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Start your review of The Crooked Timber of Humanity: Chapters in the History of Ideas

It was absurd to desire to take as prisoners the Emperor, kings, and dukes, since the possession of such prisoners would have profoundly enhanced the difficulty of the Russian position, equally was recognized by the most clear-sighted diplomatists of the time (J. Maistre and others).

L. Tolstoy, State of war and Peace

Maistre'south works are regarded as interesting rather than important, the concluding despairing attempt of feudalism and the dark ages to resist the march of progress. He excites the sharpest reactions: scarce

It was absurd to desire to take as prisoners the Emperor, kings, and dukes, since the possession of such prisoners would have greatly enhanced the difficulty of the Russian position, as was recognized by the well-nigh clear-sighted diplomatists of the time (J. Maistre and others).

L. Tolstoy, War and Peace

Maistre's works are regarded as interesting rather than of import, the last despairing endeavour of feudalism and the dark ages to resist the march of progress. He excites the sharpest reactions: scarcely whatever of his critics can repress their feelings. He is represented by conservatives as a brave but doomed paladin of a lost cause, past liberals every bit a foolish or odious survival of an older and more than heartless generation. Both sides agree that his day is done, his world has no relevance to any contemporary or whatsoever future outcome.

Isaiah Berlin

The get-go quote is from Part 14, chapter 19, the second from the longest essay (over 80 pages) in the volume here reviewed: "Joseph de Maistre and the Origins of Fascism".

Maistre'due south name is not terribly familiar any more. Given that, hither'south a brief quote from his Wiki article.

Joseph-Marie, comte de Maistre (1753 – 1821) was a Savoyard philosopher, author, lawyer, and diplomat. He defended hierarchical societies and a monarchical State in the period immediately following the French Revolution. Maistre was a subject of the Male monarch of Piedmont-Sardinia, whom he served as fellow member of the Savoy Senate (1787–1792), administrator to Russia (1803–1817), and minister of state to the court in Turin (1817–1821).

His long sojourn in Russia, during the Napoleonic years, could be causeless as the manner he has crept into Tolstoy'south masterpiece; though Berlin points out several similarities of view betwixt Maistre and Tolstoy, the latter of whom he studied in depth (see his The Hedgehog and the Play tricks). I'yard not going to discuss Berlin's views of these similarities. Only I have brought Tolstoy into this expanded review because I want to chronicle the rather curious manner that I came to add these new words.

The fact is, when I read the passage from War and Peace above, I immediately underlined Maistre's name, and drew a long line from it to the lesser of the folio, connecting it to a large circled asterisk, with that hulk followed by one of these: "!" Not just did I recognize his name from having read Kleptomaniacal Timber, only I know for sure why I remembered it.

Berlin writes that Maistre "looked to the Guild of Jesus to deed as the elite of Platonic Guardians to save the states of Europe from the fashionable and fatal aberrations of his fourth dimension. Just the primal effigy in information technology all, the keystone of the curvation on which the whole of society depends, is a far more frightening effigy than king or priest or full general: it is the Executioner. The most historic passage in [Maistre'due south] Soirees is devoted to him."

Berlin's very long quote of this celebrated passage contains the following, which has thankfully never given me a nightmare, but has more than in one case kept me from sleep for a while.

… in a public square covered by a dense, trembling mob. A poisoner, a parricide, a man who has committed sacrilege is tossed to him [the Executioner]: he seizes him, stretches him, ties him to a horizontal cross, he raises his arm; there is a horrible silence; there is no audio just that of bones cracking nether the bars, and the shrieks of the victim. He unties him. He puts him on the wheel; the shattered limbs are entangled in the spokes; the head hangs downwardly; the hair stands up, and the oral cavity gaping open like a furnace from time to time emits only a few bloodstained words to beg for expiry. He has finished. His heart is beating, but it is with joy: he congratulates himself, he says in his centre 'Nobody breaks on the cycle as well as I.' He steps down… He sits down to table, and he eats. Then he goes to bed and sleeps.

