The Philosophy of Isaiah Berlin [electronic resource]

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Part 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1: The nature of Berlin's political philosophy -- A summary of Berlin's political philosophy -- Some objections to treating Berlin as a political philosopher -- Berlin's scepticism about rationalism -- The structure and spirit of the book.

Part 2: PHILOSOPHY

Chapter 2: In the beginning ... -- The 'death' of political philosophy -- Berlin's non-reductive view of philosophy Chapter 3: Kant's Copernican revolution -- Chapter 4: The humanistic turn -- Chapter 5: Taking history seriously -- Chapter 6: Interlude: Taking stock -- Chapter 7: Philosophy, literature and human understanding -- A tantalizing question.

Part 3: CONTINGENCY

Chapter 8: Philosophy and belief -- The problem stated -- Chapter 9: The logic-choppers -- Chapter 10: The postmodern appropriation -- Chapter 11: The hedgehog's revenge -- Chapter 12: What we are left with -- Chapter 13: Reason, history and liberalism.

Part 4: FREEDOM

Chapter 14: Theory versus practice -- Chapter 15: The central problem of freedom -- Knowledge and Freedom -- But does determinism require us to give up everyday freedom? -- Chapter 16: Is belief in determinism liveable? -- Internal and External Perspectives -- Chapter 17: Truth, freedom and value pluralism -- Chapter 18: Reimagining the nature and authority of philosophy -- Chapter 19: Framing the debate -- The sources and nature of romanticism -- Chapter 20: Three romantic thinkers -- Herder -- Kant -- Chapter 21: Smashing the jigsaw -- Chapter 22: The liberalism of romanticism -- Isaiah Berlin's Letters

Part 5: AUTHENTICITY

Chapter 19: Framing the debate -- The sources and nature of romanticism -- Chapter 20: Three romantic thinkers -- Herder -- Kant -- Chapter 21: Smashing the jigsaw -- Chapter 22: The liberalism of romanticism -- Isaiah Berlin's Letters -- Anthology of Isaiah Berlin's Writings -- Dialogues and Interviews -- A selection of unpublished and published papers and replies by Isaiah Berlin -- Selected books, articles and reviews on Isaiah Berlin -- Other Selected Books and Articles -- Epilogue.

"I gradually came to the conclusion that I should prefer a field in which one could hope to know more at the end of one's life than when one had begun.' So thought Isaiah Berlin toward the end of the Second World War, when he decided to bid farewell to philosophy in favour of the history of ideas. In The Philosophy of Isaiah Berlin Johnny Lyons shows that Berlin's approach to intellectual history amounted to the pursuit of philosophy by other means, creating a more original and fruitful engagement with his lifelong subject. By recasting Berlin as a philosopher who took humanity and history seriously, Lyons reveals the underlying unity of his wide-ranging and disparate ideas and throws into sharp relief the enduring moral charm of his outlook. Lyons emphasises aspects of Berlin's thinking that have largely been neglected. These include his recognition of historical contingency and of the importance of truth in human affairs, his scepticism about the so-called implications of determinism for our everyday understanding of freedom, and his deeper reasons for thinking that negative liberty should be valued. This introduction to Berlin's thought, and particularly its examination of these mainly overlooked elements of his outlook, reveals a new Berlin, one with surprising and urgent contemporary relevance to the debates that continue to dominate philosophy, politics and intellectual history today."--

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