The Proper Study of Mankind

by Isaiah Berlin

  heresy: sincerity in, 554

  hero, the, 564, 574–5

  Herodotus, 270, 331, 336, 437

  Hertzka, Theodor, 557

  Herwegh, Georg, 509–10, 516

  Herzen, Alexander (Aleksandr Ivanovich Gertsen): I. Berlin champions, xi; eloquence, 499; qualities of mind, 499–500; Belinsky on, 500, 502, 552; memoirs, 500, 511–24; birth and upbringing, 501–3; reading, 503–4; career, 504; exiled, 504; love-affairs, 504, 512, 517; marriage, 504; revolutionary views, 504–8, 522; inheritance and financial independence, 506; in Paris, 506, 508; literary style, 507, 518; artistic egotism, 509–10; and wife’s infidelity and death, 509–10; loses mother and child, 510; appearance, 511n; in England, 511, 516–17; political and social ideas, 514–15, 517–19, 522–4; reputation, 514; friendships and private life, 516–18; later beliefs, 519–21; death in Paris, 523; achievements and influence, 524; on Russian literature, 551; and works of creation, 571; From the Other Shore, 13–14; Letters from Avenue Marigny, 507; Letters to an Old Comrade, 521; My Past and Thoughts, 500, 511–13, 516, 524

  Herzen, Nataliya (A.H.’s wife), 504, 506, 509–10

  Hess, Moses: xi; Rome and Jerusalem, 585

  heteronomy, 208–10, 220–1, 562

  Hilbert, David, 167

  history: as natural science, x, xxxviii, 17–58, 120–1, 164–6, 171, 182–3, 331–2, 335; supposed laws and patterns of, xxvii, 28–37, 40–3, 53–6, 129–34, 139–40, 144–5, 151–2 180–1, 266; and progress towards ideal, 6; Aristotle on, 17; nature and purpose of, 17–18, 152; and cultural differences, 22–3, 50–4, 127–8, 142–3, 157, 176; Herder on, 24, 56, 120, 165n, 355, 361–2, 368, 405–7, 410, 427; Vico on, 24, 48, 50, 56, 165n, 340, 342–3, 349–58; reasoning in, 31–3, 40–5; kinship to art, 47–8; explanation and judgement in, 48–50, 56–8, 178, 187–8; accident in, 70; inevitability in, 119–90; Comte’s view of, 120–1; and individual endeavour, 122–4, 160–1; impersonal forces in, 123–7, 150–3, 161, 183–5, 187, 189; perceived purpose in, 132; objectivity and bias in, 143–4, 161–5, 169–75, 177–8, 187–8; moral judgement in, 158–66, 170–2, 176–8, 188–90; and basic assumptions, 166–7; ideology in, 175; and metaphysics, 182; relevance of, 335–7; Voltaire on role of, 335–9; Tolstoy’s philosophy of, 439–69, 484–8, 491–2, 498; Maistre on, 484–5; Churchill’s view of, 608–9

  Hitler, Adolf: character, xiv, 614–15, 632; and final solution, 12; and national self-assertion, 125; in historical process, 141; and historical determinism, 156; actions judged, 163, 168, 187; invades Russia, 604; Churchill on, 621; as threat, 629

  Hobbes, Thomas: on lack of purpose in nature, 71; and empiricism of political thought, 73; Rousseau rejects political obligation, 80–1; and free will, 141n, 195n; on knowing reality, 155; on social safeguards, 198; on oppression by sovereign, 235; and Machiavelli, 271, 293, 308, 318–19; on moral values, 290, 293; revolutionary thinking, 315; on self-preservation, 318; on knowledge, 341; on human nature, 350; Leviathan, 195n

  Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Amadeus, 575–7

  Holbach, Paul H. Dietrich, Baron von: and knowledge, 117; and science of human behaviour, 134; belief in universal civilisation, 255, 359; on benevolent nature, 264, 562; dismisses rites, 346; anti-clericalism, 377; Herder and, 411; Système de la nature (System of Nature), 141, 258, 581

