Liberalism Against The Currents

Isaiah Berlin, one of the dominant scholars in the20th century, was aRusso-British political philosopher and historian of ideas who contributedsignificantly to the rejuvenation and reconstruction of the post-war liberalism. Withhis animadversion of monism and account of pluralism and “two concepts of liberty”,Berlin normalized the theoretical structure of contemporary liberalism over decades.This paper attempts to clarify the Berlin’s the historical context.From theperspective of the history of liberalism,Berlin was in a difficult era,during whichdeep-rooted monism can be easily exploited by the ill-disposed, thus, lead to thedeprivation of liberty as well as tyrannies and dictatorships. As a liberal withhumanistic solicitude, Berlin stepped up to challenge the supremacy of monism andtreated the plurality and incompatibility of human values with tolerance. He alsoconsidered the pluralism as the foundation of liberty and came up with “negativeliberty” and “positive liberty”, which individuals should preserve the former whilehold critical attitude towards the latter. Berlin’s work on liberal theory and on valuepluralism has had a lasting influence.Berlin’s pluralist theory was questioned by relativism and moral skepticismnevertheless. Berlin believe that human on the value and scope of belonging to acommon human nature must be consistent.He also argued that tried to maintainmultiple development include negative position.Additionally, his defense over‘negative liberty’resulted in the argument to the essence of liberty and the conditionto own liberty.Berlin’s‘negative liberty’is not the kind of ability to do everything,buta limit of personal liberty,which related to the distinction between‘not free’and‘can’t do’.