Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment

Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment Author(s): Joseph Mali, Robert Wokler, Mark Lilla, Roger Hausheer, John Robertson, Darrin
M. McMahon, Frederick Beiser, Graeme Garrard, Lionel Gossman, John E. Toews, Michael Confino Source: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series, Vol. 93, No. 5 (2003), pp. i-xi, 1-11, 13-31, 33-71, 73-131, 133-196 Published by: American Philosophical Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20020351 Accessed: 07/09/2010 07:53
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TRANSACTIONS
of the
AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

Held For Promoting Volume at Philadelphis Useful Knowledge
93, Part 5
ISAIAH
BERLIN'S
COUNTER-ENLIGHTENMENT
Edited by Joseph Mali and Robert Wokler
^Q^^3^
American
Philosophical Society 2003 Philadelphia
2003 by the American Copyright? All rights reserved.
Philosophical
Society
for its Transactions
series.
ISBN: 0-87169-935^
US ISSN: 0065-9746
Data Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment/edited by Joseph Mali and Robert Wokler. v. 93, pt. 5) of the American (Transactions p. cm. Philosophical Society; Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-87169-935-4 1. Berlin, Isaiah,
Series.
(pbk.) Sir. 2. Philosophy.
I. Mali,
Joseph.
II. Wokler,
Robert,
III.
B1618.B454I84 2003
192-dc21
2003056005
Contents
The Editors
Preface
VII
1 Chapter Mark Lilla Chapter 2 Robert Wokler
What
Is Counter-Enlightenment?
Isaiah Berlin's Enlightenment
Enlightenment
and Counter-
13
Chapter
3 Enlightening the Enlightenment 33
Roger Hausheer Chapter 4
Joseph Mali Chapter 5
Berlin, Vico,
and the Principles
of Humanity
51
John Robertson
The Case Approach
for the Enlightenment:
A Comparative
73
Chapter 6 Darrin M. McMahon
The Real Counter-Enlightenment: Case of France
The
91
7 Chapter Frederick Beiser 8 Garrard 9
Berlin
and the German
Counter-Enlightenment
105
Chapter Graeme
Isaiah Berlin's
Joseph de Maistre
117
Chapter
Lionel Gossman
Benjamin
Constant
on
Liberty
and Love
133
iv
Isaiah Berlin s Counter-Enlightenment
10 Chapter John E. Toews
Berlin's Marx: Enlightenment, Construction
CounterEnlightenment, and the Historical of Cultural Identities
163
Chapter Michael
11 Confino and 177 Isaiah Berlin, Alexander Herzen, Elusive Counter-Enlightenment
Russia's
Index of Names
193
Cist
of contributors
at Syracuse University. is Professor of Philosophy His publica The Fate of Reason: German Philosophy from Kant to Pichte (Harvard, and Romanticism: The Genesis ofModern German Revolution, 1987), Enlightenment, Political German Idealism: The Struggle 1790-1800, (Harvard, 1992), Thought, 1781-1801 and The Romantic (Harvard, 2002), against Subjectivism, Imperative a on He is book the philosophy of (Harvard, forthcoming). currently writing Friedrich Schiller. Frederick tions Beiser include Michael author Confino is Professor of History emeritus at Tel Aviv University. He is the of Daughter of a Revolutionary: Natalie Herzen and the Bakunin-Nechaev Circle (London, 1974), Soci?t? et mentalit?s collectives en Russie sous VAncien R?gime (Paris, en exil. Lettres de Pierre 1897-1917 1991), Anarchistes Kropotkine ?Marie Goldsmith, numerous articles on intellectuals and intellectual in traditions (Paris, 1995), and Russia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Graeme is Lecturer in Political Garrard and European Philosophy Thought at Cardiff University. He is the author of Rousseau s Counter-Enlightenment: A (New York, 2003), and the forthcoming Republican Critique of the Philosophes Prom theMid-Eighteenth Counter-Enlightenments: Century to the Present (London, 2004). is the M. Taylor Pine Professor Lionel Gossman of Romance and Languages at Princeton University. on French emeritus Literatures He has written extensively literature and literary theory, as well as on historiography. His most recent books are Between Literature and (Harvard, 1990) and Basel in theAge ofBurckhardt History (Chicago, 2000).
is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow of Bradford University. Roger Hausheer His publications include essays on Fichte and Schelling and, with Henry Hardy, editions of Berlin's Against the Current and The Proper Study ofMankind. He is cur on an intellectual of Isaiah Berlin. rently working biography Mark on Social in the Committee is Professor at the University of Thought an Anti-Modern (Harvard, Chicago. He is the author of G.B. Vico: The Making of 1993) and The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics (New York, 2001), and co-editor of The Legacy of Isaiah Berlin (New York, 2001). Lilla
vi Darrin
Isaiah Berlins
M. McMahon is the Ben Weider at Associate Professor of History Florida State University. He is the author of Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter-Enlightenment and theMaking (Oxford, 2001), and the ofModernity A York, (New 2004). History forthcoming Happiness: The The
His publications teaches history at Tel Aviv University. include Joseph Mali Rehabilitation New Science and Vico's 1992) ofMyth: (Cambridge, Mythistory: Making of aModern Historiography (Chicago, 2003).