  Hölderlin, Johann Christian Friedrich, 409, 574

  Homer, 347, 350, 365, 388–9, 399, 558

  Hooker, Richard, 364, 417

  Hopkins, Harry, 626

  Horace, 404n

  Horneck, Philipp Wilhelm von, 365

  Hotman, François, 279, 333

  Hugo, Victor, 262, 501, 515

  human behaviour: scientific study of, 19–20

  human nature: variability, 214, 347; and freedom, 266

  ‘human predicament’, 158, 160

  humanism: Machiavelli and, 289, 293, 313

  Humanität, 410, 423, 426–9, 433

  humanities: divorce from sciences, 326–58

  Humboldt, Wilhelm von, 371, 398

  Hume, David: as ‘fox’, xiv; in linguistic analytical tradition, ix; on empirical knowledge, 77, 82; and scientific method, 80; on descriptive and value statements, 84; and free will, 100, 141n; denies absolute truth, 245, 249; accepts rational method, 262; and benevolent nature, 264, 313, 564; Machiavelli and, 278; and necessity, 319; and Enlightenment spirit, 339; on historical studies, 361; Herder and, 368, 390, 406, 412, 428; on limits of reason, 382; condemns Middle Ages, 407; scepticism over progress, 408; Tolstoy reads, 445; faith in nature and custom, 556

  Huovinen, Lauri, 275

  Hurd, Richard, Bishop of Worcester, 363, 389

  Huxley, Aldous, 168, 539, 585

  Iambulus, 557

  Ibsen, Henrik, 437, 539, 579

  Idealist movement, 422, 470–1, 492, 559

  ideas: power of, 191–3

  ideologies, 61, 72–3, 89, 175

  Il’in, Ivan Aleksandrovich, 441n

  imagination (fantasia): Vico on, 346, 351n, 354–6; Herder and, 369; see also empathy (Einfühlung)

  Impressionism, 8

  individual, the: in society, 226–7

  induction, 62

  International Working Men’s Association, 600

  Ionian philosophers, 76, 86

  Iselin, J. C., 408

  Isidore of Seville, 350

  Italy: nationalism in, 587, 589, 600

  Ivan IV (the Terrible), Tsar, 454

  Ivan the Terrible (film), 525

  Ivanov, Alexander Andreevich, 512

  Ivanov, Georgy Vladimirovich, 551

  Ivanov, Vyacheslav Ivanovich, 549

  Ivinskaya, Olga, 536, 549

  Jacobi, Friedrich Heinrich, 251, 260, 432n

  Jacobins, 219n, 233, 271

  Jacoby, Günter: Herder als Faust, 435n

  Jahn, Friedrich Ludwig, 376n, 399, 594

  James, William, 206

  Jansenism, 244

  Japan, 604

  Jefferson, Thomas, 198

  Jesuits: on Machiavelli, 279; Tolstoy’s hatred of, 483

  Jews: sense of alienation, xi; and revealed truth, 4; Herder on, 374, 399, 403–4, 433; Hamann and, 382; unifying role, 585; disparaged by classical writers, 589

