Isaiah Berlin Centenary

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A series of podcasts to mark the centenary of the birth on 6th June 1909 of Isaiah Berlin, founding President of Wolfson College, Oxford University and regarded as one of the leading thinkers of the 20th century.

Oxford University


    • Nov 21, 2021 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 55m AVG DURATION
    • 21 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Isaiah Berlin Centenary

    Some Sources of Romanticism: 6 – The Lasting Effects

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2021 71:40


    The sixth and last of Isaiah Berlin's famous 1965 Mellon Lectures In March–April 1965 Isaiah Berlin delivered his most famous series of public lectures, the A. W. Mellon Lectures (sponsored by the Bollingen Foundation), at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. The lectures were entitled 'Some Sources of Romanticism', and transcripts were published posthumously as 'The Roots of Romanticism', edited by Henry Hardy (London, 1999: Chatto and Windus; Princeton, 1999: Princeton University Press). A second edition was published by Princeton in 2013, with a new foreword by John Gray and an appendix containing contemporary letters about the lectures.

    Some Sources of Romanticism: 4 – The Restrained Romantics

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2021 57:56


    The fourth of Isaiah Berlin's famous 1965 Mellon Lectures In March–April 1965 Isaiah Berlin delivered his most famous series of public lectures, the A. W. Mellon Lectures (sponsored by the Bollingen Foundation), at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. The lectures were entitled 'Some Sources of Romanticism', and transcripts were published posthumously as 'The Roots of Romanticism', edited by Henry Hardy (London, 1999: Chatto and Windus; Princeton, 1999: Princeton University Press). A second edition was published by Princeton in 2013, with a new foreword by John Gray and an appendix containing contemporary letters about the lectures.

    Some Sources of Romanticism: 5 – Unbridled Romanticism

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2021 57:59


    The fifth of Isaiah Berlin's famous 1965 Mellon Lectures In March–April 1965 Isaiah Berlin delivered his most famous series of public lectures, the A. W. Mellon Lectures (sponsored by the Bollingen Foundation), at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. The lectures were entitled 'Some Sources of Romanticism', and transcripts were published posthumously as 'The Roots of Romanticism', edited by Henry Hardy (London, 1999: Chatto and Windus; Princeton, 1999: Princeton University Press). A second edition was published by Princeton in 2013, with a new foreword by John Gray and an appendix containing contemporary letters about the lectures.

    Some Sources of Romanticism: 3 – The True Fathers of Romanticism

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2021 53:13


    The third of Isaiah Berlin's famous 1965 Mellon Lectures In March–April 1965 Isaiah Berlin delivered his most famous series of public lectures, the A. W. Mellon Lectures (sponsored by the Bollingen Foundation), at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. The lectures were entitled 'Some Sources of Romanticism', and transcripts were published posthumously as 'The Roots of Romanticism', edited by Henry Hardy (London, 1999: Chatto and Windus; Princeton, 1999: Princeton University Press). A second edition was published by Princeton in 2013, with a new foreword by John Gray and an appendix containing contemporary letters about the lectures.

    Some Sources of Romanticism: 2 – The First Attack on Enlightenment

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2021 57:13


    The second of Isaiah Berlin's famous 1965 Mellon Lectures In March–April 1965 Isaiah Berlin delivered his most famous series of public lectures, the A. W. Mellon Lectures (sponsored by the Bollingen Foundation), at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. The lectures were entitled 'Some Sources of Romanticism', and transcripts were published posthumously as 'The Roots of Romanticism', edited by Henry Hardy (London, 1999: Chatto and Windus; Princeton, 1999: Princeton University Press). A second edition was published by Princeton in 2013, with a new foreword by John Gray and an appendix containing contemporary letters about the lectures.

    Capturing Genius: Editing Isaiah Berlin

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2021 118:26


    Howard Burton talks to Henry Hardy, Fellow of Wolfson and author of ‘In Search of Isaiah Berlin: A Literary Adventure', about being the principal editor of one of the twentieth century's most captivating public intellectuals This podcast for the Ideas Roadshow discusses some of the joys and frustrations of working with Isaiah Berlin on his texts for the last twenty-three years of Berlin's life.

    Some Sources of Romanticism: 1 – In Search of a Definition

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 7, 2021 51:00


    The first of Isaiah Berlin's famous 1965 Mellon Lectures In March–April 1965 Isaiah Berlin delivered his most famous series of public lectures, the A. W. Mellon Lectures (sponsored by the Bollingen Foundation), at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. The lectures were entitled 'Some Sources of Romanticism', and transcripts were published posthumously as 'The Roots of Romanticism', edited by Henry Hardy (London, 1999: Chatto and Windus; Princeton, 1999: Princeton University Press). A second edition was published by Princeton in 2013, with a new foreword by John Gray and an appendix containing contemporary letters about the lectures. In this first lecture he confronts the vexed question of whether there is actually such a thing as Romanticism (a label, some hold, on too many bottles), and if so, how it is to be described and defined. Towards the end there occurs a celebrated rhetorical tour de force in which he breathlessly lists the many, very various, characteristics that have been called Romantic by writers on the subject.

