Concepts and Categories

By Isaiah Berlin

Book Overview

"The goal of philosophy is always the same, to assist men to understand themselves & 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, & the philosophy of history. Here Berlin describes his view of the nature of philosophy, & of its main task: to uncover the various models & presuppositions--the concepts & categories--that men bring to their existence & that help form that existence. Throughout, his writing is informed by his intense consciousness of the plurality of values, the nature of historical understanding, & of the fragility of human freedom in the face of rigid dogma.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670235520
• ISBN13: 9780670235520
• Release Date: March 1979
• Publisher: Viking
• Length: 202 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The more analytical early Berlin

This second volume of the collected essays edited by Henry Hardy is in a sense the least interesting of all the volumes of essays. It contains more of the purely analytic philosophical work which is I believe for most readers the least interesting side of Berlin. Berlin's best writing is when he engages other thinkers , when he deals with history and politics in substantial ways. Nonetheless Berlin is Berlin a wonderfully clear and significance- making writer. The essays have the titles: Purpose of Philosophy, Verification, Empirical Propositions and Hypothetical Statements, Logical Translation,Equality, The Concept of Scientific History, Does Political Theory still exist , ' From Hope and Fear Set Free'