At the end of his more all-encompassing quote of the passage, Berlin writes,

This is not a mere sadistic meditation about offense and punishment, merely the expression of a genuine conviction, coherent with all the residual of Maistre's passionate but lucid thought, that men tin can only exist saved by being hemmed in by the terror of authorisation. They must be reminded at every instant of their lives of the frightening mystery that lies at the middle of creation; must be purged past perpetual suffering, must exist humbled by existence made witting of their stupidity, malice and helplessness at every plough. War, torture, suffering are the inescapable human being lot; men must bear them as all-time they tin. Their appointed masters must practise the duty laid upon them past their maker (who has made nature a hierarchical lodge) by the ruthless imposition of the rules – non sparing themselves – and equally ruthless extermination of the enemy.

Every bit can be guessed by the title of this essay, Berlin attempts to evidence that the traditional cess of Maistre, that "his day is done, his earth has no relevance to whatsoever gimmicky or any time to come upshot", is inadequate.

Maistre may take spoken the language of the past, but the content of what he had to say presaged the hereafter… His doctrine, and nonetheless more his mental attitude of mind, had to wait a century before they came (as come they all as well fatally did) into their ain. This thesis … conspicuously needs show … This written report is an effort to provide support for it.

… to provide support, that is, for the view that Maistre's works and thoughts are closely connected to the development of fascism in the twentieth century.

This painting past Vogelstein of Maistre, ca. 1810, seems to me to capture something of the darkness in his outlook.

Original review

This is one of those books that when y'all are done reading it, y'all say to yourself "If simply I could remember every bit of cognition & wisdom in that book, my life would be so enriched". Of course yous can't.

Hopefully I will take the time during the next few years to dip into this book over again and endeavour writing an essay or a existent review or a summary of some type. If I practise, the offset of Berlin's essays that I will revisit are "Alleged Relativism in Eighteenth-Century European Thought" and "The Apotheosis of the Romantic Will: The Revolt against the Myth of an Ideal World".

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The Crooked Timber of Humanity is not an ode to conformity as some radicals might depict information technology, but an attempt to evidence our complexity as homo beings.

Isaiah Berlin has a reputation for being a magnificent essayist but this volume has exceeded my expectations.
Basically, y'all' ll get a good grasp of his value pluralism notion and become more skeptical towards utopian ideologies. Enlightenment was the triumph of reason and logic but the romantics shortly showed its flaws, depicting the man status as

The Crooked Timber of Humanity is non an ode to conformity every bit some radicals might depict information technology, just an attempt to show our complexity as homo beings.

Isaiah Berlin has a reputation for being a magnificent essayist but this book has exceeded my expectations.
Basically, you' ll get a good grasp of his value pluralism notion and become more skeptical towards utopian ideologies. Enlightenment was the triumph of reason and logic but the romantics soon showed its flaws, depicting the human status as a warfield where equally valid but contradictory values are in abiding conflict towards 1 another. Soon though, romantic idealism led to the disastrous events of the 20th century, a century with endless mortality and suffering.

Our tragedy equally human beings is, that we're forced to make choices sacrificing our unreflectiveness and absolutism and perhaps one part of ourselves in this process. Ideologies offer redemption, while necessary in order to broaden our horizons, offer fiddling else, since they fail to encapsulate what makes us who we are. Berlin draws from the counter-enlightenment tradition (a term which I think he was the first to coin) but deals all historical movements and ideas with the outmost respect. His essay on Joseph De-Maistre for example, while critical and bitter towards some of his conclusions, remains a wonderfully balanced arroyo to a controversial figure. It also works every bit a prelude towards this book'south final essay-also wonderful-, which discussed the then evident rise of fascism in Europe. I wish Berlin was nonetheless alive, offering his calm and insightful thoughts in today'due south similar landscape. From the crooked timber of humanity, no straight matter was ever made.

