Review: Against the Current
Redaktioneller Bericht - Kirkus ReviewsThough some of Sir Isaiah's best-known essays were included in the previous two volumes of his collected essays (Russian Thinkers and Concepts and Categories), this third of four scheduled volumes contains the essence of Berlin's scholarly contribution because all his writing is deeply involved with the history of ideas. If he has a single guiding principle, it is that the search for a final truth is illusory and dangerous, and that human existence is culturally, historically, and therefore relatively constituted. Not surprisingly, then, his touchstone is Vico, the 18th-century Italian philosopher who rejected the notion that the methods of the natural sciences--particularly mathematics--could yield definitive results when applied to the realm of social life, where what is true for one culture and historical epoch is not necessarily true for another. Aside from two essays specifically on Vico, Berlin explores the same theme in pieces on Machiavelli, Montesquieu, and various lesser-known thinkers of the ""counter-Enlightenment."" In all of these, Berlin treads a narrow path bordered by various irrationalist currents, but his step is sure and he knows just where he is going in extolling the virtues of intellectual temperance and pluralism against the excesses of pseudo-scientific rigidity. Other essays deal with problems of Jewish identity, centering on the writings of Moses Hess, a 19th-century socialist and Zionist, and on a comparison of the existential similarities of Benjamin Disraeli and Karl Marx. The issue of cultural identity is also taken up in essays on Alexander Herzen and George Sorel, and in a final piece on nationalism as a force to be reckoned with. Throughout, Sir Isaiah is mapping our own cultural and historical relatedness and showing us the implicit ""relevance"" of the history of ideas to our time. The essays are elegantly written, one and all, by a master of the genre who is also one of the true intellectuals living today.
Review: Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas
Nutzerbericht - Sh - GoodreadsOutstanding representative of Berlin's ideas and thoughts. Collection of the essays touch, albeit on somewhat lighter level, nearly all major intellectual contributions of Isaiah Berlin as a historian ... Vollständige Rezension lesen
Review: Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas
Nutzerbericht - Lauren Albert - GoodreadsMostly excellent though there is some repetitiveness in the first half (even some self-plagiarism). Of note, I thought, was his essay on the ironic (to us) way Hume was used by German anti ... Vollständige Rezension lesen
Review: Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas
Nutzerbericht - Michael - GoodreadsReading Isaiah Berlin is like having a conversation with the most brilliant human on the planet -- who also likes what you like and is happy to eat at your table with you. Never has learning been ... Vollständige Rezension lesen
Review: Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas
Nutzerbericht - Clay - GoodreadsJust wonderful stuff ... clearly written, jargon-free, important ideas about the way we look at the world. Some of the essays are somewhat obscure in terms of their topics, but still, well worth reading. And "The Crooked Timber of Humanity" may be even better. Vollständige Rezension lesen
Review: Against the Current
Nutzerbericht - Anthony Storr - Independent on SundayA historian of ideas, [Berlin] has no equal; and what he has to say is expressed in prose of exceptional lucidity and grace. Vollständige Rezension lesen
Review: Against the Current
Nutzerbericht - Goronwy Rees - EncounterA most remarkable intellectual achievement. There are few books published in our time which more dazzlingly illuminate some of the most crucial problems of western culture and civilisation. Vollständige Rezension lesen
Review: Against the Current
Nutzerbericht - Mark Feeney - Boston GlobeIsaiah Berlin was the most esteemed intellectual figure in the English-speaking world. Against the Current may be the most representative of [his] books. Vollständige Rezension lesen
Review: Against the Current
Nutzerbericht - Keith Thomas - ObserverBerlin expounds the ideas of half-forgotten thinkers with luminous clarity and imaginative empathy. . . . exhilarating to read. Vollständige Rezension lesen
