Conversations With Isaiah Berlin [Hardcover]

Isaiah Berlin (Author), Ramin Jahanbegloo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1992

The philosopher, intellectual historian, and proponent of liberal thinking recounts his life, interspersing personal reminiscences with a discussion of the great thinkers who influenced and intrigued him--from Machiavelli to Pasternak.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

What began as an interview of the noted British philosopher and historian of ideas, conducted by the Iranian philosopher Jahanbegloo for the journal Esprit , grew into a series of five conversations, comprising a sort of intellectual memoir. They range over Berlin's writings on historicism, pluralism, and liberty as well as the ideas of thinkers such as Vico, Herder, and Herzen. Berlin also speaks of his many friends and acquaintances among the important thinkers and artists of the 20th century. Both urbane and opinionated, these conversations provide an able introduction to Berlin's thought that ultimately sends us back to his many books and essays. A fitting history of the ideas of the great historian of ideas.
- T.L. Cooksey, Armstrong State Coll., Savannah, Ga.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 213 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684193949
• ISBN-13: 978-0684193946
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,618,943 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Isaiah Berlin is always interesting, November 16, 2004

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Conversations With Isaiah Berlin (Hardcover)

Isaiah Berlin is one of the great intellectual figures of the twentieth century. He has been spoken of as the second greatest talker in the history of the English language( after Samuel Johnson) Here his remarks are a trifle short and yet there is enough substance in them to fill 'forty books' of others.
Some samples.
"For me a great man in public life, is one who deliberately causes something important to happen, the probability of which seemed low before he took up the task. A great man is a man who gives history a turn without which it scarcely could have taken without him."
"The purpose of Zionism is normalization; the creation of conditions in which the Jews could live as a nation,like the others. Alexander Kojeve whom I spoke of before once said to me." The Jews have the most interesting history of any people. Yet now they want to be what? Albania? How can they?" I said "For the Jews to be like Albania constitutesprogress. 600,000 Jews in Romania were victims- before the Nazis.They tried to escape. But 600,000 Jews in Palestine did not leave because Rommel was at their door. That is the difference. They considered Palestine to be their own country, and if they had to die they would die not like trapped animals but for the country."
" I believe there is nothing more destructive of human lives than fanatical conviction about the perfect life,allied to political or military power.Our century affords terrible evidence of this truth.I believe in working for a minimally decent society.If we can go beyond this to a wider life, so much the better.But even a minimum of decency is more than we have in some countries."
"But not every genius is like one's image of a genius.Pasternak was such a one. He talked marvellously, he was a little unhinged at times, but at all times a man of pure genius. Nobody could have had a more fascinating experience than to listen to him talk- in my exprience only Virginia Woolf talked something like that. She too, of course, was a trifle crazy"

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spotty and repetitive, yet.., September 7, 2005

By 

Christopher LaMonica "Professor" (Newport, RI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Conversations With Isaiah Berlin (Hardcover)

This book is not for the connoisseur of Berlin's ideas and works; rather it is really a broad and introductory survey. The book is based on a series of largely unstructured conversations with Berlin about his personal past and better known works, as well as some of his views on others' famous works and ideas on philosophy. The interviewer, Ramin Jahanbegloo, cannot be faulted for his brief and often open-ended questions as he is clearly prodding Berlin to speak his mind. Berlin does seem to 'correct' the errors of his interviewer but this is to be expected from such a reknowned and learned philosopher. For those already familiar with Berlin, the responses are far from shocking: Hobbes and Machiavelli are, in fact, ethical thinkers; do be weary of those who propose rational, 100% 'final solutions'; 'total liberty can be dreadful, total equality can be equally frightful'; philosophy, if properly taught, allows one to see through 'bad arguments, deceptions, fumisme, verbal fog..'; etc. That said, it is a lighter read than any one of Berlin's books and, for anyone who is curious about Berlin's views on things, it just might a good place to start.