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A very good book from one of the nearly intellectual thinkers of the 20 century.
It'due south a shame that people don't give Isaiah enough credit

May xiv, 2008 Jonathan rated it actually liked it

Recommends information technology for: Shane, Lindsey

"From the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made." -- Immanuel Kant

Isaiah Berlin sees human being life every bit necessarily tragic, not because of man depravity in a Christian sense merely because of the incompatibility of human appurtenances. Humans will never exist able to attain both perfect liberty and perfect equality, for example; they must brand a hard choice between them or seek only a partial measure of each. ("Total liberty for wolves is death to the lambs," in Berlin's famous formulat

"From the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was e'er made." -- Immanuel Kant

Isaiah Berlin sees human life as necessarily tragic, not because of man depravity in a Christian sense simply considering of the incompatibility of human being goods. Humans will never exist able to attain both perfect liberty and perfect equality, for example; they must make a difficult choice between them or seek only a partial measure of each. ("Total liberty for wolves is expiry to the lambs," in Berlin's famous conception.) The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw terrifying ideologies arise either in denial of this fact (utopianism) or in relativistic perversion of information technology (nationalism) or both (fascism).

Berlin suggests that the best response to the incompatibility of dissimilar goods is what he calls pluralism. Unlike relativism, he says, pluralism recognizes mutual human bonds that brand advice -- even debate -- possible amongst unlike communities. But pluralism also recognizes that there is no comprehensive solution to human problems, and thus that other people may legitimately pursue unlike priorities from ours. This solution leaves much to be desired, but it might at least keep us from destroying each other.

The collection seems a flake dated at present, insofar as these essays were written to address mid-twentieth-century problems. Ane demand non strain one's mind much, notwithstanding, to imagine applications to the problems posed past political Islam, the "freedom agenda," European unification, or economic globalization. And Berlin's prose is a pleasure to read.

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Nov 05, 2009 Matthew rated it really liked it  · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Novice Philosophers

Recommended to Matthew by: My Father

In this compelling examination of the historical roots of modern thinking Isaiah Berlin occupies himself with the clash of ideas betwixt French Enlightenment thinkers on one side and a small group of irrationalist reactionaries on the other. He primarily focuses on Giambattista Vico, Johann Gottfried Herder, Joseph de Maistre and Johann Georg Hamann and discusses how their reaction against the enlightenment concept of universal truth led to the romantic movement and ultimately to fascism. Berlin In this compelling examination of the historical roots of modern thinking Isaiah Berlin occupies himself with the clash of ideas between French Enlightenment thinkers on 1 side and a small grouping of irrationalist reactionaries on the other. He primarily focuses on Giambattista Vico, Johann Gottfried Herder, Joseph de Maistre and Johann Georg Hamann and discusses how their reaction against the enlightenment concept of universal truth led to the romantic move and ultimately to fascism. Berlin's conclusion seems to exist in favor of pluralism, rejecting the dangerous idea of man-fabricated utopias likewise as the as damaging moral relativism that led to the nihilistic worship of claret, state and leader; both concepts that resulted in the bloodbaths of the 20th century. He also has some interesting views on the ascent of the nation-state as a response to colonialism and the utter failure of Marxist Internationalism. He advocates a middle ground of pluralism and acceptance of differences with the realization that there are sure modals of acceptable behavior that cross cultural divides and make us human being. ...more

Like The Blank Slate, this book was a life-changer for me. Reading information technology convinced me that radicalism in politics is ultimately cocky-defeating, and that irreconcilable political opponents not but tin can become along, simply they must get forth (with some rare exceptions, viz. Nazis). Liberalism isn't credence of those boneheads over there, but is rather the idea that declining to give them a voice volition lead to something a lot worse. Like The Bare Slate, this book was a life-changer for me. Reading information technology convinced me that radicalism in politics is ultimately self-defeating, and that irreconcilable political opponents non just tin go along, but they must get along (with some rare exceptions, viz. Nazis). Liberalism isn't acceptance of those boneheads over there, but is rather the idea that declining to give them a phonation will lead to something a lot worse. ...more

