatever happens occurs as a result of impersonal forces oblivious to human intentions, Berlin rejected both options and the choice itself as nonsensical. Berlin is also well known for his writings on Russian intellectual history, most of which are collected in ''Russian Thinkers'' (1978; 2nd ed. 2008) and edited, as most of Berlin's work, by [[Henry Hardy]] (in the case of this volume, jointly with Aileen Kelly). Berlin also contributed a number of essays on leading intellectuals and political figures of his time, including [[Winston Churchill]], [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] and [[Chaim Weizmann]]. Eighteen of these character sketches were published together as "Personal Impressions" (1980; 2nd ed., with four additional essays, 1998; 3rd ed., with a further ten essays, 2014).<ref name=pi3/>

==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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fondsdots.lv/en/news/the-isaiah-berlin-day-in-riga-2015|title=The Isaiah Berlin Day in Riga 2015|website=www.fondsdots.lv}}</ref> At the [[British Academy]], the Isaiah Berlin lecture series has been held since 2001.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britac.ac.uk/tag/isaiah-berlin-lectures|title=Isaiah Berlin Lectures}}</ref> Many volumes from Berlin's personal library were donated to [[Ben-Gurion University of the Negev]] in [[Beer Sheva]] and form part of the Aranne Library collection. The Isaiah Berlin Room, on the third floor of the library, is a replica of his study at the University of Oxford.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://in.bgu.ac.il/en/Pages/news/gurion_berlin.aspx|title=Ben-Gurion University of the Negev – Rare correspondence between Sir Isaiah Berlin and David Ben-Gurion on "Who is a Jew?" donated to BGU|website=in.bgu.ac.il}}</ref> There is also the Isaiah Berlin Society which takes place at his alma mater of [[St Paul's School (London)|St Paul's School]]. The society invites world famous academics to share their research into the answers to life's great concerns and to respond to students' questions. In the last few years they have hosted: [[A. C. Grayling|A.C. Grayling]], [[Brad Hooker]], [[Jonathan Dancy]], [[John Cottingham]], [[Tim Crane]], [[Arif Ahmed (philosopher)|Arif Ahmed]], [[Hugh Mellor]] and [[David Papineau]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/beyond-the-classroom/societies/senior-societies-13-16/isaiah-berlin-society/|title=Isaiah Berlin Society|website=St Paul's School}}</ref>

==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.
* +''[[Karl Marx: His Life and Environment]]'', Thornton Butterworth, 1939. 5th ed., ''Karl Marx'', 2013, Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|978-0691156507}}.
* ''[[The Mentor Philosophers|The Age of Enlightenment: The Eighteenth-Century Philosophers]]'', New American Library, 1956. Out of print. Second edition (2017) available online only.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/published_works/ae/AE2.pdf |title= The Age of Enlightenment |access-date=29 August 2017 |year= 2017 }}</ref>
* +''[[The Hedgehog and the Fox|The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy's View of History]]'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1953. 2nd ed., 2014, Phoenix. {{ISBN|978-1780228433}}. 2nd US ed., Princeton University Press, 2013. {{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|978-0712665520}}. 2nd ed., 2013, Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|978-0691157498}}.
* +''[[Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas]]'', Hogarth Press, 1979. Pimlico. {{ISBN|978-0712666909}}. 2nd ed., 2013, Princeton University Press.
* +''Personal Impressions'', Hogarth Press, 1980. 2nd ed., Pimlico, 1998. {{ISBN|978-0712666015}}. 3rd ed., 2014, Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|978-0691157702}}.
* +''The Crooked Timber of Humanity: Chapters in the History of Ideas'', John Murray, 1990. 2nd ed., Pimlico, 2013. {{ISBN|978-1845952082}}. 2nd ed., 2013, Princeton University Press. {{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|978-0712673679}}. 2nd ed., 2019, Princeton University Press. {{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|978-0712665445}}. 2nd ed., 2013, Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|978-0691156200}}.
* +''[[Three Critics of the Enlightenment: Vico, Hamann, Herder]]'', Pimlico, 2000. 2nd ed., 2013. {{ISBN|978-1845952136}}. 2nd ed., 2013, Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|978-0691157658}}.
* +''The Power of Ideas'', Chatto & Windus, 2000. Pimlico. {{ISBN|978-0712665544}}. 2nd ed., 2013, Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|978-0691157603}}.
* +''Freedom and Its Betrayal: Six Enemies of Human Liberty'' (lectures delivered in 1952), Chatto & Windus, 2002. Pimlico. {{ISBN|978-0712668422}}. 2nd ed., 2014, Princeton University Press. {{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|978-0815721550}}. 2nd ed., Brookings Classics, 2016. {{ISBN|978-0815728870}}.
* +''Political Ideas in the Romantic Age: Their Rise and Influence on Modern Thought'' (1952), Chatto & Windus, 2006. {{ISBN|0701179090}}. Pimlico, {{ISBN|978-1844139262}}. 2nd ed., 2014, Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|978-0691126951}}.
* (with Beata Polanowska-Sygulska) ''Unfinished Dialogue'', Prometheus, 2006. {{ISBN|978-1591023760}}.

