Isaiah Berlin

Pluralismo, relativismo e libertà

by Mario Ricciardi

revised version published in "Discipline filosofiche", vol. XVII (2007), pp. 133-154

Identità nazionale e pluralismo

by Mario Ricciardi

Jurisprudence for Foxes

by Leslie Green

forthcoming in the International Journal of Constitutional Law

This paper contests Brian Simpson's claim that HLA Hart's book, The Concept of Law, is that of a 'hedgehog', that is,... more This paper contests Brian Simpson's claim that HLA Hart's book, The Concept of Law, is that of a 'hedgehog', that is, a monistic thinker. It is not. Hart's work is pluralist both in its explanatory concepts and in its evaluative background. Some conjectures are offered as to why Simpson so misunderstood Hart, and as to why analytic legal philosophy is misunderstood, or distrusted, more generally.

O zaletach umysłowości "jeża": wokół esejów Isaiaha Berlina

by Iwona Barwicka-Tylek

Text in Polish, Summary in English, published in "Krakowskie studia z historii państwa i prawa", vol. 3, Kraków 2010, pp. 257-270.

What is Jewish (If Anything) about Isaiah Berlin’s Philosophy?

by Arie Dubnov

part of a Special Issue: " Between Religion and Ethnicity: Twentieth-Century Jewish Émigrés and the Shaping of Postwar Culture". Published in Religions vol. 3, no. 2: pp. 289-319.

This paper has two central aims: First, to reappraise Isaiah Berlin’s political thought in a historically... more This paper has two central aims: First, to reappraise Isaiah Berlin’s political thought in a historically contextualized way, and in particular: to pay attention to a central conceptual tensions which animates it between, on the one hand, his famous definition of liberalism as resting on a negative concept of liberty and, on the other, his defense of cultural nationalism in general and Zionism in particular. Second, to see what do we gain and what do we lose by dubbing his philosophy Jewish. The discussion will proceed as follows: after describing the conceptual tension (Section 1), I will examine Berlin’s discussion of nationalism and explain why comparisons between him and Hans Kohn as well as communitarian interpretations of him are incomplete and have limited merit. I will continue with a brief discussion of Berlin’s Jewishness and Zionism (Section 3) and explain why I define this position “Diaspora Zionism”. The two concluding sections will discuss Berlin’s place within a larger Cold War liberal discourse (Section 5) and why I find it problematic to see his political writings as part of a Jewish political tradition (Section 6).
Keywords: Berlin, Isaiah (1909–1997); Kohn, Hans (1891–1971); Namier, Lewis B. (1880–1960); Shklar, Judith N. (1928–1992); nationalism; communitarianism; Cold War liberalism; Jewish political tradition

Political Science and Political Understanding: Isaiah Berlin on the Nature of Political Inquiry

by Ryan Patrick Hanley

La liberté dépend-elle des préférences individuelles?

by François Hudon

Published in Raisons politiques, No 43, 2011.

This article is the first step toward a rehabilitation of a preference-based conception of freedom. I first review... more This article is the first step toward a rehabilitation of a preference-based conception of freedom. I first review three main objections to this kind of freedom and then show that alternative approaches are in tension with freedom’s instrumental value. This justifies an attempt at rescuing a preference-based conception of freedom. I argue, however, that this rescue cannot rest on perfectionism because it would pose a similar threat to the value of freedom. Assuming that overall freedom is a function of individual authentic preferences over sets of specific freedoms, I finally defend the thesis according to which the non-specific instrumental value of freedom is not only compatible with a preference-based conception of freedom, but that it seems to require such dependency.


Cet article se veut l’amorce de la réhabilitation d’une conception de la liberté fondée sur les préférences individuelles. Après une brève revue des principales objections offertes contre ce type de liberté, il montre que les alternatives disponibles ne rendent pas justice à la valeur instrumentale de la liberté. Il soulève ainsi l’intérêt du sauvetage de cette relation de dépendance. L’auteur met cependant en garde contre toute tentation de colmater les brèches en faisant intervenir des formes de perfectionnisme ; ce serait tout aussi périlleux pour la valeur de la liberté. Enfin, en présumant que la liberté globale est une fonction des préférences authentiques individuelles qui portent sur des ensembles de libertés spécifiques, il défend l’idée selon laquelle la valeur instrumentale non spécifique de la liberté est non seulement compatible avec la liberté fondée sur les préférences individuelles, mais qu’elle semble requérir une telle dépendance.

Libertà e Pluralismo

by Mario Ricciardi

Freiheit

by Arie Dubnov

---, “Freiheit,” Enzyklopädie jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur, herausgegeben von Dan Diner (Stuttgart / Weimar: Verlag J.B. Metzler [Im Auftrag der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften], 2011-13), Band 2 (2012), 378-382.