at St Hugh's teaches Modern John Robertson College, Oxford. He has History on in in the and Scotland and on the Anglo published Enlightenment Naples, a comparative Scottish Union of 1707. He is currently completing study: The Case the Scotland and 1680-1760. for Naples Enlightenment: and Director of the Program of History in the at the He is the of Ideas of of author History Washington. Comparative University The Path toward Dialectical 1805-1841 Humanism, 1981) Hegelianism: (Cambridge, and Becoming Historical: Cultural Reformation and Public Memory in Early Nineteenth numerous articles on the 2004), and has written Century Berlin (Cambridge, John history of psychoanalysis, contemporary historiography and historical theory. E. Toews is Professor
is currently at the Whitney Robert Wokler Humanities Center at Yale University in the History at the University and was of Political Thought formerly Reader on Society, Politics, Music His publications include Rousseau of Manchester. as joint and Language (Oxford, (New York, 1987) and Rousseau 1995), as well editions of Diderot's 1995), (Berkeley, forthcoming Political Writings 1992), Inventing Human Science (Cambridge, The Enlightenment and Modernity (New York, 2000), and the Political Thought. Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century
tditors'
preface
When asked about the origins of the term "Counter-Enlightenment" Isaiah Berlin once replied that he did not know who invented the concept. "Could it be myself?" "I should be somewhat I did. I really he wondered playfully. surprised. Perhaps have no idea."1 As the essays in this collection make plain, Berlin invented neither seems to be of late in German the word, which nineteenth-century vintage and in came in to fifteen before he it, nor the con years print English appeared employ can within the of to which be traced itself debates about age cept, Enlightenment and failures. More than any other figure since the eighteenth its own achievements Berlin appropriated the term "Counter-Enlightenment," made century, however, and it the heart of his own political his imbued of thought, interpretations thinkers with its meanings and significance. particular at the margins treatments His diverse of writers of the Enlightenment, who were once to at took be its themselves central reflected upon what currents, they of historical and nineteenth and philosophical. By way elucidating eighteenththe fallacies and confronted the implications century doctrines which challenged of an overarching faith in the unity of all sciences, Berlin sought to show that our not exactly as we choose? of culture, manufactured patterns by ourselves?if we seek to fathom laws of must be explained in the which from ways differently nature. In the writings and Hamann, of Vico, Herder, he uncovered philosophies in language, of history that were especially laws, and mythology encapsulated to the aesthetic dimensions In the works of human activity. sensitive, moreover, of these and other luminaries of the Counter-Enlightenment he identified notions of understanding human actions which prized empathy or "reconstructive imag ination" on the part of the observer as necessary means for grasping from within to Berlin, inasmuch as the thinkers of the motivations of their agents. According to reassert the Counter-Enlightenment the singularity and validity of the sought human sciences as against the concepts and categories of the natural sciences, they the hermeneutic revolution of nineteenth-century and anticipated philosophers sociologists. the fundamental of his theory of assumptions of his early philosophical essays and in his more historical essays of the early 1950s, itwas only in the late 1970s, following the pub lication of his essay on "The Counter-Enlightenment" for Scribner's Dictionary of the appearance the History of Ideas, and especially with of his study of Vico and that his ideas on this subject came to attract widespread Herder, public attention. on other foundations, Berlin had by then secured his reputation above all as the in advocate of liberalism modern the of and tradition leading Benjamin Constant Although the human he elaborated in some sciences vn
viii
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment
of Liberty," his John Stuart Mill, articulated most clearly in 1958 in "Two Concepts as Oxford's Chichele lecture celebrated Professor of Social and Political inaugural on With the diffusion of his thinkers, he Theory. writings Counter-Enlightenment came towin a host of unexpected friends from other quarters in the humanities and to the allegedly uniformitarian social sciences. For by the 1970s, opposition stric was rampant tures of the Enlightenment in Europe and universities throughout on in account to of the rise of post America, Europe mainly public prominence modernist the of events in 1968 and the following Prague Spring philosophers France inMay of the same year, in America principally the advent of fem through inism and multiculturalism. Without aiming to address these audiences, Berlin, al was to find that his writings on ready in his late sixties, Counter-Enlightenment a an resonance in thinkers had positive epoch within which difference had come to be celebrated and the pretensions of universalism Just as the rise of deplored. un to some commentators, in the 1930s had, according masked the illusions of another epoch whose totalitarian politics could be traced to ideals of scientific progress and wholesale social change, Eastern and Western in the 1970s were once again put to the test and found of globalization philosophies Fascism and Communism On the other hand, Berlin's historical of the origins of wanting. investigations and nationalism modern incited hostile reactions conservatism, anti-rationalism, from many liberal thinkers, who seemed to find in his sympathetic recapitulation an ap innovations of the methodological of the opponents of the Enlightenment of their rehabilitation parent ideology. swam to thinkers who Berlin's realism and apparent attachment skeptical own come currents of their times accorded well with the readers who had against to mistrust cast
a new
and Western
the great metanarratives and to believe of modernity that both Eastern a of had schemes social sham. Pluralism proven Utopian regeneration came to be in the image of Counter-Enlightenment philosophy judged by
generation of readers as more appealing than liberalism, whose anti
too much tainted by the ethics of a now-defunct totalitarian principles seemed than American Cold War. More critic of liberal universalism, per any forcefully even more or the critical theorists of than French deconstructivists incisively haps the Frankfurt School who commonly attacked the alleged tyrannies of Enlighten ment to bear upon his Berlin and Baltic Danubian brought perspectives thought, to the populist myths by assessments of past thinkers. While turning his attention communities which the members of diverse identified both themselves and in three continents, to this most peripatetic seemed scholar, at home strangers, share virtually none of his subjects' illusions. A polyglot who was by origin foreign to the academic and intellectual in England, circles over which he came to preside a firm Zionist and yet the most nationalist of he remained cosmopolitan a own himself his the twentieth of century, perfect personification pluralist philosophy. on In his studies of Counter-Enlightenment thinkers, no less than in his writings was also the bearer of an Oxford Berlin tradition textual of interpretation liberty, came to prevail in Cambridge and methodologically different from that which to political philosophy from the approaches distinct as well which, again in the and thereafter first at Harvard 1970s, came to ascendancy, throughout virtually world. the whole Berlin was only the second holder of of the English-speaking Oxford's Chichele Chair, all of whose incumbents except the first, G.D.H. Cole,
Editors'
Preface
ix
all the holders of the Cambridge Chair of Political have been foreigners, whereas in 1927 have been English. At least until the mid Science since its establishment was taught differently in which from the ways 1980s, political thought in Oxford it is now studied in both Cambridge and Harvard, the syllabus at Oxford having been cast in the image of "Greats", that is, the school of Literx humaniores, which on classics in conjunction with modern had long concentrated and philosophy new come or to had in "Modern after the school of Greats" which, 1920, figure In and Economics. sci because Politics, Philosophy Cambridge, largely political ence was taught in the Faculty of History, revisions of the syllabus were associated in of history itself, such that, after the mid-1960s with refinements of the discipline came to supplant all other in various forms contextualism approaches. particular, at the height of Britain's age in the tradition of "Greats" developed But in Oxford, to foster a spirit of public office and service, there had been scant of imperialism a strictly demarcated in pursuing historical irrelevant to con approach, issues. temporary political treatment of Counter-Enlightenment luminaries was unencumbered Berlin's of about the their His scholarship was abiding pertinence philosophies. by doubts of languages, both wide and deep, while his command his literary sensibilities, acumen enabled him to penetrate of arguments and his philosophical the meaning which readers wedded might not always be able to grasp. only to contextualism or But he had few anxieties the profundities about identifying of Vico, Herder, interest Hamann as anticipations in the history of European of later developments thought division of labor between philosophers and judged that the purported and histo of political ideas was obscure. In the Oxford rians in their interpretations tradition to texts, somewhat similar to that of "Greats" and "Modern Greats" his approach in the 1930s at the Univer informed the "Great Books" syllabus launched a was to suited with broad interests in of theorist sity political Chicago, specially affairs who was both trained in and drawn to the study of classics international to seminally in their and also warmed significant writers who had been outsiders own world, in their readings of its principles, all the more perceptive he believed,
on account of their estrangement.
