Isaiah Berlin’s liberalism seems both dated and essential in an era of ideological extremes. Berlin’s vision of liberalism rejected metaphysics philosophies of history and particular conceptions of the good setting a pattern for Anglo-American political thought that is still influential and may offer resources for understanding the resurgence of ideology in the twenty-first century but one that also seems to be firmly embedded in the Cold War opposition of liberalism against Marxism. In this volume ten political theorists reconsider Berlin’s thought-especially his famous essay “Two Concepts of Liberty”-in the light of contemporary political developments such as populism. Several contributors focus on Berlin’s neglected idea of political “maturity” as holding a key to his thought making it an important site of contestation over his legacy. Others analyse Berlin’s notoriously fraught definition of liberty and his understanding of value pluralism; situate him as a Cold War liberal; and relate his work to that of contemporaries such as Raymond Aron and Leo Strauss. This book was originally published as a special issue of Critical Review.|Isaiah Berlin | Politics
