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Books

Isaiah Berlin: A Life by Michael Ignatieff

Ralph Blumenau examines the open book of Isaiah Berlin’s life.

Twentieth century philosophers in England fall into two groups. The bigger is the one whose members engage in analysing the meanings of words and the ways that we use them. While this is undoubtedly an important enterprise, it is often rather arid and does not touch on what is really significant to most people. Bryan Magee, in his Confessions of a Philosopher, compares them to men who spend all their time polishing their glasses, but never put them on their noses to look through them at the world. These philosophers tend to teach us cleverness.

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