which
It has sometimes been argued that Berlin's pluralism and liberalism were, or even had to be, fundamentally in conflict. While he occasionally that his allowed views of these two concepts might be inconsistent, his whole career, and particu on the Counter-Enlightenment, nonetheless appear to bring them larly his writings or the celebration of variety, multiplicity, and together. Philosophical pluralism, in the philosophies of most of the thinkers of the difference, figures prominently whom he discusses, whose theolo Counter-Enlightenment including Hamann's, to Enlightenment ideals Berlin did not share himself, and even de gical objections at once of human nature he deemed whose misanthropic Maistre's, perceptions as Berlin understood and alarming. Pluralism, it, also lay at the heart of captivating to toleration and respect for ethnic modern liberalism, not only in its commitment to dogmatic and other minorities, but above all in its opposition faith and all uni or formitarian doctrines, whether Like secular. other liberal religious philosophers, on Berlin, when commenting Counter-Enlightenment figures, sided mainly with the foxes who know many who know just one. things rather than the hedgehogs Berlin's Russian and, above all, his Jewish origins and interests, raise issues of and particular significance which bear upon his treatment of the Enlightenment
While he had no patience the Counter-Enlightenment. for theocratic justifications forMoses Hess, Chaim Weizmann, of a Jewish state, his sympathy and other pro a nationalism of form the Jewish ponents part with part?perhaps deepest own to his to convictions?of his attachment Counter the respect personal and his mistrust of and homogenous cosmopolitanism Enlightenment similarly Procrustean strains of the Enlightenment. Such beliefs did not exclude but on the of other cultures contrary, he claimed, required equal respect for the aspirations In and peoples, the Palestinians. his last Berlin remarks, including virtually a Palestinian state wish that be the established Israel, expressed might alongside and he imagined that the prospects of mutual respect among disparate peoples or at least would not be jeopardized, in a world of multiple might be enhanced, nationalities, be generated. But with out of which to his was trust and cross-border own exchanges could perhaps slowly
in England and America, where his presence at irresistible least of admirers humanity judged by legions that his knighthood to have supposed had been gained for services an an he seemed welcome illustrious exile and conversation, altogether foreigner, the European such as had spawned itself refugee from barbarism Enlightenment in the of first Holland and then around end the seventeenth century, England. in public about the pressing However reticent he appeared crises of the day, no in England was thinker of the twentieth resided century who major political more and unparochial international, contemporary, undogmatic, conspicuously in his treatment of philosophical that the eighteenth issues. He was convinced and the Counter-Enlightenment between the century battles of the Enlightenment were still prevalent and that and their critics historians of ideas philosophes today and significance. could help to illuminate both their meaning liberalism is itself inmany Since modern respects a child of the Enlightenment, on these subjects give rise to questions about the connection Berlin's perspectives as he envisaged and the Counter-Enlightenment, between the Enlightenment This volume addresses such questions. Was these two intellectual movements. or can notable strains of it be an invention of the Counter-Enlightenment pluralism as well? If the latter identified within mainstream eighteenth-century philosophy are to be and the Counter-Enlightenment is the case, just how the Enlightenment are in the first essay by Mark These themes addressed distinguished? properly the Enlightenment and the Counter that the clash between Lilla, who suggests respect exuberant who might around divergent of history revolves philosophies essentially Enlightenment to Berlin's apparent of modernity. and perceptions Another pertains question that attachment to the Counter-Enlightenment: Was attachment purely method or also, however in This is addressed question inadvertently, ideological? ological that throughout his career who contends the second essay by Robert Wokler, a Westernizer Berlin remained fundamentally figure of the Enlightenment?a obscurantism and his campaigns rather than Slavophile?in intolerance, against who argues that Berlin was sufficiently and in the third essay by Roger Hausheer, to have and other critics of eighteenth-century philosophy impressed by German In the under their influence. his outlook essentially Enlightenment tempered in of Mali how Berlin found Vico's shows the fourth essay, theory Joseph new moral and of cultural social construction of reality principles mythopoeic
Editors' evaluation
Preface
xi
that enabled him to counter the positivistic ideology and methodology in humanities sciences since and social the the prevalent Enlightenment. In the fifth and sixth essays John Robertson and Darrin McMahon, respectively, set out to define the true Enlightenment and the real Counter-Enlightenment in common to with national Robertson reference contexts, appropriate assumptions and Neapolitan interests shared by Scottish thinkers of the eighteenth to with and McMahon reference French claims that the commentators' century, the political of of the philosophes had come to undermine doctrines foundations civil society and the state. In the seventh Frederick Beiser shows that essay, and Jacobi's denunciations of the tyranny of reason in the Herder's, Hamann's, of their evolved from of its association with political age perceptions Aufkl?rung in the eighth chapter Graeme Garrard explains how, even in while absolutism, and Berlin deplored, of anti-liberalism he identified de Maistre's which philosophy more profound realism that he considered of psychological violent principles In the ninth essay, Lionel than the unwarranted of the Enlightenment. optimism in the light of the political philosophy of Benjamin Constant Gossman examines the Romantic belief that vital human energies had been anesthetized by civilized were of ancient and modern which life and with respect to his conceptions liberty, to influence Berlin's In the tenth essay, John Toews examines ideas profoundly. in the 1930s that were themes in Berlin's own intellectual launched biography to his Karl with of reference Marx's inheri Marx, by study including, Hegelian as he would of the Counter-Enlightenment later portray it. In tance, anticipations have Confino argues that even though there might never essay, Michael a "Russian in the common historical meaning of the Enlightenment" as a that arose and developed term, there was a Russian Counter-Enlightenment movement reaction to the Western of European Enlightenment. the eleventh been
Most
in of the essays in this volume were prepared for the International Seminar at the in Sir Tel Aviv of Isaiah held School of Berlin, Memory History University funded by the during the academic year 1999-2000. The seminar was generously in Jerusalem. We are grateful to the seminar's convenor, Yad Hanadiv Foundation and encouragement in the Shulamit Volkov, for her firm judgment Professor to of this selection of for We wish thank also essays preparation publication. at every Hanita Atias-Wenkert for her meticulous attention to all practical matters toMary McDonald for closely su stage of the project, and to express our gratitude its and the American pervising production Philosophical publication by Society. 1 Ramin Jahanbegloo, 1992), pp. 69-70. Conversations with Isaiah Berlin (London: Peter Halban,
y'
What
Ss Counter
Enlightenment?
