A new essay on Isaiah Berlin by Alessandro della Casa, of the University of Tuscia
A new essay on Isaiah Berlin by Alessandro della Casa, of the University of Tuscia, has just been published in Italian: 'Liberali, realisti e pluralisti: L’eredità di Isaiah Berlin per il XXI secolo' ('Liberals, realists and pluralists: Isaiah Berlin's legacy for the 21st century'). There is a planned English release in the Autumn.
Alessandro summarizes his work thus: ‘While democracy is in a global recession, liberalism appears to be in crisis even in its Western cradle. It is accused of failing to meet the demands of efficient decision-making, of being unable to prevent the fragmentation of the social fabric, or to respond to the demands of increasing cultural and value differentiation. The aim of this essay is to analyse the thought of Isaiah Berlin, and to show how it provides vital insights for understanding the present situation, and for trying to ensure that, as Berlin once wrote, ‘humanity, culture, liberalism, decency, the kind of moral values we almost instinctively live by, will not perish from the earth.’
'Liberali, realisti e pluralisti' is dedicated to the memory of the Italian Berlinian scholar Luca Demontis (1988-2024): the Legacy Project mourns Luca's untimely passing.