I've been intrigued past Isaiah Berlin ever since I found out that he was the writer of the seminal essay on Tolstoy, "The Hedgehog and the Fob." His collection of later essays, The Crooked Timber of History, was every bit compelling. The first ii essays, "The Pursuit of the Platonic" and "The Decline of Utopian Ideas in the Westward," were interesting in the word of the inevitable failure of utopian movements like communism and fascism due to the fact that ideals differ from culture to culture. Thi I've been intrigued by Isaiah Berlin e'er since I establish out that he was the writer of the seminal essay on Tolstoy, "The Hedgehog and the Fox." His collection of later essays, The Crooked Timber of History, was every bit compelling. The commencement ii essays, "The Pursuit of the Ideal" and "The Decline of Utopian Ideas in the Due west," were interesting in the discussion of the inevitable failure of utopian movements like communism and fascism due to the fact that ethics differ from culture to culture. This concept of cultural pluralism dominates the discourse in his essay, "Giambattista and Cultural History," in which he calls Vico the truthful male parent of the modern concept of culture and cultural pluralism. The rest of the essays are as idea provoking and compelling: "Alleged Relativism in Eighteen-Century European Thought," Joseph de Mainstre and the Origins of Fascism," "European Unity and its Vicissitudes," "The Apotheosis of the Romantic Will," and "The Aptitude Twig." By and large philosophical texts tin can be quite dry and difficult to follow, however, I institute Berlin's manner challenging but attainable. ...more

Apr 16, 2020 Louis rated information technology really liked it

4/5

In that location are a couple of capacity in here that repeat the same theory or point multiple times. Only that aside, Berlin writes (or speaks) with clarity and precision over vast epochs of intellectual history.
German language Romanticism, Nationalism and of course the essay which this collection is nigh known for, Joseph De Maistre. De Maistre was an elegant, intelligent, prophetic and bone-chilling thinker who predicted the Russian Revolution and developed a view of the world that was closely replicated amo

4/v

At that place are a couple of capacity in here that repeat the same theory or point multiple times. But that bated, Berlin writes (or speaks) with clarity and precision over vast epochs of intellectual history.
German Romanticism, Nationalism and of course the essay which this collection is most known for, Joseph De Maistre. De Maistre was an elegant, intelligent, prophetic and os-chilling thinker who predicted the Russian Revolution and developed a view of the globe that was closely replicated among the Fascist movements of the 20th century. I'm not going to become in to anymore detail as you would exist far better advised to simply read Berlin's chapter on him.

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A collection of essays from the renown historian Isaiah Berlin, who essentially offers an entirely reasonable and nuanced argument for abandoning Platonic ideals, accented ethical values, categorical imperatives, and quests for Utopia. Berlin offers a pluralistic, cultural approach to understanding human affairs, not different the Italian historian Vico. As humans, nosotros are capable of understanding other humans, and their values, actions, and customs. We tin can criticise and condemn other cultures, simply A drove of essays from the renown historian Isaiah Berlin, who substantially offers an entirely reasonable and nuanced argument for abandoning Platonic ethics, absolute upstanding values, categorical imperatives, and quests for Utopia. Berlin offers a pluralistic, cultural approach to agreement human affairs, not different the Italian historian Vico. As humans, we are capable of understanding other humans, and their values, actions, and customs. We can criticise and condemn other cultures, merely we must not pretend that we are incapable of understanding why different peoples act differently. To Berlin, the search for perfection is a recipe for mortality. 1 culture cannot foist values upon another, for the very reason that one cannot legislate unintended consequences, irresolute values, and the diverseness of equally valid human ends.

So it's value pluralism. Simply aren't there at to the lowest degree a few things which are universal? What are human being rights?

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Jun 17, 2009 Mitch rated it it was amazing

A must. Berlin is one of the greatest sages of the previous century. When the misty fad of Foucault, Derrida and company has faded and nosotros are in deep catastrophe and faced with the temptations to radical extremism violence and mad utopianism on the left and rigid reaction on the right Berlin will exist needed.

