Lecture Isaiah Berlin-Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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FREEDOM AND ITS BETRAYAL Third Programme, 5 November 1952 21.40 Jean-Jacques Rousseau Second of six weekly lectures by Isaiah Berlin Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Isaiah Berlin(1909-1997) was one of the most celebrated thinkers of the twentieth century. His defence of freedom and diversity against control and uniformity is widely endorsed. His distinction between the monist hedgehog and the pluralist fox, and his celebration of 'the crooked timber of humanity', have entered the vocabulary of modern culture, together with his hugely influential elaboration of the concepts of 'positive' and 'negative' political liberty. A consummate essayist and letter-writer, he was famous for his virtuosity as a lecturer and talker. His distinctive deep, rapid voice was often heard on the radio, and he led many to explore his chosen subject - the history of ideas. He founded Oxford's largest graduate college, Wolfson, which expresses his generous, un-hidebound  personality to this day. In these lectures Isaiah Berlin discussed the ideas of some social and political thinkers before and after the French Revolution which, in his view, have had a greater influence both for good and evil in the twentieth century than in their own time and are now more important than ever. In this lecture Mr. Berlin speaks about Rousseau's central doctrine shows how, in Dostoevsky's words, 'Beginning with unlimited freedom one concludes with unlimited despotism. There is no other solution.'

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.