===Letters===
* ''[[iarchive:flourishinglette0000berl_m5j7|Flourishing: Letters 1928–1946]]'' (edited by Henry Hardy), Chatto & Windus, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-701174200}}. Pimlico, {{ISBN|978-0712635653}}.
* ''Enlightening: Letters 1946–1960'' (edited by Henry Hardy and Jennifer Holmes), Chatto & Windus, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0701178895}}. Pimlico, {{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==
* [[Gerald C. MacCallum Jr.]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em|refs=
<!-- <ref name = dob>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/24540.stm |title=Philosopher and political thinker Sir Isaiah Berlin dies |agency=[[BBC News]] |date=8 November 1997 |access-date=7 March 2012}}</ref> unused -->
<ref name = bbcobit>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/24540.stm |title=Philosopher and political thinker Sir Isaiah Berlin dies |agency=[[BBC News]] |date=8 November 1997 |access-date=7 March 2012}}</ref>
<ref name = independentobit>{{cite news|first=Henry |last=Hardy |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituray-sir-isaiah-berlin-1292530.html |title=Obituary: Sir Isaiah Berlin |work=[[The Independent]] |date=7 November 1997|access-date=7 March 2012}}</ref>
<ref name = conccat>{{cite web|title=Concepts and Categories – Philosophical Essays|url=http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/published_works/cc/cc.pdf|publisher=Pimlico|access-date=6 September 2016|archive-date=19 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160519093214/http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/published_works/cc/cc.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
<ref name=aaas>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|publisher=[[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] |access-date=16 June 2011}}</ref>
<ref name=nytobit>{{cite news|first=Marilyn |last=Berger |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/07/arts/isaiah-berlin-philosopher-and-pluralist-is-dead-at-88.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |title=Isaiah Berlin, Philosopher And Pluralist, Is Dead at 88 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=10 November 1997 |access-date=7 March 2012 |author-link=Marilyn Berger}}</ref>
<ref name=sep>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/berlin |title=Isaiah Berlin |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |date=25 May 2010 |first=Joshua |last=Cherniss |author2=Hardy, Henry |access-date=7 March 2012}}</ref>
<ref name=bleich>{{cite journal
 | author=D. Bleich
 | year = 2006
 | title = The Materiality of Reading
 | journal=New Literary History
 | volume = 37
 | issue = 3
 | pages = 607–629
 | doi = 10.1353/nlh.2006.0000
| s2cid = 144957435
}}</ref>
<ref name=theproperstudyofmankind>{{cite book|first=Isaiah |last=Berlin |editor1-first=Henry |editor1-last=Hardy |editor2-first=Roger |editor2-last=Hausheer |title=The Proper Study of Mankind: An Anthology of Essays |publisher=Chatto and Windus |year=1997 |pages=11, 238|isbn=0701165278 |oclc=443072603}}</ref>
<ref name=modernpolitical>{{cite book|last=Brown |first=Alan |isbn=0140225285 |oclc=14371928 |year=1986 |title=Modern Political Philosophy: Theories of the Just Society |location=Middlesex |publisher=Penguin Books |pages=157–158}}</ref>
<ref name=conversations>{{cite book|first=Ramin |last=Jahanbegloo |title=Conversations with Isaiah Berlin |year=1992 |page=188 |isbn=1870015487 |publisher=Halban Publishers |oclc=26358922}}</ref>
<ref name=pi3>{{Cite book|url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691157702/personal-impressions|title=Personal Impressions|year=2014|isbn=978-0691157702|via=press.princeton.edu|last1=Berlin|first1=Isaiah|publisher=Princeton University Press }}</ref>
}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |author-link=Michael Ignatieff |first=Michael |last=Ignatieff |title=Isaiah Berlin: A Life |location=New York |publisher=Metropolitan |year=1998 |isbn= 0805063005 |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).
* [[Seyla Benhabib|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. [https://ssrn.com/abstract=1723387 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). [https://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Companion-Isaiah-Companions-Philosophy/dp/1316503054/ 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}}.
* [[John N. Gray|Gray, John]]. ''Isaiah Berlin: An Interpretation of His Thought'', (London : HarperCollins, 1995; Princeton University Press, 1996). {{ISBN|069104824X}}.
* Hardy, Henry, ed. [http://www.boydell.co.uk/43834537.HTM#BE ''The Book of Isaiah: Personal Impressions of Isaiah Berlin''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801122948/http://www.boydell.co.uk/43834537.HTM#BE |date=1 August 2009 }} (The Boydell Press, 2009).
* Ignatieff, Michael. ''Isaiah Berlin: A Life'' (Chatto and Windus, 1998)
* Lyons, Johnny. ''The Philosophy of Isaiah Berlin'' (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020). [https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Isaiah-Berlin-Johnny-Lyons/dp/1350121436/ 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===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304031805/http://www.rjgeib.com/biography/credo/isaiah-berlin.html Sir Isaiah Berlin – May He Rest in Peace].
* [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/philosopherszone/stories/2009/2586694.htm A tribute to Isaiah Berlin] & [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/philosopherszone/stories/2009/2593244.htm A conversation with Isaiah Berlin] on The Philosopher's Zone, ABC, 6 & 13 June 2009.
* [http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/historian/Isaiah_Berlin.html Isaiah Berlin and the history of ideas].
* [http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/ The Isaiah Berlin Virtual Library], Wolfson College, Oxford.
* [http://nigelwarburton.typepad.com/philosophy_bites/2007/11/henry-hardy-on.html A podcast interview with Henry Hardy on Berlin's pluralism].
* [http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/lists/broadcasts/roots32.mp3 A recording of the last of Berlin's Mellon Lectures], Wolfson College, Oxford.
* [https://www.infoplease.com/people/1997-deaths/sir-isaiah-berlin Biographical information on Sir Isaiah Berlin.]
* [http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/vl/notes/berlin.html 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, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080629152753/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1252/is_n14_v125/ai_21058769/pg_1 ''Commonweal'', 14 August 1998].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030115050721/http://www.chiefrabbi.org/speeches/berlin.htm Tribute from the Chief Rabbi at his funeral].
* [http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/tribute/2berlins.htm Anecdote] from [http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/tribute/ Wolfson College's tribute page].
* [https://www.theguardian.com/print/0,,4901002-103677,00.html Hywel Williams: An English liberal stooge].
* [http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/letterstoberlin.html Letter to Berlin from Tony Blair], 23 October 1997.
* [[Assaf Inbari]], [http://inbari.co.il/articles/en/182az24_Inbari.pdf "The Spectacles of Isaiah Berlin"], ''[[Azure (magazine)|Azure]]'' (Spring 2006).
* [http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/writings_on_ib/hhonib/obituary1.html Obituary by Henry Hardy].
* Joshua Cherniss, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120118164157/http://www.oxonianreview.org/wp/isaiah-berlin-a-defence/ 'Isaiah Berlin: A Defence']}}, in the ''[[Oxonian Review]]''
* Joshua Cherniss, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120118202420/http://www.oxonianreview.org/wp/philosophers-and-freedom/ 'Freedom and Philosophers']}}, review of ''Freedom and its Betrayal'' in the ''[[Oxonian Review]]''
* [http://chronicle.com/article/Isaiah-Berlin-Beyond-the-Wit/49042 Isaiah Berlin, Beyond the Wit], Evan R. Goldstein.
* [http://www.nybooks.com/authors/722 Berlin archive and author page] from ''[[The New York Review of Books]]''.