A worthy successor to "Confronting The Current".
All of the essays were informative, but the most important (to me) were "Joseph De Maistre and the Origins of Fascism", followed past "The Decline of Utopian Ideas in the West", and "The Apotheosis of the Romantic Volition: The Defection against the Myth of an Ideal Globe". A worthy successor to "Against The Current".
All of the essays were informative, just the most important (to me) were "Joseph De Maistre and the Origins of Fascism", followed by "The Pass up of Utopian Ideas in the Due west", and "The Apotheosis of the Romantic Volition: The Revolt against the Myth of an Platonic World". ...more than

I recommend the chapters entitled "Joseph de Maistre and the Origins of Fascism" (bachelor for download at the New York Review of Books' website), "The Apotheosis of the Romantic Will," and "The Reject of Utopian Ideas in the Due west."
I recommend the chapters entitled "Joseph de Maistre and the Origins of Fascism" (available for download at the New York Review of Books' website), "The Apotheosis of the Romantic Volition," and "The Decline of Utopian Ideas in the Westward."
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Mar 18, 2012 Elliot marked it every bit to-read

Some books come up to you at the right time and assistance you articulate your own thinking. Afterward only thirty pages, my brain is on burn. I am nonplussed by Berlin'due south depth, intelligence and synthesis of thought. Some books come up to you at the right fourth dimension and help you articulate your own thinking. After just xxx pages, my brain is on fire. I am nonplussed by Berlin's depth, intelligence and synthesis of thought. ...more

Aug 04, 2012 Mattsmom rated it it was amazing

Absolutely exceptional. I highly recommend this volume. Stimulating, thiught provoking and vivid. Minds get hungry and are fed by this very kind of volume.

Very well-written articles. Rich fabric. Brilliant insights into the history of ideas.

Mar 03, 2021 Bradd Saunders rated information technology really liked information technology

The title chosen for this collection of Berlin's essays is apt. Based on a quote past Immanuel Kant which says, roughly translated, that "Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made," Berlin systematically follows the idea of an imperfect world lived by imperfect beings doing their best to find a perfect way of life and discovering in the end, for i reason or another, that it'southward impossible. Like the Fountain of Youth, or the Vii Cities of Cibola, or any other pot at thursday The title chosen for this collection of Berlin's essays is apt. Based on a quote by Immanuel Kant which says, roughly translated, that "Out of the crooked timber of humanity no direct matter was ever made," Berlin systematically follows the idea of an imperfect earth lived past imperfect beings doing their best to detect a perfect way of life and discovering in the end, for 1 reason or some other, that it's impossible. Similar the Fountain of Youth, or the 7 Cities of Cibola, or any other pot at the finish of the rainbow, the hope that we will all some twenty-four hour period arrive at some kind of destination, figure out how to be happy and get along with each other looks as though information technology will always be a chimera, meaning, despite our best intentions, that the fashion ahead will always be crooked, surprising, and treacherous.

There is no single truth. There is no answer. It's complicated.

This does non mean, according to Berlin, that we have no fashion of agreement each other. He believes in a gear up of universal human values that accept, to the most role, always existed in all cultures at all times: the need for food and shelter, the want for a modicum of self-determination, the right to pray to a god of your own choosing, etc.

But beyond that people from different times and cultures were and are bound to live according to values nosotros may find confusing and fifty-fifty repugnant, not because these values are not valid but because they are contradictory to our ain. This ways, we must cull a set up of values in which to live merely nosotros must also sympathise that in that location will be something provisional nearly them, even if nosotros are willing to die for them if necessary. The Western, Platonic dream of finding the way and the simply way to live is a fairy tale.

Several of the essays track the kinds of thinking through the course of Western history that led finally to Nazism and other forms of totalitarianism. In that location are a number of places where Berlin thinks we went incorrect. In item, he lays much of the blame on nineteenth century German romantics living in defection at having eighteenth French classical philosophy and culture rammed down their throats. The effect was a class of German art and thinking where "I" and the trials, wishes, and travails of "I" took precedence over "we," leading finally to a conventionalities in "my" culture and no other. A way of thinking that brought us to the brink of destruction.

Every bit to whether this is finally true, it's difficult to say. Berlin was incredibly articulate as well equally brainy, but he himself was a Western human operating from a set up of assumptions and so ingrained that he, in all likelihood, was unable to see them as assumptions. The whole concept of take a chance, for example, is not taken into business relationship in these essays. Everything has an inexorable quality to information technology. The notion of a Butterly Outcome and its random, unpredictable way on things was not in his dictionary.

