Unfinished Dialogue - Rilegato

Berlin, Sir Isaiah; Polanowska-Sygulska, Beata

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 1591023769 ISBN 13: 9781591023760

Casa editrice: Prometheus Books, 2006

Riassunto

This volume is the fruit of nearly fifteen years of discussion—in person and by letter—between world-famous British philosopher Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997) and Dr. Beata Polanowska-Sygulska of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland. Berlin always felt a special affinity for scholars from Eastern Europe, and the unique chemistry between him and this younger enthusiast for his ideas yielded a remarkable body of material, most of it hitherto unpublished.

Divided into four sections, the book begins with a selection from the correspondence between Berlin and Polanowska-Sygulska dating from 1983 to 1997. These letters are published here in their entirety for the first time. The second section comprises two interviews Berlin gave in 1991 for Polish periodicals. Next come edited transcripts of a number of recorded conversations that took place between 1986 and 1995. In one conversation, Berlin tellingly recalls his childhood and youth. In other exchanges, the famous conversationalist is pressed to be more precise about some of his most contested views, particularly his concepts of liberty and value pluralism, and to give his response to criticism of these ideas by a wide range of authors. In one of his last letters to Dr. Polanowska-Sygulska, Berlin stated, "I have never expressed myself so clearly before, I believe."

The book concludes with a collection of articles on Berlin’s thought by Dr. Polanowska-Sygulska, stemming from her long-standing immersion in his work. Berlin himself thoroughly discussed three of these with the author and approved their publication.

Complete with a foreword by Henry Hardy, Berlin’s editor and collaborator of thirty years, and now one of his literary trustees, this fascinating collection of letters, conversations, and articles sheds considerable light on Berlin’s thinking, clarifying some of the central themes of his philosophy.

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Recensione

"Beata Polanowska-Sygulska has given us an invaluable guide to the thought of one of the twentieth century's great liberal thinkers. In letters, interviews and conversations Isaiah Berlin reveals the essence of his philosophy and relates it to the events of his life. It is a unique record, and together with Polanowska-Sygulska's pentetrating interpretive essays this book will prove indispensable to anyone interested in political theory and the history of ideas in the twentieth century."
John Gray, Professor of European Thought
London School of Economics
Author of Isaiah Berlin

L'autore

Sir Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997) spent a long, distinguished career at Oxford University, where he was Professor of Social and Political Theory, a Fellow of All Souls College, and founding President of Wolfson College. Among his many books are Karl Marx, Russian Thinkers (including "The Hedgehog and the Fox"), The Age of Enlightenment, and Liberty (including "Historical Inevitability" and "Two Concepts of Liberty"). 

Beata Polanowska-Sygulska, Ph.D. (Cracow, Poland), works in the Department of Theory and Philosophy of Law at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland, and is the author of two books in Polish on Isaiah Berlin, Isaiah Berlin’s Philosophy of Freedom and Visages of Liberalism, as well as many scholarly articles.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Prometheus Books
• Data di pubblicazione: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1591023769
• ISBN 13: 9781591023760
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 317