Mark Ulla
i.
age is as old as the age itself. Ever since men began critique of the modern distinction virtue of their modernity seeking by they have also been plagued by over an inheritance, Like brothers doubt about its ultimate worth. squabbling two related but nonetheless the antagonistic figures have been present throughout Whenever has to of asserted his curios modern Jacob history thought. birthright it as vain or dehumanizing. Esau has challenged The legitimacy ity or autonomy, to judge, however. of their claims and counter-claims is difficult for Deciding either brother would mean their shared that the modern accepting assumption a fundamental transformation of human experience. And this as age represents come a we must to which is (about summary sumption judgment) certainly open to question. But even ifwe do question of this fraternal quarrel it, the persistence over the worth of modernity it out of hand. I gives us good reason to not dismiss to suppose will argue that there are grounds that the quarrel springs out of deeper tensions within the Western tradition and is only superficially about the modern or even to If is this then the deserves be taken seriously so, age. possible, quarrel even the claims either those unconvinced of brother. by by a "new order of that our age represents The assumption things" is a historical our we If it to take be then of the age will depend correct, assumption. judgment on how we its And since in constant this is the motion, judge history. history can at best reach critics of modernity about and it, only provisional judgments even these will depend on the military fortuna?on exploits of a Corsican general, the aim of an assassin, the eureka of a scientist, or the disappearance of a wall. The A historical the significance critique of the age will also be prone to overestimate sense of of the present moment, if only to escape the nagging insignificance creates the illusion that the which historical consciousness brings with it.Myopia "now" is the moment of ultimate that the crisis, and pride adds the conviction us we to it. has If of been revealed consider the mystery "age" through critique of so on we in it the casts historical which discover others, modernity light assuredly
Isaiah Berlin s Counter-Enlightenment of presumed crisis have decisively shaped modernity's own
that two moments
judgment. philosophical Well before The first, and more crisis, was the French Revolution. significant was conceived and the critique of modernity the Revolution, Hamann, by Vico, its formulation from Rousseau. Whatever these and received classic Herder, thinkers found to object to inmodern society, however, thought and modern they on a passing historical moment. Vico's New Science did not focus their discontent two Discourses sketch the history of the human race in allegorical and Rousseau's not just modern societies?and the terms, showing facing all refined dangers turn their backs on traditional Vico's ones?that (in case) or on nature authority a one event did when historical become the subject The instance (in Rousseau's). was of which the Lisbon of philosophical 1755, gave sudden, Earthquake dispute to the question of theodicy. Yet even here the debate about the morbid actuality event did not descend into a polemic about philosophy's of a historical meaning was on trial for the earthquake, not it. the philosophers. God for responsibility and that the Terror with But the Revolution, followed, conquests changed along was put in the dock for caused a all that. For the first time, philosophy having in history, and the earlier, mainly moral, objections raised against transformation and Newton, and the Encyclo and Bacon, Galileo Voltaire the ideas of Descartes now gave way to a historical critique of the world they pedists, Lessing and Kant, had created. allegedly in the critique of modernity took place within A second transformation living It is commonly asserted in the period bounded memory, by the two World Wars. at this time was initiated and that the second, more radical critique that developed this may be so, but formulation by Nietzsche. Philosophically given its definitive to became central German it should be borne inmind that Nietzsche only thought and aftermath of the Great War, not before, and that his works were in the midst with those of Kierkegaard, which had just been almost simultaneously embraced for understand trivial fact is actually quite important translated. This seemingly has always of which of the the critique modernity, subsequent development ing softness. and Kierkegaardian hardness been an unstable mix of Nietzschean more extreme than This new critique of the modern age was unquestionably It accepted in the wake of the French Revolution. the assertion the one developed was responsible for the errant course of modern that early modern philosophy to nature, feeling, or tradition. The new history, but it rejected romantic appeals as an unhealthy as part of the modern out problem, critique saw Romanticism new critique took its own errant humanism. The the of Enlightenment's growth so different that today it in very different philosophical directions, proponents The radiating paths marked takes effort to see their common point of departure. Carl Schmitt, Karl Barth, and out in the postwar years by Martin Heidegger, not to destined four take Walter prominent examples?were Benjamin?to a had entered cross. Yet they all set out by assuming that the modern decisive age source was philosophical. crisis whose historical They all conceived original now be seen in the development as a fruits could whose "project" modernity of mass society, uncontrolled advance, mechanized killing, the triv technological In short, of human ialization of religion and art, and the flattening aspiration. about the dehumanization of man. And when had brought humanism modern were plunged into a second, more destructive war, Europe and then the world
What
it new, unimagined that brought with forms of erasing human life, the radical to receive if of confirmation. immediate, unwelcome, critique modernity appeared to which to overestimate the degree It is difficult the experience of Europe's ever latest Thirty Year War has marked Western since. The political philosophy a as of had about the na critique begun purely philosophical modernity dispute ture of the human good and the conditions under which it could be achieved. it became a debate about a singular break in history After the French Revolution which was from it. The radical critique of modernity, and the effects flowing two world in the conclusion of then drew the crucible wars, forged apocalyptic that the moment of ultimate crisis anticipated modern had arrived, by thought and that this crisis was the only conscionable reflection. object of philosophical to in theWest changed dramatically after the wars, but they continued Conditions in terms of the radical critique. Hot wars were followed by a cold be conceived succeeded ancient those riven by class conflicts, societies peace, dull consumer toleration?and racial hatreds dissolved before a flaccid these too were heaped to answer a contra which now was made like coals upon the head of modernity, set German thinker of of the inter-war period charges. Every significant dictory we not to ad crisis and for granted; since have took the of modernity managed vance beyond in those thinkers of the radical cri this respect, the presuppositions of much political philosophy tique remain the presuppositions today. I began by stating that the critique of modernity is based on assumptions about to in is and therefore about the histor opinion changes history, highly susceptible on these opin ical moment. Only with distance do we begin to gain perspective ions and learn to distinguish what may be true within them. Our distance from the of the French Revolution, for instance, has finally given us the perspec passions tive necessary to distinguish the philosophically of Tocqueville enduring works or Donoso from the superficial polemics of Bonald, Lamennais, Cortes. Gaining on the radical critique of modernity is more difficult because the perspective are so events which it must fresh memories for Yet be many. shaped perspective our one not to remain if the is of