This makes his conclusions a piddling less compelling than they could be to the modern reader. If Wagner hadn't written his operas the way he did, if Fichte had never existed, would Hitler still accept come to power? What would accept happened, for case, if Hitler had died in a trench in World State of war l? Would all of Western history accept played out differently than it did?

There'south no telling.

Still, y'all tin't help just think that Berlin is right about the big stuff. The world is complicated and answers are elusive, but there is much to exist gained in looking for them anyway.

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Jan 02, 2017 Yuri Zbitnoff rated it actually liked it

If you're interested in a gimmicky philosopher who is able to put thousands of years into clear perspective, I would certainly place Sir Isaiah Berlin at or nigh the acme of the listing. Mr. Berlin'southward vaunted reputation as an advocate for classical liberal principles and a showtime charge per unit thought historian is entirely well deserved every bit The Kleptomaniacal Timber of Humanity amply demonstrates.

total review here:

The Kleptomaniacal Timber of Humanity - http://wp.me/p6lj8t-4

If yous're interested in a contemporary philosopher who is able to put thousands of years into clear perspective, I would certainly place Sir Isaiah Berlin at or almost the top of the listing. Mr. Berlin'south vaunted reputation equally an advocate for classical liberal principles and a kickoff rate thought historian is entirely well deserved equally The Crooked Timber of Humanity amply demonstrates.

full review here:

The Crooked Timber of Humanity - http://wp.me/p6lj8t-iv

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Aug 09, 2017 Tony rated it really liked information technology

It seemed a proficient time to read even a dated defense of liberal democracy, although a fine intellectual work volition always seem to be timely. Berlin is European-focused and here wrestles repeatedly with the question of how the get-go half of the twentieth century went then wrong, and yet the essays are not and so narrowly confined, cartoon on an impressively wide familiarity with past and contemporary thinkers. In the end, the work conveys a humane voice speaking on behalf of humanism.

Jul 24, 2018 Ryan rated it it was amazing

A very interesting group of essays. It is both a history of philosophical ideas as well as new philosophy for the modern era.

A society based on Reason can exist stifling. Romantic thoughts of individualism sit down latent. Even though yous may love the technological innovations that society provides, yous hands notwithstanding feel like a cog in a bike that doesn't suit you. You may wait to Nationalism to satisfy your needs. At least that way yous feel similar you're calculation a personal touch through your culture.

A very interesting grouping of essays. It is both a history of philosophical ideas as well as new philosophy for the modernistic era.

A society based on Reason can exist stifling. Romantic thoughts of individualism sit latent. Even though you may love the technological innovations that society provides, yous hands still feel similar a cog in a cycle that doesn't suit you. You may look to Nationalism to satisfy your needs. At least that manner you feel like you're calculation a personal touch through your culture.

...more

It is a very well written volume, as usual with Isaiah Berlin, but a bit repetitive at times since several essays rehash the same themes and thinkers and they have as well been treated in other books and essays by Berlin.

I thought the best essay in this collection was "the bent twig" on the ascension of nationalism, with some fantastic pages effectually p270. That was vintage Berlin.

It is a very well written volume, as usual with Isaiah Berlin, but a chip repetitive at times since several essays rehash the same themes and thinkers and they have besides been treated in other books and essays past Berlin.

I thought the best essay in this drove was "the bent twig" on the ascension of nationalism, with some fantastic pages around p270. That was vintage Berlin.

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Mar 11, 2020 Jorgon rated information technology information technology was amazing

Of course, Berlin's essays are an absolute pleasure and fun to read. But more than than that, here is one of the all-time defenses of political pluralism and classical liberalism committed to paper, as well as a devastating set on on absolutism, fascism and other absolutist and utopian political monsters. Of form, Berlin's essays are an absolute pleasance and fun to read. Simply more than that, here is i of the all-time defenses of political pluralism and classical liberalism committed to paper, besides every bit a devastating attack on authoritarianism, fascism and other absolutist and utopian political monsters. ...more than

Dec 27, 2021 Hamza Liaqat rated it really liked it

Berlin presents the history of totalitarian politics and liberalism as a history of ideas. He maps out the general movement of Western thought from the enlightenment, the romantics and then reactionary/obscurantist thinking as a kind of Hegelian dialectic.

