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system builders like Hegel or the deconstructionists like Foucault but
the anguished humanists like Vico, Machiavelli, and Tolstoy, heroic
skeptics who realize the necessity of acting without absolute convic–
tions and of coping with a universe that has been eclipsed in moral
darkness.
A second theme in Berlin's essays is the gap between the natural
and the human world, a dualism that renders impossible a single logic
of explanation that can encompass human activity as well as natural
processes. Thinkers as diverse as Condorcet, Buckle, and Marx believed
that human society could be studied with the methods of natural
science. But Berlin sides with those who took pains
to
distinguish the
natural from the human world, that which can be investigated empiri–
cally from the "outside," and that which requires a more aesthetic and
moral form of "inside" understanding, an empathy and imagination
that can deal with motives, purposes, hopes, fears, loves, hates, the
meaning of "what men did and thought and suffered."
A third theme in Berlin's works is the implicit connection of
philosophical skepticism
to
political liberalism. In his now classic
essay, "Two Concepts of Freedom," Berlin maintained that the "posi–
tive" notion of freedom, which reflects man's desire for self–
transcendence, can easily lead the citizenry
to
identify with some
authoritarian doctrine or movement, whereas the "negative" concept,
in which man is left relatively free to pursue his diverse activities,
affords the right and ability
to
resist authority and despotism even if it
provides no means for overcoming human alienation. The distinction
between freedom "for" and freedom "against" is rooted in Berlin's
conviction that history has no teleological purpose, least of all the goal
of absolute freedom for which we might
be
led
to
relinquish our
immediate civil liberties. This theme has generally been associated
with modern British political thought, but Berlin shows how even the
implications of classical Renaissance philosophy can lead to plural–
ism. Machiavelli's skepticism about final solutions in human affairs
opened the way for empiricism, toleration, and compromise. "Tolera–
tion is historically the product of the realisation of the irreconcilability
of equally dogmatic faiths , and the practical improbability of complete
victory of one over the other."
While Berlin's writings have done much
to
enrich liberal political
thought, one cannot be completely persuaded that skepticism repre–
sents an entirely adequate stance. Does it follow that the idea of liberty
has been nurtured primarily by those who denied the possibility of
obtaining certain knowledge and ultimate solutions? The Declaration