    The Impact of Marx on the Nineteenth Century

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2021 74:35


    Lecture by Isaiah Berlin on 5 October 1964 to the conference on ‘One Hundred Years of Revolutionary Internationals' held at Stanford University to mark the centenary of the First International Working Men's Association The full text from which the lecture is loosely derived is included as ‘Marxism and the International in the Nineteenth Century' in Berlin's collection 'The Sense of Reality: Studies in Ideas and Their History', edited by Henry Hardy (London, 1996: Chatto and Windus; 2nd ed., Princeton, 2019: Princeton University Press)

    Political Judgement

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2021 29:13


    A 1957 BBC Third Programme talk by Isaiah Berlin on the distinctiveness of the understanding and judgement we deploy in human affairs, especially in the field of politics 'What is it to have good judgement in politics? What is it to be politically wise, or gifted, to be a political genius, or even to be no more than politically competent, to know how to get things done?' These are the opening words of this 1957 BBC Third Programme talk, from the series 'Thinking about Politics', in which the celebrated political theorist Isaiah Berlin discusses the distinctive capacities we deploy in our understanding of human affairs, and especially in assessing political situations and making decisions about how to act politically. The talk is included in Berlin's collection 'The Sense of Reality: Studies in Ideas and Their History', edited by Henry Hardy (London, 1996: Chatto and Windus; 2nd ed., Princeton, 2019: Princeton University Press).

    Anna Akhmatova reading her poems about Isaiah Berlin in Oxford in 1965

    Play Episode Listen Later May 23, 2014 12:31


    This podcast is in Russian. This short recording includes 'Cinque' and other poems inspired by the poet's meetings with Isaiah Berlin. The celebrated Russian poet Anna Akhmatova came to Oxford at Isaiah Berlin's instigation in June 1965, a year before her death, to receive an honorary DLitt. In this short recording, made at New College, Oxford, during her visit, she reads a number of her poems (in the original Russian). Some of them were inspired by Berlin's visits to her in Leningrad in 1945–6. For IB's recollections of these visits see his 'Meetings with Russian Writers in 1945 and 1956' in his 'Personal Impressions' (3rd edition, 2014, pp. 356-432). The poems are: 1. 'It is stingy, and rich' (1910s): «И скупо оно и богато ...» 2. 'Another Song' (1956), from 'Sweetbriar in Blossom': «Как сияло, так и пело ...» 3. 'You demand poems from me bluntly ...' (1962), from 'Sweetbriar in Blossom': «Ты стихи мои требуешь прямо ...» 4. From 'Prologue, or Dream within a Dream', from the play 'Enuma Elish' (1960s): Из пьесы «Пролог или Сон во Сне» 5. The complete cycle of five poems, 'Cinque' (1945–6), written immediately after meeting Berlin; Akhmatova wrote no. 2 down for Berlin in a presentation copy of her 'From Six Books' (1940) – see preview image «Как у облака на краю ...» «Истлевают звуки в эфире ...» «Я не любила с давних дней ...» «Знаешь сам, что не стану славит ...» «Не дышали мы сонными маками ...» 6. 'We thought: we are beggars ...' (1915): «Думали: нищие мы, нету у нас ничего ...» 7. 'Verses about St Petersburg' (1913): «Вновь Исакий в облаченье ...» «Сердце бьется гулко, мерно ...» 8. 'Ah, for you Russian is not enough ...' (1962): «А тебе еще мало по-русски ...»

    Anna Akhmatova reading her poems about Isaiah Berlin in Oxford in 1965

    Play Episode Listen Later May 23, 2014 12:32


    The podcast is in russian. This short recording includes Cinque and a number of other poems inspired by her meetings with Isaiah Berlin. When the great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova came to Oxford in June 1965, a year before her death, to be awarded an honorary D.Litt., she gave a reading of her poems. This short recording includes Cinque and a number of other poems inspired by her meetings with Isaiah Berlin in Leningrad in 1945–6.

    The Origins of Cultural History 1; Two Notions of the History of Culture: the German Versus the French Tradition

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 31, 2013 63:52


    Isaiah Berlin gives the first of his lectures on The Origins of Cultural History on February 19th 1973.

    The Origins of Cultural History 2; Geisteswissenschaft and the Natural Sciences: Vico versus Descartes

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 31, 2013 67:19


    Isaiah Berlin gives the second of his lectures on the origins of cultural history.

    The Origins of Cultural History 3; The Origins of the Conflict: Political Lawyers, Classical Scholars, Narrative Historians

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 31, 2013 74:23


    Isaiah Berlin gives the third and final lecture on the origins of cultural history.

    Two Enemies of Enlightenment: 2; Joseph de Maistre

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 31, 2013 61:19


    Isaiah Berlin gives a lecture on Joseph de Maistre on October 27th 1965.

    Two Enemies of Enlightenment: 1; J G Hamann

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 31, 2013 56:18


    Isaiah Berlin gives a lecture on J G Hamann on October 26th 1965.

    A Very Personal Impression: Isaiah Berlin

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2009 57:13


    This talk was given at Wolfson College on 28 May 2009 as part of the 'Lives and Works' series of lectures

    From Communism to Zionism: Moses Hess (1957)

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2009 61:56


    1957 Lucien Wolf Memorial Lecture. Lecture on the Jewish philosopher Moses Hess, one of the founders of Zionism and a committed Socialist. Berlin also discusses Hess’s evolution as a philosopher, from International Socialism to Zionism.

    A Fire at Sea (1957)

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2009 29:37


    Isaiah Berlin introduces and reads his translation of Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev's short story, 'A Fire at Sea' in which Turgenev recounts an embarrassing episode from his youth. Originally broadcast by the BBC's Third Programme in 1957.

    Alexander Herzen: His Opinions and Character (1955)

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2009 40:54


    Lecture on Alexander Herzen, philosopher and founder of Russia’s first free press. He discusses Herzen’s passionate belief in individual liberty and his distaste for the new violent radicalism in Russia in his time.

    Freedom and its Betrayal: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1952)

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2009 52:02


    Berlin lectures on Rousseau's The Social Contract and discusses Rousseau's anti-intellectualism, his idealism of Nature, and the worryingly authoritarian implications of his philosophy. Originally broadcast for the BBC's Third Programme in 1952.

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