Study Of Isaiah Berlin’s Romanticism Research

Isaiah Berlin’s liberal thoughts and value-pluralism have been focused inacademic circles at home and abroad, while his romantic ideas have seldom beenstudied. Berlin pay close attention to the contradiction between advocates andopponents of the Enlightenment, and the problems and conflicts of the contradictionare one of the cores among Berlin’s researches on history of ideas. As the primaryopponents of the Enlightenment, Berlin holds a sympathetic and concerned attitudetowards Romanticism. In addition, the romantic thinkers’ creative and revolutionaryideas which are represented by Herder also have a significant impact on the formationof Berlin’s ideology.Looking back at the researches on Romanticism in last two centuries, theconcepts of Romanticism have become so various by the the interpretation of differentschools. Berlin refused to make a clear definition on Romanticism and considered totake a perspective of history. Therefore, he reviewed the the various factors and thechanges of the ideas in the romantic age on the basis of the predecessors, and believedthe effectiveness of this method. Berlin made a systemic survey to Romanticism on itsdevelopment and variants in a historical perspective with the method of the history ofideas. Berlin was ware of the limits of Romanticism and concluded that Fascism andExistentialism are the successor of Romanticism and Romanticism has been trappedin the logic with its development. But Berlin roughly had a critical approval withRomanticism, and highly praised the new ideas and vitality provided for Liberalismand Pluralism.Compared with traditional literary studies, Schmitt’s political philosophy andLovejoy’s synchronic studies on the history of ideas, Berlin’s methods on the historyof the ideas as well as his multiple identities and perspective of Pluralism makeRomanticism studies unique and have been engraved with his own personality.Romanticism has been constantly “actualization” in contemporary criticism, and hasbeen considered as the origin of Modernity, Nationalism and Totalitarianism. Unlikethe scholars mentioned above, Berlin interested in the connection betweenRomanticism and Liberalism. In Berlin’s view, Liberalism should be the end-result ofRomanticism. Berlin’s analysis on Liberalism and Romanticism has injected the newtheoretical source for Liberalism and re-activated the vitality of Romanticism. Berlin’s research on Romanticism has produced a long-term and profound influenceon both Berlin’s ideology and the research spectrum of Romanticism.