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?117773-1/isaiah-berlin-life ''Booknotes'' interview with Michael Ignatieff on ''Isaiah Berlin: A Life'', 24 January 1999], [[C-SPAN]]}}
* [http://contemporarythinkers.org/isaiah-berlin/ Website and bibliography of Isaiah Berlin's writings]
* [http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/published_works/cc/cc.pdf Full text of ''Concepts and Categories''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160519093214/http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/published_works/cc/cc.pdf |date=19 May 2016 }}
* [https://ssrn.com/abstract=1968646 Entry on Isaiah Berlin in the International Encyclopedia of Ethics]
* {{cite SEP |url-id=berlin |title=Isaiah Berlin |last=Cherniss  |first=Joshua|last2=Hardy |first2=Henry}}
* [http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/lists/books/index.html Bibliography] at Wolfson College
* {{Citation | contribution-url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0054578 | contribution = War in the 20th Century | first = Melvyn | last = Bragg | title = In Our Time | publisher = BBC Radio Four| title-link = In Our Time (BBC Radio 4) }}, including a discussion with Michael Ignatieff, biographer, of the ideas of Berlin, a year after the latter's death
* [http://oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/berlin.html Sir Isaiah Berlin's Blue Plaque on Headington House]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140521234214/http://www.isaiahberlin.org/en Isaiah Berlin Day in Riga]
* [http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/lists/broadcasts/index.html Broadcasts]

{{s-start}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory|Chichele Professor of<br />Social and Political Theory]]|years=1957–1967}}
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{{Presidents of Wolfson College, Oxford}}
{{social and political philosophy}}
{{Political philosophy}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlin, Isaiah}}
[[Category:Isaiah Berlin| ]]
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