Isaiah Berlin
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Isaiah Berlin was a 20th-century philosopher and historian of ideas who explored how different political and philosophical traditions shape society and human freedom. His work remains influential because he developed frameworks for understanding conflicts between competing values—like liberty and equality—that continue to matter in contemporary politics and ethics.
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Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks were sometimes recorded and transcribed, and many of his spoken words were converted into published essays and books, both by himself and by others, especially by his principal editor from 1974, Henry Hardy.
Born in Riga, he moved to Petrograd at the age of six, where he witnessed the Russian Revolution. In 1921, his family moved to England, and he was educated at St Paul's School, London, and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. In 1932, at the age of 23, Berlin was elected to a prize fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford. In addition to his own output, he translated works by Ivan Turgenev from Russian into English. During the Second World War he worked for the British Diplomatic Service.
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1909 births1997 deaths20th-century British Jews20th-century English historians20th-century English male writers20th-century Latvian JewsAlumni of Corpus Christi College, OxfordAnalytic philosophersBritish agnosticsBritish people of Latvian-Jewish descentBritish political philosophersBritish social liberals