This tin can exist a very engaging read although information technology seems similar he repeats a lot of what he thinks is the foundation of Western thought.

I don't know if ideas lead history and are ideas merely rationalizations of ability. I am not a full-on materialist I think ideas affair but at the same time they oft actually seem like rationalizations of people in power. I dunno. We volition come across what I recall a twelvemonth or two from at present. I don't know if ideas lead history and are ideas only rationalizations of power. I am not a full-on materialist I think ideas matter only at the same time they often really seem like rationalizations of people in ability. I dunno. We will see what I call up a year or ii from at present. ...more

This drove of essays contains wisdom and insight, but much of the collection is repetitive, and I was struck past what seemed an inconsistency betwixt the terminal points of the antepenultimate essay and the two which followed.

To this question I volunteer no answer.

The writer has relevant commentary on fascism and absolutism but these essays accept redundant points and much that is off-track. Needed a better editor. Simply I similar his perspective.

Mar 02, 2017 Reader Variety rated information technology really liked it

Berlin's theme is that we tin't take things similar liberty, justice and humanity for granted. Nosotros need a constant focus on ethical thought, moral inquiry and political philosophy (upstanding thought applied to gild) to retain our humanity. Even if an absolute tin't exist reached in our aspirations, we can prioritize avoiding the extremes of suffering and work from there. Berlin's theme is that we can't take things like liberty, justice and humanity for granted. We need a constant focus on upstanding thought, moral inquiry and political philosophy (ethical thought practical to guild) to retain our humanity. Even if an absolute can't be reached in our aspirations, we can prioritize avoiding the extremes of suffering and work from at that place. ...more

May 12, 2021 Vinay rated it it was amazing

The Crooked Timber of Humanity: Isaiah Berlin
A volume on the history counter enlightenment theories in the xviii /19th century tin can be a dull, prodding affair. In the able hands of Berlin it becomes a tour de strength.

Earlier I get into the book a scrap of hero worship. Isaiah Berlin in more ways than 1, has been my platonic(though I practice not agree with his political philosophy). He spent his life studying, analysing, thinking without bothering to publish much. He started his essay on Joseph De Maistre in 1960

The Crooked Timber of Humanity: Isaiah Berlin
A book on the history counter enlightenment theories in the 18 /19th century tin be a dull, prodding affair. In the able hands of Berlin it becomes a tour de force.

Before I get into the book a bit of hero worship. Isaiah Berlin in more than ways than one, has been my platonic(though I practise non agree with his political philosophy). He spent his life studying, analysing, thinking without bothering to publish much. He started his essay on Joseph De Maistre in 1960 and kept working on it, in fits, till 1990. It was still incomplete when he died in 1997 (I draw much comfort from the fact that my procrastination has illustrious predecessors). On the other mitt he had read everything. Given he finished State of war and Peace at the age of 12(fifty-fifty Berlin agrees this was too early) and lived to the age of 88, he was pretty much the homo apotheosis of erudition

This book is a drove of essays that embrace counter enlightenment theories and theorists. Giambattista Vico, Fichte, Machiavelli, Hamann, Schelling, Herder brand appearances. Berlin also covers the historical and social reasons for the growth of counter enlightenment theories which makes for fascinating reading.

The Crown gem of the book is 100 page essay on Joseph De Maistre. The strength of the essay lies in its deep engagement with the ideas of Maistre. Most liberals dismiss Maistre as a reactionary crank, an atavistic pamphleteer. Berlin is likewise smart and honest for this. He recognizes in Maistre the seductive amuse of certainty, society, liberty from option and most of all a truer understating of human nature than the proto rationalist gibberish of Condorcet, Bacon and Rousseau. Berlin acknowledges and explains the strength and art of Maistre's argument even as he disagrees with him. In that location is no hint of condescension or bitterness in his writing. The essay is brilliant in no small-scale measure out to the effervescence of Maistre's idea which is captured exquisitely by Berlin. I am reproducing ii of my favorite passages from Maistre in the hope more than people read this "Saint of Fascism" (Berlin's label, not mine)

