Prof. dr hab. Beata Polanowska-Sygulska

Jagiellonian University in Kraków

Abstract: The article discusses Henry Hardy’s book In Search of Isaiah Berlin: A Literary Adventure, published in the fall of 2018. The author was Berlin’s closest collaborator and is the editor or co-editor of eighteen volumes of his works and four volumes of his letters. The first part of the book is a memoir, here discussed briefly; the main focus is on the second, philosophical, section. Hardy’s investigations into Berlin’s ideas are analysed and criticised. Special attention is given to his unresolved discussion with Berlin on the relationship between pluralism and religion. A number of critical arguments against Hardy’s thesis of their mutual exclusion are put forward. The key argument is that it is possible for a true pluralist to adhere to a universalist religion. This is the same position as that adopted by Berlin.

Keywords: Isaiah Berlin, value pluralism, cultural pluralism, religious monism, universalist religion

Language: English

Published: Number 2(20)/2019, pp. 89-99.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2019.2.89

Download file: Download
Number of downloads: 692