[Revised entry by Joshua L. Cherniss and Henry Hardy on November 8, 2026.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, notes.html]
Isaiah Berlin (1909 – 97) was a naturalised British philosopher, historian of ideas, political theorist, educator, public intellectual and moralist, and essayist. He was renowned for his conversational brilliance, his defence of liberalism and pluralism, his opposition to political extremism and ideological fanaticism, and his accessible, coruscating writings on people and ideas. His essay Two Concepts of Liberty (1958) contributed to a revival of interest in political theory in the English-speaking world, and remains one of the…