Subscribe to PostsBerlin, Isaiah, Russian Thinkers, Hogarth Press, Viking Press, 1978.
The Hedgehog and the Fox: “A queer combination of the brain of an English chemist with the soul of an Indian Buddhist.” E M de Vogue
page 42…..”There is a particularly vivid simile (War and Peace, epilogue, part 1, chapter 2) in which the great man is likened to the ram whom the shepherd is fattening for the slaughter. Because the ram duly grows fatter, and perhaps is used a a bell-wether for the rest of the flock, he may easily imagine that he is the leader of the flock, and that the other sheep go where they go solely in obedience to his purpose. He thinks this and the flock may think it too. Nevertheless the purpose of his selection is not the role he believes himself to play, but slaughter–a purpose conceived by beings whose aims neither he nor the other sheep can fathom.”
OBSERVATION: Berlin is a thinker who helps us see, and understand beyond the surface that presents itself. Perception, the enlightened activity of insight, and the ability to recognize the function of words, conceptualization, and communication assist us in the quest to understand who and what we are. As human beings, it is our duty to know, to think and ponder. Perception, point of view, content, all drive understanding. How effectively and accurately we use these various conceptual tools, helps us truly understand the nature of reality, and our individual part in the human collective.