others. critique opinion among sought judgment to take seriously the critique Two paths are open to those who genuinely wish on to is historical claim that of modernity One seek its historical perspective today. we live in amoment crisis and that the experiences of decisive of our century, and the so-called "lessons" to be drawn from them, provide ameasure by which mod ern philosophy an is to be judged. Such experiences thrown have certainly on no extreme is and of that extreme modern life there doubt. But light thought; our vision it. Some critics of distorts rather than sharpening light sometimes the that "the Hobbes, opposite modernity, give impression by asserting following extreme case is the common one" or that "the exception" the rule. But we proves are permitted towonder whether this is so, and to ask whether the intensity of this us not to has caused overestimate their and thus to century's experiences novelty, miscontrue their significance. This sort of historical would engage the radical critique of moder questioning on own its terrain. sort which we will only begin Another of nity questioning, examine the philosophical of any critique rather than here, would presuppositions an examine this or that account of modern Such would have history. undertaking to pay particular to assumptions attention about relations between ideas and events within can and about whether be history, anything philosophically
in taking up these ques deduced from such relations. We cannot aspire to novelty us ever since since have with and been tions, Hegel they perhaps before. But they to be considered when the deserve again, especially critique today, philosophical into journalistic chatter about of decaying of modernity gives every appearance the postmodern reflected upon the presuppo age. Those who have not seriously to into the simple phrase "the modern sitions packed age" can hardly be expected we hope to those presuppositions to take the it. In returning advance beyond than it takes itself, at least critique of modernity seriously, perhaps more seriously so it to teach us, if not about has We do with the that suspicion today. something the course of modern then about history, something beyond history. II. The critique of modernity is undertaken thinkers. These are thinkers by modern are not to in it. who be of Their very existence would the modern age, but claim that modernity the claim many of them make, is a his therefore seem to contradict a or torical bloc, with itself single meaning tendency. The critique of modernity over its own legiti at least intellectually, shows that the modern age is divided, macy and worth. But what are we to call thinkers in these two camps, since they is the suggestion of "modern," historically speaking? One suggestion?it that we employ the terms "Enlightenment" Isaiah Berlin, and it is a good one?is them really concerns and "Counter-Enlightenment," since the issue dividing the I the will of century. early-modern philosophy through eighteenth development Iwill not employ this suggestion, but with the following proviso. the terms I consider from the to those distinguish unenlightened; enlightened polemically sense to group thinkers into discrete nor will I employ them in a narrow historical or "Romanticism." In using such as the "age of Enlightenment" these periods, terms Iwill adopt the meaning them the itself. given by Counter-Enlightenment To the Counter-Enlightenment any thinker over the past three centuries belongs who has claimed that the cause of the crisis of the age is to be found in the devel To the Enlightenment any thinker in this opment of modern belongs philosophy. same period who has been made to answer for this crisis. the province of the Counter of modernity The critique is, therefore, to court and empowered which first the Enlightenment Enlightenment, brought have to act as presiding been leveled against world history judge. Many charges over the past two centuries, but these can be reduced to two. The the defendant was a self-conscious to trans conceived first is that the Enlightenment "project" the second is that, alas, it succeeded. Let us take up these form human existence; adopt charges in turn. was a self-conscious in the The notion that the Enlightenment project, designed works of a few early thinkers and then carried out, more or less consciously, by It is the of the Counter-Enlightenment. is a commonplace others who followed, source of that tireless search?sometimes the piv cavalier?for serious, sometime error was first the fundamental ideas where otal point in the history of modern or Bacon, others in made. Some have thought to find it in the works of Descartes or Machiavelli. The problem we face in still others in Hobbes Galileo or Newton, from these works, read judging this charge is not that projects cannot be derived if they existed, were in a certain, sometimes strained, light. It is that such projects, are both
What
we are to accept at face value the textual utterly incompatible with each other. If we can only conclude that the evidence Counter-Enlightenment, gathered by ones. we If but rather there was no single modern many "project," contradictory define each of these so-called projects as a thesis or antithesis, we see that they fall into a series of antinomies. concerns the relation between reason and morality. The first antinomy The the a was on reason sis: that the Enlightenment based form of new, aggressive project men and that severed the bonds of natural human into turned machines, feeling, that moral instincts. the their The antithesis: extinguished Enlightenment actually reason the servant of the sought to constrict reason's horizon, making modern passions, corrupting morality by giving free rein to the will. concerns reason and the sacred. The second antinomy the relation between the world the Enlightenment The thesis: that by rationalizing simultaneously "disenchanted" the world, of religion, art, genuine human experiences foreclosing or nature. The antithesis: is itself a secularized the Enlightenment form of religion, a new gnostic heresy that sacralizes human creativity in politics and art. concerns the relation between reason and political author The third antinomy to depoliticize wished and thus neutralize ity. The thesis: that the Enlightenment individuals with the vegetable and social relations, securing peace by distracting was a animal satisfactions that the Enlightenment life. The antithesis: of private that politicized interaction, every aspect of human giving polemical movement and absolutism. rise to new forms of intolerance, utopianism, The existence of these antinomies for any global judgment of poses a difficulty of claims. Certain critics accept only one or Counter-Enlightenment modernity the most several of the theses, others only the antitheses. Some, challenging turn our attention to them presently. But thinkers, accept them all, and we will first we must pose a somewhat naive question about the unspoken presupposition them. And that is, can the Enlightenment be conceived of as a "pro underlying at all? ject" the most widely Let us take, for example, repeated charge that the Enlighten was a rationalizing is ment It that the thinkers asserted of the project. a narrow reason to all rule of human which experience, applied Enlightenment rendered them by turns cold, inflexible, intolerant, Utopian, blind to differences, and Bacon are often named as parties in Descartes and potentially authoritarian. and La the fantastic works of Holbach, this case for having Helv?tius, inspired if not the mad dreams of Bentham, Saint-Simon, Fourier, even Sade. For Mettrie, let us accept this questionable line of interpretation. The fact the sake of argument, remains its that the mainstream of the European and greatest Enlightenment and indeed thinkers remained utterly untouched rationalism, by this so-called were among in and Shaftsbury its first critics. Locke, Smith, Hume, Hutcheson, Voltaire, England; Montesquieu, Kant, and Wieland Mendelssohn, held an altogether different view Because this mainstream its greatest in France; and Diderot d'Alembert, in Germany; in Italy?these Beccaria of human reason. Lessing, thinkers