* Translation:
---, “Freedom,” tr. Philipp von Wussow, European Traditions:  Encyclopedia of Jewish Cultures, General Editor: Dan Diner (Stuttgart / Weimar: Verlag J.B. Metzler [Academy project in the Simon Dubnow Institute], vol. 2, 2012)

Encyclopedic entry [in German] on the concept of freedom in Isaiah Berlin. For more details about the project visit more Encyclopedic entry [in German] on the concept of freedom in Isaiah Berlin. For more details about the project visit https://www.metzlerverlag.de/index.php?mod=bookdetail&isbn=978-3-476-02500-5&show=PR

Tres elementos fundamentales en la idea de nacionalismo de Isaiah Berlin

by Andrés Tutor

Isaiah Berlin su libertà e pluralismo

by Mario Ricciardi

published in "Ragion pratica", (2006), pp. 9-28

Eich Bin Ein Berliner

by Mahsa Alimardani

Two Accounts of Moral Diversity: The Cognitive Science of Pluralism and Absolutism

by John Bolender

Who wants to be a monist

by Niels Glæsner

This paper explores the thought of Isaiah Berlin in order to find a potential refutation of the leftist use of Carl... more This paper explores the thought of Isaiah Berlin in order to find a potential refutation of the leftist use of Carl Schmitt to criticize the depoliticizing tendencies of liberalism.

Marcus Aurelius in Contemporary Philosophy

by John Sellars

in M. van Ackeren, ed., A Companion to Marcus Aurelius (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), in press

L'altra libertà. Isaiah Berlin e il determinismo

by Mario Ricciardi

pubblished in "Biblioteca della libertà", XLVI (2011), pp. 1-23.

Priest or Jester? Jacob L. Talmon (1916-1980) on History and Intellectual Engagement

by Arie Dubnov

History of European Ideas (2008), Volume: 34, Issue: 2
(special issue under my editorship)

This essay provides a general introduction to the special number on Jacob L. Talmon (1916-1980). The essay sketches... more This essay provides a general introduction to the special number on Jacob L. Talmon (1916-1980). The essay sketches the outlines of Talmon's intellectual biography, beginning with his study of the origins of totalitarian democracy, moving through his analysis of nationalism and political messianism, and ending with his study of the ideological clash of the 20th century. The essay raises the question of whether Talmon should be seen as a thinker wishing to defend existing traditions (i.e. a "priest"), or as a radical anti-authoritarian skeptic (i.e. a "jester"). Moreover, being both an anti-nationalist liberal, and a zionist at the same time, Talmon, the essay shows, was aware of the fact his own stance was problematic and at times even paradoxical. The last section of the essay presents the seven essays, which are included in the special issue.

Blackout: Freedom without Power and Meritocratic Apartheid

by Christopher Allsobrook

This paper attributes a liberal-republican conception of “freedom-without-power” which dominates contemporary western... more This paper attributes a liberal-republican conception of “freedom-without-power” which dominates contemporary western political philosophy to a reification of social agency that mystifies the historical social, political and economic contexts of human capacities and achievements. Such abstraction, I argue,  is not harmless but functions ideologically amongst prevailing structures of domination and exploitation.
Following Plato’s analogy between the structure of the soul and the polis, I suggest that freedom may be thought a consequence rather than a condition of political relations. I draw on the work of Raymond Geuss to explain why the political contexts of origin and application of “freedom”  are normatively significant. I argue against the use of pre-political ethical frameworks in political philosophy in favor of an historically and contextually sensitive, self-critical approach to the “necessary illusions” of ethics. Such ethical-political integration addresses problems of ideological complicity with an abstract distinction between freedom and power. I show this by drawing a critical account of African identity, from Steven Biko, which addresses ideological blind-spots in Thaddeus Metz’s influential liberal-communitarian interpretation of Ubuntu. The critical account illuminates symptoms of “meritocratic apartheid” in South Africa today, which the pre-political conception obscures. Through satisfaction with a legal, formal projection of freedom, abstracted from power, we have all learned to justify inequality.

need to belong' and the Jewish normalization discourse: Isaiah Berlin as a Diaspora Zionist thinker

by Arie Dubnov

Communications of the Fifteenth World Congress of Jewish Studies (World Union of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem).

Part of a panel entitled “What is Jewish (if anything) in Isaiah Berlin's philosophy?” at the Fifteenth World Congress... more Part of a panel entitled “What is Jewish (if anything) in Isaiah Berlin's philosophy?” at the Fifteenth World Congress of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, August 2009.
I would like to thank Joshua L. Cherniss and James Chappel, my co-panelists for their cooperation and for stimulating conversations on the subject.

For online publication of the proceedings go to: http://www.jewish-studies.org/

A Tale of Trees and Crooked Timbers: Jacob Talmon and Isaiah Berlin on the Question of Jewish Nationalism

by Arie Dubnov

Included in the special issue: “Jacob Talmon and Totalitarianism Today: Legacy and Revision” under my editorship Included in the special issue: “Jacob Talmon and Totalitarianism Today: Legacy and Revision” under my editorship