
Concepts and Categories
Philosophical Essays - Second Edition
Isaiah Berlin(Author)
Henry Hardy(Editor)
Princeton University Press
2nd Edition
Published on 10. November 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
384 pages
978-0-691-15749-8 (ISBN)
Description
"The goal of philosophy is always the same, to assist men to understand themselves and thus to operate in the open, not wildly in the dark."--Isaiah Berlin This volume of Isaiah Berlin's essays presents the sweep of his contributions to philosophy from his early participation in the debates surrounding logical positivism to his later work, which more evidently reflects his life-long interest in political theory, the history of ideas, and the philosophy of history. Here Berlin describes his view of the nature of philosophy, and of its main task: to uncover the various models and presuppositions--the concepts and categories--that men bring to their existence and that help form that existence. Throughout, his writing is informed by his intense consciousness of the plurality of values, the nature of historical understanding, and of the fragility of human freedom in the face of rigid dogma. This new edition adds a number of previously uncollected pieces that throw further light on Berlin's central philosophical concerns, and a revealing exchange of letters with the editor and Bernard Williams about the genesis of the book.
Reviews / Votes
"Being a man of the liveliest and most ingenious intellect, [Berlin] must wish that reason could do more to transform the human condition radically and quickly; being a man of common sense he knows it cannot."--Edward Crankshaw, The Observer "He left the moral quality of his voice behind him, in the long tumbling paragraphs and the clauses within clauses of his best essays, and it is to these that we can turn when we need to remind ourselves what intellectual life can be: joyful, free of illusion, and vitally alive."--Michael Ignatieff, The New York Review of BooksMore details
Edition
Second Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Edition type
Revised edition
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 139 mm
Thickness: 43 mm
Weight
376 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-15749-8 (9780691157498)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
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03/1999
Princeton University Press
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Persons
Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997) was one of the leading intellectual historians of the twentieth century and the founding president of Wolfson College, University of Oxford. His many books include The Hedgehog and the Fox, The Crooked Timber of Humanity, The Roots of Romanticism, and Against the Current (all Princeton). Henry Hardy, a Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, is one of Isaiah Berlin's literary trustees. He has edited several other volumes by Berlin, and is currently preparing Berlin's letters and remaining unpublished writings for publication.
Content
Foreword by Alasdair MacIntyre xi Editor's Preface xix Author's Preface xxv Introduction by Bernard Williams xxix The Purpose of Philosophy 1 Verification 15 Empirical Propositions and Hypothetical Statements 41 Logical Translation 72 Equality 106 The Concept of Scientific History 135 Does Political Theory Still Exist? 187 From Hope and Fear Set Free 226 Appendix to the Second Edition Made of Wax after All 261 My Philosophical Views 277 Interview on Concepts and Categories 284 Logical Positivism 305 The Rationality of Value Judgements 315 Is a Philosophy of History Possible? 318 Pluralism and Liberalism (with Bernard Williams) 325 The Philosophy of Charles Taylor 331 Index 335