a critique of ra Enlightenment began in theological and about claims thinkers inflated were, tionalism, by large, skeptical to change for reason, pessimistic about its power the human and condition, with contradictions. those its who preoccupied Against theologians pretended on ladders of syllogisms, to reach the heavens these Enlightenment philosophers
6 defended
and common the claims of sensibility sense, and built their sciences not ratiocination. to be slavery believed Yes, upon perception, they ignorance and truth to be freedom, but few thought absolute could guarantee freedom their stubborn attachment to enlightened truth?hence Yes, they be monarchy. to be possible and worthy lieved progress of pursuit, and Hume, attainable for they thought progress only a delicate balance of rational through enlightenment of reason they were prone to speak simplemindedly but, following Mendelssohn short periods, and then only and moral cultivation. Yes, as a calculating faculty, but, melancholy, hypochondria,
about madness, along with Kant, they also brooded and the possible of reason. self-subversion When the Counter-Enlightenment to have the studying critique it is important at works of the Enlightenment to to hand and refer It is, to say them often. ready the least, an enlightening to see how little rapport there so often is be exercise tween the charges levelled against the modern Enlightenment "project" and the books its authors actually wrote. The reason is not simply that the Enlightenment and always has been, diverse. It is also that, as students of human and was, natural to thinkers were variety, Enlightenment allergic highly "projects." sort of project can be built on Buffon's Histoire After all, what naturelle, or on can be discerned in the articles of Esprit des lois?What Montesquieu's single aim the Encylop?die and the variety of human pursuits in its luscious plates? illustrated The Enlightenment's for medieval and early modern contempt theology, whether or not, was a contempt merited for its naive rationalism, the tout s'explique which d'Alembert Itwas against this rationalism and the vanity it thought so "childish." as an anti-object, reflected that the Enlightenment if anything. stood, functioning But if this is the case, how did the contrary arise? is it that impression Why so many for so long have seen the works of early modern thinkers as blueprints to nature, a for laying waste for turning men into machines, for establishing answer not to in world-order? The is be found dif homogeneous interpretative these subsequently to be found ferences, although developed. They are, I believe, in motivations. turns to Enlightenment The Counter-Enlightenment philosophy reasons: to discover and for extra-philosophical the roots of a only secondarily, modern it firmly believes "break" or "crisis" which to exist in contemporary soci the presumed connection between ideas and social reality, Enlight ety. Without enment philosophy would hold no more than antiquarian interest for the critics of the modern it is subjected to intense questioning as these critics age. Instead, not its logical inconsistencies or moral blindness, seek to discover, but rather the word that ultimately became deed. It turns out that the Counter-Enlightenment's interest is not in books or ideas. Its primary interest is in history. primary
III.
to history is a temptation to establish for any doctrine itself Appealing seeking rivals. The in thinker to first the tradition understand this against great temptation and its dangers was St. Augustine. In the first four centuries of our era, Christian found itself in extremely relation with Roman theology polemical religion and so succumbed to and Hellenistic to history and philosophy, temptation appealed as a way of come The most to out curious work of this histor settling arguments. ical turn in theology was Eusebius's Demonstration the Eusebius Gospel. presents of
What a
of mankind that begins with creation, passes through providential history a in climax the and ends with the crowning of reaches crucifixion, Jewish history, who unites the glory of pagan Rome with the revealed mission of the Constantine, so long as Rome stood. Christian Church. Eusebius's chronicle was convincing When Rome fell, the verdict of history was reversed, and Christianity was charged era in world with having corrupted Roman virtue and initiated a new, regressive a a to God is this historical City of long response history. Augustine's charge. It is defense because successful undercuts the brilliant, thoroughly presup Augustine and his theological of both the pagan philosophers positions predecessors by that world courthouse. is God's The Christian he message, history denying a us not is of from exists the salvation release outside time; says, promised history, its culmination. the French Revolution What the fall of Rome was to early Christian theology, never a St. was to the it Yet the modern age produced Augustine; Enlightenment. ever our And since Hegel, instead. judgment of the Enlighten produced Hegel ment has been a historical It has been suggested that the Enlightenment judgment. for historicizing itsmessage. But while itself bears some responsibility this may be true of thinkers like Condorcet remember that the main and Turgot, we must was rather pessimistic stream of the Enlightenment about the course of history. sur about the Lisbon Voltaire's y a du mal pronouncement Earthquake?"il us a sense of how little the Enlightenment la terre"?gives from expected provi to be dence. Athens, Florence were held up as models Rome, and Renaissance were as not emulated ifmodern man was to rise out of barbarism; they perceived which had been The historical historical schemes of stages surpassed. already were allegories meant to inspire thinkers and d'Alembert Hume, Mendelssohn, was again possible. and statesmen alike, to awaken the hope that Enlightenment was hardly alone in seeing the Revolution as the of a new Hegel beginning nor was in that it. he alone the had Novalis, age, Enlightenment thinking prepared and had all different views the who of Constant, Revolution, very Tocqueville, an for it. But held the Enlightenment the responsible Hegel gave Enlightenment a as it of that necessary way-station greater significance by conceiving altogether inman's En had to be surpassed journey to self-conscious Spirit. Psychologically, an expression was to of human the drive self-assertion "negativity," lightenment with all positively that makes consciousness dissatisfied given content and seeks was the human characteristic, so in one sense to give that content itself. Negativity nature. the Enlightenment essential about human But, something expressed re to set out to because the Hegel, Enlightenment according eighteenth-century a a own in naive naive faith with faith Christian man's place powers?in Hegel's to "bring heaven to earth"?it to psychological doomed man phrase, attempted terror. Hegel's and political is the dissatisfied disappointment Enlightenment man And die since seeks satisfaction Enlightenment, unbefriedigte Aufkl?rung. to surpass the Enlightenment and find his philosophical all, he is destined in and Science his understood (as Hegel it), resting place political resting place in state. From this standpoint it is a very small step indeed the modern bureaucratic came in the wake of the to assert that whatever Enlightenment historically must be its philosophical and political Aufhebung. was not a sense. He thinker in any superficial Hegel Counter-Enlightenment even managed one to inspire an Enlightenment called heresy left-Hegelianism, above
hearts and minds, and much of the globe's dominated many variety of which a more sense in until surface, quite recently. However, profound Hegel did shift in favor of the Enlightenment's critics by transforming the idea of the balance a timeless ideal into that of Enlightenment as a bounded as Enlightenment period a historical process could be seen to be to and according working, through which it could be judged. which of Enlightenment has had such wide that even influence conception Hegel's on him themselves free from him find themselves those who consider depending to the critique of modernity. to the critique, it comes Three elements when or later radical form, are of in its early Romantic whether origin, and all Hegelian
are questionable.