  Job, Book of, 491

  John of Salisbury, 364

  Johnson, Samuel, 142n, 607–8

  Joly, Maurice, 289n

  Joseph II, Emperor of Austria, 201n

  Joyce, James, 437, 519–30, 532, 546, 579, 614; Ulysses, 531

  judgement: faculty of, 31

  Julius II, Pope, 303

  Justinian: Digest, 319n

  Juvenal, 289, 316, 589

  Kaegi, Werner, 272

  Kafka, Franz, 546, 577, 579

  Kamenev, Lev Borisovich, 277n

  Kandinsky, Vassily, 525, 532

  Kant, Immanuel: on ‘crooked timber of humanity’, xv, 16, 241, 603; and boundaries of natural world, xxvii; explanations of history, 48, 52, 378; and political philosophy, 65, 73, 371; on freedom and obligation, 72, 142n, 207n; rejects Encyclopaedists and lumières, 80, 394; dismisses naturalistic tradition, 81; and empiricism, 82, 148n, 414; validity, 88; and personal freedom and autonomy, 116, 187, 207n, 208–9, 223–4, 227n, 561–2, 566–8; on values, 209; on rationalism in society, 216, 561; on political liberty, 219; on paternalism as despotism, 228; Prussian cultural background, 249, 366, 566; hatred of matter, 250; on determinism and morality, 258–9, 561; accepts rational method, 262, 564; and hypothetical imperatives, 297; and Herder, 366, 369, 378–9, 390–1, 407, 429; categorisations, 386, 390–1; and artistic creation, 422; on human imperfectibility, 430; and free will, 433, 561, 564; Herzen reads, 503; Pasternak on, 529; abhorrence of disordered imagination, 564; Anthropologie, 378–9; Critique of Pure Reason, 192; ‘Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht’, 224n; Zum ewigen Frieden, 379

  Kareev, Nikolay Ivanovich, 441n, 460–2, 464

  Katkov, Mikhail Nikiforovich, 505

  Kaufmann, Christoph, 564

 
Kautsky, Karl, 589

  Keotz, Christian Adolph, 411

  Kepler, Johannes, 21n, 187

  Keynes, John Maynard, Baron, 51, 605

  Khlebnikov, Velemir Vladimirovich, 550

  Khodasevich, Vladislav Felitsianovich., 530

  Kierkegaard, Søren, 95, 263, 328, 577

  Kipling, Rudyard, 530, 614

  Klee, Paul, 532

  Kleist, Christian Ewald, 388

  Klinger, Friedrich Maximilian von, 257, 419, 564

  Klopstock, Friedrich Gottlieb, 370, 397, 407, 422

  Klyuev, Nikolay Alekseevich, 531

  Klyun, I. V., 525

  knowledge: and attainment of freedom, xxvii, 91, 93–8, 102, 104, 110–17, 213–15; and experience, 29; intuitive, 52; and general propositions, 54; sociology of, 89; and choice, 101–2; and prediction of events, 101, 104–7, 109, 116; and moral judgements, 135–6, 178; and optimism, 154–5; dominance of scientific method, 341–2; and historical understanding, 352–3; Tolstoy on, 486–96; Hamann on, 573, 575

  Knutzen, Martin, 366

  Kochubeys, the, 532

  Kolokol see Bell, The

  Körner, Karl Theodor, 376n, 594

  Kropotkin, Prince Peter, 398

  Kurbsky, Prince Andrey Mikhailovich, 454

  Kutuzov, Marshal Mikhail Golenishchev, 457–8, 460, 474, 486–7, 489–90, 496

  Lafitau, Père Joseph F., 364

  La Fontaine, Jean de, 330

  Lamartine, Alphonse Marie Louis de, 515

  Lamennais, Félicité de, 398, 482

  La Mettrie, Julien Offray de, 121, 487

  La Mothe le Vayer, François de, 331

  language: Hamann on nature of, 252–3, 381–2; universal, 266; perfect, 330; Vico on shaping effect of, 340, 344–7, 349, 334–5, 381; Herder on, 381–8

  Laplace, Pierre Simon, marquis de, 20, 145, 456, 486

  La Popelinière, Henri Lancelot Voisin, sieur de, 333

  Laski, Harold J., 364n

  Lassalle, Ferdinand J. G., 75, 199, 276, 584

  Lavater, Johann Kaspar, 250, 364, 366, 385, 564

  Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent, 51

  law: in political theory, 64; as restraint, 220; acceptance of, 224

  Lawrence, David Herbert, 424n

  League of Nations, 585, 587, 600

  Le Caron, Louis (Charondas), 333

  Ledru-Rollin, Alexandre Auguste, 515

  Lehmann, Rosamond, 528

  Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von: and science of history, 41, 134, 332; and free will, 100; on liberating value of knowledge, 155; on uniform reality, 248; on Machiavelli, 323; on perfect language, 330; and cosmic nature, 364, 393, 562; supports German language, 365; Herder admires, 390–1, 399, 405, 432; and empiricism, 414; and communal life, 424n; and plurality of values, 425; Nouveaux Essais, 419, 432

