10
PART ISAN REVI EW
Berli n was th e Engli sh equivalent of Meye r Shapiro. 130 th were eno r–
mously learned. But Berlin was less sa intl y and mo re worldly. H e had great
charm and chari sma, and was a dazzling conversa ti o nali st.
In my experi ence Berlin was o utdone onl y o nce in a phil osophi cal
argument. It was at a luncheon with a few fi'iends in hi s rooms at Oxfo rd
that he go t into a debate with Iri s Murdoc h abo ut Ex istentiali sm. N either
of them was a slouch in intell ectual matters. Bu t Murdoch out- duell ed
Berlin in thi s instance. O n ano ther occasion he exhibited hi s grea t wit and
modes ty. When Mary McCarthy compl ain ed to him that he was mi staken
and unfair in saying that Hannah Arendt was over- rated. she got nowhere.
She fin ally sa id to Isa iah that Hannah Arendt tho ught he was also over–
rated. Isa iah Berlin answered her, charac teri sti call y, that bo th he and
Hannah Arendt were ri ght.
WP
The brouhaha over th e two recent "sex confe rences" at the N ew Paltz cam–
pus of th e State Uni versity of N ew Yo rk , o nce aga in , is being depi cted, and
fou ght over, in terms o f fi'ee speech versus repress io n, and of differentiating
between public and private fundin g. 13ut these fo rmulations mi ss the point
by failing to address the centra] qu es tio n, whi ch is that students enter uni–
versitites in o rder to rece ive an educati o n. G iven th e (documented) lack of
students' knowledge of such subj ects as Ameri can and European hi story,
English, mathemati cs, geography, etc., shouldn't we assume that th ey mi ght
forego learning abo ut S&M art? Newspapers repo rted that the students "saw
nothing wrong with it." However, it seems to me that rather than appeal to
their opi nion, it ought to be the responsibili ty of their professors to educa te
rather than enterta in them , and to help prepare them fo r competing in the
global market place. Fo r they are fa r behind th eir European counterparts–
who are taught to separate educa ti on and Iearning fi'om smut and
pornography, and whose professors attempt to prepare their charges for the
so-call ed New Age. In thi s context, it is even mo re irrespo nsibl e that the
President of the University "charged cri ti cs for bowing to poli ti cal correct–
ness." Thi s proves no t only that he wants to hang on to hi s job, but that he
doesn't even know that thi s term- deri ved from the Communi st party–
canno t be applied to any es tabli shed autho rity, and especiall y to the " ri ght."
U nfo rtunately, it is thi s sort o f ideo logica l no nsense that also prompts
cri ti cs of the universiti es to search fo r alternate ways of educati on whi ch, in
turn , widens the gap between the educators and their po tential students.
Even Orwell didn't know how ri ght he was when he sa id that a certain kind
of nonsense can be lea rned only in unive rsiti es.
EK