the Enlightenment's The significance. to in the curious position thinker finds himself of having Counter-Enlightenment a as a as treat the Enlightenment his cri success?if success?indeed, smashing social effects are to have force. An Enlightenment tique of the Enlightenment's to survey the bloody thinker, however, brought back from the grave and made a of modern conclusion. He might reach different say tapestry history, might had had no effect, that it had failed. There was a period in that the Enlightenment a number of thinkers, though by no means all, revived an European history when or conven that was free from political old notion of enlightenment theological as it serve the practical ends of mankind to make this notion tions, and modified one thinks of it, came to an end. Other awhole. This period, whatever fol periods different thinkers thought other thoughts and pursued different lowed in which to live as they always had, certainly no better, ends. And human beings continued The heavens and powers, but not more enlightened. of new machines possessed and closed. then they opened The critic of modernity points to this same tapestry and charges the Enlighten If the Enlightenment ment with being the loom on which it was woven. thinker The first that the tapestry is horrifying, but denies weaving it, the critic is forced to a in its sim about historical That hypothesis responsibility. hypothesis, is the hoc hoc. is the old diachronic This form, ergo propter plest fallacy, post case stone its which the builds upon against the Counter-Enlightenment shaking or critic the the dialectic he modern age. However sophisticated employs, he must to if is make this diachronic his have force. The Enlighten critique assumption even for those forces ment must appear to be responsible for whatever followed, once made, the Enlightenment. This assumption, is which sought to extinguish even permits to and the thinker Counter-Enlightenment extremely powerful earlier by affirming the theses and antitheses discussed resolve the antinomies a He of does this modern simultaneously. by deriving genealogy thought inwhich accepts defend is said to be the historical precondition of each antithesis. For example, as a reaction to the Enlightenment's reli is explained irrationalism rationalism, as the its and of total reenchantment disenchantment, politicization gious product can be presented as the consequence Such genealogies of a prior depoliticization. each thesis
as a process of "secularization," as a "dialectic," as an account of the growing
is the overestimation
of
in the modern stream of thought, or as the history of a modern "forget fulness" of Being. All such genealogies derive, explicitly or not, from Hegel. And, that is,we consider the other like Hegel's own, they are utterly convincing?until, are equally convincing which because equally irrefutable. genealogies, "waves"
What The second element taken from Hegel are bound together
is the synchronie that the assumption in history. ist Dingheit, "Das Denken is thought Dingheit (Phenomenology of Spirit, ?576). This connection to be a dynamic in arise in to reaction which within ideas contradictions relation, next to in and then help the historical existence, stage. The reshape existence Romantic often presented itself in this light, as having Counter-Enlightenment real and the rational ist Denken" arisen in justifiable reaction to the hard, cold world created by Enlightenment. But ifwe take the Romantics' and examine assertion the worlds seriously they actu we find remarkably little enlightenment there. Were the Counter ally came from, a to the world it reaction created the genuine Enlightenment by Enlightenment, it was born in should have grown up in Great Britain or America. Instead, in France, Spain, and Italy. and flourished Catholics among disgruntled Germany seems to flourish Like "anti-Semitism without Jews," the Counter-Enlightenment and wherever its object is absent. whenever that grew up after the First World War could The radical critique of modernity assume real and rational were one. Instead, itmade that the the more the hardly that the real is and that this is a irrational, powerful assumption irrationality if the of modern conceived unintended, consequence necessary, "project" by the a If of could antinomies and modern solve the Enlightenment. genealogy thought was it for show that Enlightenment its intellectual could opposite, responsible to show how Enlightenment ideas were responsible for its social also be extended a world which for the would itself have is, creating Enlightenment opposite?that to Post the is taken be the hoc, propter hoc, Enlightenment judged unenlightened. source of every political, even aesthetic, technological, psychological develop ment of the modern assertion has given rise to an age. This extraordinary enormous literature which the debate over modernity. Some today dominates as Kritik und Krise, are written of these works, like Reinhart Kosellek's tragedies; are unwitting Dialektik der Aufkl?rung, like Horkheimer's and Adorno's others, are the same, and diachronic works of farce. But their synchronie presuppositions and they both derive from Hegel. to inspire The third element of the critique of modernity which Hegel helped is not a presupposition about the nature of history, but rather an eschatological If the Enlightenment is taken to be a ultimate destination. hope about history's that issues in crisis, it is understandable that some will expect a historical process of that crisis in an overcoming resolution of the Enlightenment. This overcoming a historical can be conceived as a historical in any number of ways?as return, leap or as a out of each of these forward, may be con leap history altogether?and or "truer" not as the opposite of Enlightenment, but as a "higher" ceived, these escha during the French Terror, Novalis Writing expressed in that "true terms, writing tological hopes apocalyptic anarchy begets religion it raises its glorious head as the and from the destruction of everything positive in the afterglow maker of a new world." Writing of the Napoleonic conquests, a as in terms these expressed hopes mythical Hegel "Calvary of World Spirit." to have dashed the catastrophe of the Great War One might have expected all but the occurred: and among Jewish, Catholic, hopes, just opposite eschatological Protestant the modern thinkers alike the hope for a new world beyond Enlighten ment was reborn. It led one great thinker to believe that a new world would be in by men wearing brown shirts; it led lesser ones to think it had been ushered Enlightenment.
10
in a little red book. The Counter-Enlightenment's critique of moder prophesied one not does of these views, but it al nity imply any eschatological necessarily ran no resources to quell them. had the risk of and almost them, ways encouraging as not do with such these originate hopes Hegel. They are as old Eschatological as dissatisfaction with the human condition, which is to say, as old as the human race. Nor was Hegel or the the first to discover the disconsolations of philosophy, on trial. Hegel's on rests first to put a philosopher his historical novelty entirely That is why Benedetto of these problems. Croce's question?"what is conception a in what is and of be the dead, living, philosophy Hegel?"?can only preliminary that the novelty of Hegel's for us. For even if we conclude question philosophy was precisely we still must confront the its weakness, phenomena Hegel sought to rests critique of modernity explain. To the extent that the Counter-Enlightenment on Hegel's, it contains something dead for us, but also something very alive.
