A Mind And Its Time: The Development Of Isaiah Berlin's Political Thought (oxford Historical Monographs)
by Joshua L. Cherniss /
2013 / English / PDF
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A Mind and its Time
A Mind and its Time offers the most detailed account to
date of the genesis and development of Isaiah Berlin's political
thought, philosophical views, and historical understanding. Drawing
on both little-known published material and archival sources, it
locates Berlin's evolving intellectual interests and political
positions in the context of the events and trends of interwar and
post-war intellectual and political life. Special emphasis is
placed on the roots of Berlin's later pluralism in philosophical
and cultural debates of the interwar period, his concern with the
relationship between ethics and political conduct, and his evolving
account of liberty. Berlin's distinctive liberalism is shown to
have been shaped by his response to the cultural politics of
interwar period, and the political and ethical dilemmas of the
early Cold War era; and to what Berlin saw as a dangerous embrace
of an elitist, technocratic, scientistic and "managerial"
intellectual and political stance by liberals themselves. At the
same time, Berlin's attitude toward what he called "positive
liberty" emerges as far more complicated and ambivalent than is
often realized. Joshua L. Cherniss reveals the multiplicity of
Berlin's influences and interlocutors, the shifts in his thinking,
and the striking consistency of his concerns and commitments. In
shedding new light on Berlin's thought, and offering a better
understanding of his place in the development of liberal thought in
the twentieth century, he makes fresh contributions both to
understanding the intellectual history of the twentieth century,
and to discussions of liberty and liberalism in political theory.
offers the most detailed account to
date of the genesis and development of Isaiah Berlin's political
thought, philosophical views, and historical understanding. Drawing
on both little-known published material and archival sources, it
locates Berlin's evolving intellectual interests and political
positions in the context of the events and trends of interwar and
post-war intellectual and political life. Special emphasis is
placed on the roots of Berlin's later pluralism in philosophical
and cultural debates of the interwar period, his concern with the
relationship between ethics and political conduct, and his evolving
account of liberty. Berlin's distinctive liberalism is shown to
have been shaped by his response to the cultural politics of
interwar period, and the political and ethical dilemmas of the
early Cold War era; and to what Berlin saw as a dangerous embrace
of an elitist, technocratic, scientistic and "managerial"
intellectual and political stance by liberals themselves. At the
same time, Berlin's attitude toward what he called "positive
liberty" emerges as far more complicated and ambivalent than is
often realized. Joshua L. Cherniss reveals the multiplicity of
Berlin's influences and interlocutors, the shifts in his thinking,
and the striking consistency of his concerns and commitments. In
shedding new light on Berlin's thought, and offering a better
understanding of his place in the development of liberal thought in
the twentieth century, he makes fresh contributions both to
understanding the intellectual history of the twentieth century,
and to discussions of liberty and liberalism in political theory.