Jeffrey Friedman – författare

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’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.

In The Longing for Total Revolution: Philosophic Sources of Discontent from Rousseau to Marx and Nietzsche (1986), the eminent intellectual historian and political theorist Bernard Yack offered a sweeping reinterpretation of modern thought. Yack argued that Rousseau prompted a line of philosophy that continued through Kant, Hegel, Marx and Nietzsche, which viewed the essential spirit of modernity as dehumanizing, and therefore implied, in a matter that became increasingly clear over time, that a total revolution against modernity is necessary.

In this volume, seven political theorists and historians, including Yack himself, reconsider the book’s substantive and methodological innovations, its limitations, and its current relevance. Contributors to the volume discuss, inter alia, left Kantianism in historical context, the theological origins of the longing for total revolution, the question of whether the tradition identified by Yack is connected to twentieth-century totalitarianism, and the unique form of critical genealogy pioneered by Yack’s book. The volume concludes with Yack’s response to the other contributors’ chapters.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Critical Review.

In The Longing for Total Revolution: Philosophic Sources of Discontent from Rousseau to Marx and Nietzsche (1986), the eminent intellectual historian and political theorist Bernard Yack offered a sweeping reinterpretation of modern thought. Yack argued that Rousseau prompted a line of philosophy that continued through Kant, Hegel, Marx and Nietzsche, which viewed the essential spirit of modernity as dehumanizing, and therefore implied, in a matter that became increasingly clear over time, that a total revolution against modernity is necessary.

In this volume, seven political theorists and historians, including Yack himself, reconsider the book’s substantive and methodological innovations, its limitations, and its current relevance. Contributors to the volume discuss, inter alia, left Kantianism in historical context, the theological origins of the longing for total revolution, the question of whether the tradition identified by Yack is connected to twentieth-century totalitarianism, and the unique form of critical genealogy pioneered by Yack’s book. The volume concludes with Yack’s response to the other contributors’ chapters.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Critical Review.

Populism has taken the world by storm—but what is it? In this volume, twelve political scientists and political theorists approach this question from a variety of new perspectives, empirical and theoretic, covering populism around the world. In addition to chapters on populism in Eastern Europe and Britain, six authors analyse populism in the United States, treating it, variously, as a reaction against technocracy, a form of technocracy, a manifestation of regional and class norms, a violent ideological import, and (potentially) a progressive democratic phenomenon. All the contributors attempt to understand populists on their own terms rather than reducing populism to a psychological or structural phenomenon.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Critical Review.

Populism has taken the world by storm—but what is it? In this volume, twelve political scientists and political theorists approach this question from a variety of new perspectives, empirical and theoretic, covering populism around the world. In addition to chapters on populism in Eastern Europe and Britain, six authors analyse populism in the United States, treating it, variously, as a reaction against technocracy, a form of technocracy, a manifestation of regional and class norms, a violent ideological import, and (potentially) a progressive democratic phenomenon. All the contributors attempt to understand populists on their own terms rather than reducing populism to a psychological or structural phenomenon.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Critical Review.

Intolerance of ideas different from one’s own seems to be a common attitude among human beings and, at the same time, something that seems to be more pronounced in recent years. In this volume, political theorists and philosophers consider some of the historical preconditions of modern intolerance and debate the sources of its recent manifestations.

From theories of religious intolerance during the Reformation to the contemporary suppression of religious symbols; from homophobia to attempts to ban it; from populism on the right to “cancel culture” on the left—this book covers a variety of forms of intolerance, analysing not only its consequences but its causes and implications. Some of the chapters suggest means by which democracies may, through popular and judicial measures, defend themselves against intolerance, while others probe the philosophical grounding of intolerance in epistemological and metaphysical doctrines such as self-evident truth, divine revelation, inner illumination, naïve realism, and the moral relativism attributed to analytic philosophy and postmodernism.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Critical Review.

Intolerance of ideas different from one’s own seems to be a common attitude among human beings and, at the same time, something that seems to be more pronounced in recent years. In this volume, political theorists and philosophers consider some of the historical preconditions of modern intolerance and debate the sources of its recent manifestations.

From theories of religious intolerance during the Reformation to the contemporary suppression of religious symbols; from homophobia to attempts to ban it; from populism on the right to “cancel culture” on the left—this book covers a variety of forms of intolerance, analysing not only its consequences but its causes and implications. Some of the chapters suggest means by which democracies may, through popular and judicial measures, defend themselves against intolerance, while others probe the philosophical grounding of intolerance in epistemological and metaphysical doctrines such as self-evident truth, divine revelation, inner illumination, naïve realism, and the moral relativism attributed to analytic philosophy and postmodernism.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Critical Review.