  Leisewitz, Johann Anton, 257, 564

  Lemke, Mikhail, 513

  Lenin, Vladimir Ilich: on achieving final solution, 13–14; outlook, 51; factory image, 75; on knowing reality, 155; as dominant figure, 183; Europocentrism, 603; qualities, 632

  Leningrad: I. Berlin revisits, 540–4;

  Akhmatova on, 547

  Lenz, Jakob Michael Reinhold, 257, 564, 573

  Leo X, Pope, 295, 321n

  Leon, Derrick, 441

  Leont’ev, Konstantin, 441

  Leopardi, Giacomo, Count, 550

  Lermontov, Mikhail Yurevich, 532, 550, 574

  Leroux, Pierre, 503

  Le Roy, Louis, 333

  Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim: Utopianism, 137; and Herder, 362, 370, 428; supports German language, 365; nationalist value-judgements, 404, 594; and progress, 428; and romantic movement, 565; Minna von Barnhelm, 565; Nathan the Wise, 428

  Lewis, Sinclair, 530

  Lewis, Wyndham, 430n

  liberal humanism, 210

  liberalism: and rationality, 224n; and coercion, 235–6

  liberty (freedom): and coercion and interference (‘negative’), ix, xxxii, 193–203, 204, 211–12, 219–25, 229, 232, 235–6, 241; I. Berlin on, ix–x, xii, xxviii; ‘positive’, ix–x, xxxii, 203–6, 233–4, 237; knowledge as agent for, xxvii, 91–8, 102–3, 106–7, 111–17, 213–16; as human goal, 10–11; concept of, 65, 108–10, 236–7, 568; and obedience, 71–2; and self-determination, 100–1, 107–8, 140–7, 150, 156, 187, 203–17, 223–4, 237, 241; possibilities of and obstacles to, 111–15; as delusion, 156; equality of, 196–7, 205; and choice, 202n, 242; compatibility with authority and law, 220, 231–2; and individual, 226; and recognition, 229–30; minimum, 235–6; Hegel on, 417

  Lincoln, Abraham, xiv, 617, 633, 637n

  Linton, W. J., 511n, 516

  Lipchitz, Jacques, 525

  Lipsius, Justus, 273

  Livy, Titus, 283, 289, 305, 309, 404n

  Lloyd George, David, xiv, 612–14, 616, 625, 633

  Locke, John: achievements, 73, 367; on government as trustee, 76; and scientific method, 80; and free will, 100, 141n; on personal freedom, 196; optimism, 198; on law and freedom, 218; Blake attacks, 260, 573; on confusions from misuse of language, 330; on human nature, 347, 350; and ‘essences’, 384; on man as social, 417; on nature and God, 562; Fichte rejects, 569

  Logau, Friedrich, Baron von, 365

  logic: as formal discipline, 60

  logical positivism, xi

  Lothian, Philip Henry Kerr, 11th Marquess of, 618

  Louis XIV, King of France, 256, 267, 336, 363, 397, 598

  Louis XVI, King of France, 46, 265, 267, 503

  Louis XVIII, King of France, 453

  Louis-Philippe, King of the French, 507, 584

  Lovejoy, Arthur O., 389

  Lowth, Robert, Bishop of London, 355, 365, 389, 403

  Lubbock, Percy, 441

  Lucretius, 340, 351, 404n, 437

  Lurié, Artur, 542–3

  Luther, Martin, 51, 72

  Lycurgus, 281

  Mably, abbé Gabriel Bonnot de, 245, 395, 430, 557

  Macaulay, Thomas Babington, Baron: historical attitudes, 143, 159, 163; on Machiavelli, 274–5, 277, 305; rationalism, 583; prose style, 607

