Isaiah Berlin’s Freedom And Its Limits

Isaiah Berlin had a great contribution in the field of political philosophy,and many later philosophers have been deeply influenced by him.His intellectual legacy to posterity is his liberalism based on value pluralism and the distinction between negative and positive liberty.He revisits the original monism and its related studies on freedom to open new paths in the field of liberalism.Focusing on individual freedom,Berlin argues that the individual needs a domain free from the interference of others.Regarding this field,Berlin sees it as ever-changing but clearly identifiable.Unlike the classical liberal school of thought,he believes that the limits of freedom are not absolute.Questions about freedom should go to the field of choice to find answers.Positive freedom is more likely to lead to illiberal consequences than negative freedom.Positive freedom can awaken the individual to defend freedom,and negative freedom can prevent the excessive pursuit of freedom.The role of knowledge for freedom has two sides.Insisting on rational monism in the realm of freedom erases the right of human choice.The kind of freedom with the right to choose is what people should pursue.We should focus on the freedom of choice,not on the eternity of freedom.Freedom is an purpose and not a means,and it cannot be equated with other valued purposes.A pluralist approach should be taken to freedom and other purposes of human values.The choice of value purpose is closely related to the basic moral categories and concepts in which people live.There are three dimensions to Berlin’s limits of freedom:freedom as individual liberty,freedom as the two most central meanings of freedom,and freedom as the purpose of value.Berlin’s idea of liberal limits can provide us with new perspectives for understanding relevant social issues.