"And who [in this general carnage] exterminates him who will exterminate all others? Himself. It is man who is charged with the slaughter of homo. . . The whole world, perpetually steeped in blood, is cypher just a vast altar upon which all that is living must be sacrificed without stop, without measure, without suspension, until the consummation of things, until evil is extinct, until the death of death"

"Homo in full general, if reduced to himself, is as well wicked to be gratuitous"

Everyone must read Berlin considering no one can read every bit much as Berlin, think as conspicuously or write besides.

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كتاب رائع جدا	ane	3	Dec 23, 2013 10:24PM

Sir Isaiah Berlin was a philosopher and historian of ideas, regarded as ane of the leading liberal thinkers of the twentieth century. He excelled as an essayist, lecturer and conversationalist; and equally a brilliant speaker who delivered, rapidly and spontaneously, richly allusive and coherently structured material, whether for a lecture series at Oxford University or as a broadcaster on the BBC Thir Sir Isaiah Berlin was a philosopher and historian of ideas, regarded as one of the leading liberal thinkers of the twentieth century. He excelled as an essayist, lecturer and conversationalist; and every bit a brilliant speaker who delivered, speedily and spontaneously, richly allusive and coherently structured material, whether for a lecture series at Oxford University or equally a broadcaster on the BBC Third Programme, usually without a script. Many of his essays and lectures were after collected in volume course.

Born in Riga, at present capital of Latvia, so office of the Russian Empire, he was the first person of Jewish descent to exist elected to a prize fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford. From 1957 to 1967, he was Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at the University of Oxford. He was president of the Aristotelian Gild from 1963 to 1964. In 1966, he helped to institute Wolfson College, Oxford, and became its start President. He was knighted in 1957, and was awarded the Order of Merit in 1971. He was President of the British Academy from 1974 to 1978. He also received the 1979 Jerusalem Prize for his writings on individual freedom. Berlin'southward piece of work on liberal theory has had a lasting influence.

Berlin is best known for his essay Two Concepts of Liberty, delivered in 1958 as his inaugural lecture as Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at Oxford. He defined negative liberty as the absence of constraints on, or interference with, agents' possible action. Greater "negative liberty" meant fewer restrictions on possible activity. Berlin associated positive liberty with the thought of cocky-mastery, or the capacity to decide oneself, to be in control of one's destiny. While Berlin granted that both concepts of liberty represent valid human ethics, as a matter of history the positive concept of liberty has proven particularly susceptible to political abuse.

Berlin contended that nether the influence of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant and Grand. Westward. F. Hegel (all committed to the positive concept of freedom), European political thinkers often equated liberty with forms of political discipline or constraint. This became politically unsafe when notions of positive liberty were, in the nineteenth century, used to defend nationalism, cocky-conclusion and the Communist idea of collective rational control over human being destiny. Berlin argued that, following this line of thought, demands for freedom paradoxically become demands for forms of collective control and subject field – those deemed necessary for the "self-mastery" or self-determination of nations, classes, democratic communities, and even humanity equally a whole. There is thus an constituent analogousness, for Berlin, between positive liberty and political totalitarianism.

Conversely, negative liberty represents a different, peradventure safer, understanding of the concept of liberty. Its proponents (such as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill) insisted that constraint and discipline were the antithesis of freedom and so were (and are) less prone to disruptive liberty and constraint in the manner of the philosophical harbingers of modernistic totalitarianism. It is this concept of Negative Freedom that Isaiah Berlin supported. It dominated heavily his early chapters in his third lecture.

This negative freedom is central to the merits for toleration due to incommensurability. This concept is mirrored in the work of Joseph Raz.

Berlin'south espousal of negative liberty, his hatred of totalitarianism and his experience of Russia in the revolution and through his contact with the poet Anna Akhmatova made him an enemy of the Soviet Union and he was ane of the leading public intellectuals in the ideological battle against Communism during the Cold War.

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Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/87435.The_Crooked_Timber_of_Humanity

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