Arts

05 Jun 09

Oxford will be celebrating the centenary of its famous alumus, Sir Isaiah Berlin

Sir Isaiah Berlin’s ideas are as relevant today as they were in his lifetime, according to academics celebrating the centenary of the famous philosopher and historian of ideas on 6 June.

The University of Oxford is holding a number of events to celebrate the centenary of the Oxford alumnus, long-time fellow of All Souls, internationally known broadcaster and lecturer, and founding president of Wolfson College.

Major themes of Berlin's work included the nature and importance of liberty and of the plurality of values. Dr Henry Hardy, of Wolfson College, who edits Berlin’s work, said: ‘In my view his ideas are ever more relevant. Globalisation and population movement make questions of multiculturalism and tolerance central to our time.

‘The standoff between Islamic and Western culture is a typical case of pluralist conflict. Besides, the problems of plural values are permanently endemic in the human condition, and each one of us has to face conflicts of value of the kind that Berlin illuminated. And of course the defence of liberty is a task that has not grown easier or less urgent as time goes by.’

Despite his international fame, Berlin suffered major periods of surprising self-doubt about his own abilities and achievements, according to Dr Hardy and Oxford alumna Jennifer Holmes, joint editors of the second volume of Berlin’s letters (Enlightening: Letters 1946–1960), published the week of the centenary. 

The letters, most of which have not been publicly available, are of major importance to anyone with an interest in Berlin’s thought, or indeed to anyone wanting to understand more of the social, educational and political history of these seminal post-war years.

Dr Hardy says: ‘Berlin knew many people of importance in the political world – particularly in Britain, the US and Israel – and he observed them with keen understanding and humour, and often with inside knowledge of the world events in which they participated. The letters also demonstrate the maturity which a happy marriage and public recognition brought him.’

On the day of the centenary, a fully booked afternoon event at Wolfson will be dedicated to Berlin, where as well as the annual Isaiah Berlin Lecture, given this year by Dr James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, there will be a piano recital and an exhibition – Images of Isaiah – which will run between 5 and 17 June.

On Sunday 7 June at 3 pm, a blue plaque will be erected outside Berlin’s former home, Headington House, to commemorate the four decades he spent there. And a few days earlier, on 3 June, a seminar on Berlin’s thought will be held at All Souls College.

Wolfson College has also commissioned a booklet on Berlin’s Wolfson years, Isaiah Berlin and Wolfson College, to commemorate all that Sir Isaiah contributed to the College. 

The booklet is a compilation of quotations from contemporary letters and extracts from later recollections – mostly by Oxford academics, including Berlin himself and his Vice-President, Michael Brock. It traces how Berlin came to take on the founding presidency of Wolfson and his impact on the College then and later; it also provides a fuller explanation than previously available of why Berlin gave up his professorship for the risky venture of fundraising for and creating a new college.

Finally, The Book of Isaiah: Personal Impressions of Isaiah Berlin, edited by Dr Hardy, is a collection of memoirs by those who knew Berlin or have studied his work. It includes many new pieces commissioned specially for the book as well as pieces that originally appeared elsewhere. Many of its contributors are Oxonians past or present.