Concepts and Categories

Philosophical Essays - Second Edition

Isaiah Berlin, Henry Hardy

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780691157498
• eBook ISBN: 9781400848102
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ethics & Moral Philosophy

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


This new edition adds a number of previously uncollected pieces that throw further light on Berlin's central philosophical concerns, and a revealing exchange of letters with the editor and Bernard Williams about the genesis of the book.

INDEX

Douglas Matthews

accident: in history, 201

aesthetics, 193

Alexander the Great, 177

algebra, 221

ambiguity (in language), 48

American Revolution (1775–83), 107

anarchists, 123, 196, 204

anthropology, 212

Aquinas, St Thomas (and Thomists): and cognition, 89; on ideal society, 196, 199, 219; on human purpose, 202; and self-determination, 237

archaeology, 145

Aristotelian Society, xii

Aristotle: belief in purpose, 9, 202, 334; and biological pattern of human nature, 12, 221; and syllogism, 73; and hypothetical propositions, 81; and Ionian fallacy, 99; on slavery, 115; on history, 135 n, 155; on means and ends, 198–9; political philosophy, 221–2; and self-fulfilment, 227; on knowledge as liberating, 234; and determinism, 236; on values, 317; teleology, 332

astronomy, 5–6, 192

atheists, 195

Austin, John Langshaw: xiv, xxix–xxx, 270, 278, 286, 288; Philosophical Papers, 264

authority: and equality, 119–20; in political theory, 194, 201; and freedom, 203; and State, 207

axioms, 188

Ayer, Alfred Jules: xiv, 23–4, 45, 61, 237, 270, 284; Language, Truth and Logic, 278, 285

Bacon, Francis, 235, 289

behaviourism, 36, 228–9, 232–3, 258

belief see knowledge

Bentham, Jeremy, 9, 107, 115, 207, 211

‘Bentham’s dictum’, 106 n, 134

Bergson, Henri Louis, 94, 116 n, 204, 287

Berkeley, George, Bishop of Cloyne, 22, 43, 45, 48, 69 n, 75, 97, 289, 305

biology, 192, 203

Bismarck, Prince Otto Edward Leopold von, 141, 175

Bodin, Jean, 203, 207

Boenders, Frans: radio interview with IB, xxii, 284–305

Bossuet, Jacques Bénigne, 137

Boyle, Robert, 177

Bradley, Francis Herbert, 87, 94, 250, 289

Broad, Charlie Dunbar...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Editor’s Preface
• Author’s Preface
• Introduction
• The 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
• Appendix to the Second Edition
• Index