  Machiavelli, Niccolò: and plurality of values, xiii, xxix, 316–17, 320–1, 324, 425; and incompatible ideals, 6–8, 14, 320, 322–4; political philosophy, 73, 86, 301–2, 304–5; originality of, 269–325; varied interpretations of, 269–83, 307–8, 315; positive beliefs and teachings, 283–99, 305–11, 313–16; and moral values, 288–9, 297–8, 300, 302–4, 308, 311, 317; and Christian values, 289–94, 298–9, 306, 308, 309n, 310–12, 321–3; on political method and practice, 299–303, 308–9, 319–20; and raison d’état, 299, 308, 310–11, 319; arouses horror, 305, 307–10; patriotism, 307, 589; assessed, 313–25; non-Utopian, 325; Herder and, 369; and classical values, 430; on social group, 586; Discourses, 269–70, 272, 291, 293, 300–1, 305, 307, 320, 321n, 323; Histories, 270; History of Florence, 277; Mandragola, 318n, 320; The Prince, 269–71, 276, 278–9, 283, 285, 300, 301, 305, 308, 319–20, 323

  Machon, Canon Louis, 272

  madness, 83

  Maeterlinck, Maurice, 530

  Maistre, Joseph de: doctrines, xi–xii, xxxi; image of executioner, 75, 267; attacks Enlightenment, 264, 380; on men as evil, 263–7, 473, 492; on authority, 266–8, 482–3, 497; draws moral lessons, 435; background and views, 472–5, 480–1, 483, 493–4, 496–8; influence on Tolstoy, 472–84, 491, 497; view of history, 484–5, 488–91; destructive power, 493–5, 498; and knowledge, 496; and nationalism, 592; Correspondance diplomatique, 473; Soirées de Saint-Pétersbourg, 473–4, 476n, 477n

  Maistre, Rodolphe de, 473

  Malebranche, Nicolas de, 332

  Malevich, Kazimir Severinovich, 525, 532

  Malia, Martin, 505n, 508n

  Mallet du Pan, Jacques, 363, 407

  Malraux, André, 528, 538, 629

  Mandel’shtam, Nadezhda, 526, 534n, 551

  Mandel’shtam, Osip Emilievich, 531–4, 543–4, 546–7, 549–50

  Mannheim, Karl, 89

  Manzoni, Alessandro, 579
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  Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor, 287, 296

  Maritain, Jacques, 279, 308n

  Marrast, Armand, 515

  Marsilio of Padua, 270, 280, 308, 320

  Marx, Karl: and need for leaders, xii; 1. Berlin writes on, xxv–xxvi; on historical change, 5, 48, 126, 137–8, 578, 584–5; knowledge of human behaviour, 53; and historical sense, 56, 182, 353, 356, 446–7, 456; and political philosophy, 66, 73; and creative spirit, 72, 422; rejects Encyclopaedists, 80; discards Bentham’s morality, 81; Tolstoy disdains, 81; and self-knowledge, 95, 214; and moral freedom, 110; and social class, 124, 138, 456; materialism, 137, 558; and idealism, 155; and historical relativism, 157; and growth of sociological mythology, 183n; on obstructive nature of social institutions, 214–15; on understanding, 215; on rationalism in society, 217; appeal to colonial subjects, 231; views of, 269; and Machiavelli, 277, 308; revolutionary thinking, 315; doctrines, 367; on oppression, 376; on cultural decline, 395n; and alienation, 420; and Herzen, 506–7, 512, 517; friendship with Herwegh, 516; on State socialism, 584; on social group, 586; and generic identity, 602; Europocentrism, 603; German Ideology, 420n

  Marxism: decline, xxxvi; on finding solutions, 12; and class struggle, 34, 124–5; and science of politics, 69; and human purpose, 70, 556; historical theory, 182, 608; and withering of State, 191; on material deprivation, 195n; and abandonment of final harmony, 238; and false consciousness, 317, 587; Herzen’s supposed leanings towards, 519n, 520; rejects pessimistic writers, 579; opposes nationalism, 587, 600; Aron attacks, 602

  Masaryk, Thomas, 633

  mathematics: as model, 35; as formal science, 60; progress of, 73; and reasoning, 212–13; Vico on, as human invention, 246, 341

  Matisse, Henri, 532

  Mattingly, Garrett, 271, 273

  Maude, Aylmer, 441

  Maupassant, Guy de, 452n

  Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de, 383