IV. more that we take the Counter-Enlightenment by suggesting seriously the critics of modernity have come under new criti than it takes itself. Recently on the that turnabout is fair play. A number of thinkers cism themselves, principle as defenders of the Enlightenment who see themselves of its today, and especially can settle our accounts with the we believe ideas, political Counter-Enlightenment its anti-liberal animus, or by pointing out its logical errors, its rhetorical strategies, made sorts of its These the errors of political by leading figures. judgment are we an true. to and But when meet choose arguments usually legitimate own we on must to his beware of level. his turf, enemy always descending is not may be a political virtue, but Aufkl?rungspatriotismus Verfassungspatriotismus a philosophical one. Taking in the Counter-Enlightenment the truly seriously, mean more. of the would itself, doing something spirit Enlightenment mean To begin with, it would in a the Counter-Enlightenment examining I began non-historicist the critique of modernity light. Ever since the French Revolution means has been carried out as a historical which the that, to be consistent, critique, to has had historicize both the and Counter-Enlightenment Enlightenment was something new under the sun, then so was itself. If the Enlightenment the we reject this historical But if that still presupposition, Counter-Enlightenment. the Enlightenment and leaves the possibility?a very good possibility?that or in hu alike non-historical eternal express something Counter-Enlightenment man experience. Rousseau and Nietzsche, The greatest critics of modernity, give that very impression. Whatever they thought of modern man, their real target was Their an ancient man, Socrates, who with virtue and happiness. equated knowledge on anti-Socratisms less their readings of history different quite depend about the nature of the human soul and the nature than on their deep reflections in society. Enlightenment interaction for them was a permanent of human possi a a permanent to treats this as an and threat therefore good life. Even Hegel bility, iswhat makes his Phenomenology tension, which eternal, if historically developing most of man's the dramatic eternal intense, portrait of Spirit struggle with our philosophical in literature. Enlightenment is not and Enlightenments. Socrates There are, of course, Enlightenments on is Kant. But so long as we and neither focus our attention St. Thomas,
What
11
we will overlook these Enlightenments, differences between the important fact that each was stalked by its own Counter-Enlightenment. The charges levelled and Kant all revolved around the same three problems against Socrates, Thomas, to morality, Imentioned to the sacred, and to earlier: the relation of reason was seems It that Nietzsche for political authority. right: the human striving to truth, is accompanied what he called the will Enlightenment, by an equally can be to will voice this of eternal Counter-Enlightenment strong ignorance. The in in accounts heard the myths of Prometheus and Daedalus, the biblical of Eden and Babel, and in the parable of the Golem. Long before Rousseau's Emile the Hebrew is much Bible taught that "in much wisdom grief, and he that Nietzsche, increaseth sorrow" (Ecclesiastes 1:18). Long before knowledge St. Paul gave a "yea and amen" to ignorance, which would be echoed and Paul is Pascal. writes: it Iwill "For Tertullian, Luther, written, by Augustine, will to and the the the wisdom of of wise, destroy bring nothing understanding is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where the prudent. Where is the disputer of this increaseth
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the not God, wisdom it pleased wisdom of God the world knew God by the by ... The foolishness to save them that believe of preaching of God is foolishness than men" Corinthians What critic of what 1:19-21, (1 25). stronger modernity, the to in of has stated eternal prophet postmodernity, challenge Enlightenment world? stronger terms? that the will to ignorance was being driven out of the soul by Nietzsche worried the force of Enlightenment. He was too pessimistic. Every Socrates in our tradition one if not his the he deserves. The critique of modernity gets Aristophanes, always the role in the this developed Counter-Enlightenment by plays Aristophanic our times. To the degree that it understands itself and of its enemy histor thought it not But into self-contradiction. this should falls confusion and distract us ically, over from looking beyond this limited horizon, debate the the modern beyond a and with this eternal confrontation age, seeking Any Counter-Enlightenment. for genuine enlightenment must be attentive to the permanent philosophy wishing to ignorance. These and to the power of this will of its own worth questioning can can be this will and should and should be tamed. But as answered; questions we must also be students of students of Enlightenment Counter-Enlightenment, about ourselves. for what we seek is enlightenment
Ssaiah
?erlin's
tnlightenment
and Counter-Enlightenment
Robert Wokler
on to a tailor, who himself often compared only cuts his cloth or to a taxi driver who goes nowhere without first being hailed,1 a so rather like Locke's underlaborer, philosophical journeyman philosopher, com in tradition One of Oxford such invoked the analytical philosophy. frequently the from Scribner's Dictionary mission, of the History of Ideas, led him to produce on in is to which 1973 said mark "The essay commonly Counter-Enlightenment" the invention of that term, at least in English.2 In fact, the expression was not at all odd that the French, whose invented by Berlin. It is perhaps eighteenth-century to the world by way of spreading that the philosophes bequeathed Enlightenment infection abroad, have never had a term for it at all and hence no term for the either. In the English the term Enlightenment language, Counter-Enlightenment seems to have made in the late nineteenth its first appearance century in English on Hegel, a few decades before the expression Scottish Enlightenment commentaries came to be invented, and fully 100 years before anyone had heard of the Enlighten in his book After Virtue more ment Project conceived than by Alasdair Maclnytre was of course the It three decades after the launch of the Manhattan Project.3 still insist it never had one, who the term detractors invented Germans, whose in the 1780s, by way of a series of Berlinische the Enlightenment (Die Aufk?rung) embraced Wieland's, Reinhold's, Mendelssohn's, essays which Monatsschrift a century treatment of and who around Kant's the and, most subject, famously, Isaiah Berlin commission, the term Gegen-Aufkl?rung?Counter-Enlightenment?to European thought and intellectual history.4 in of the expression of 1973 is not even the first minting Berlin's coinage term since in fifteen the earlier years Counter-Enlightenment appeared English, some justice, Barrett states, not without William Barrett's Irrational Man, where come at last to philosophical that "Existentialism is the counter-Enlightenment I know, the term has an even longer pedigree For all in English. Now expression."5 that what passes for civilization has been transcribed on disk, itmight be helpful uses prior to 1973. if some computer hack were to trace every one of its published on in the the the Berlin's Scribner essay of History subject Dictionary of Ideas later also introduced social
13
14
rehearses the doctrines of a familiar cast of characters who had engaged his atten a to whom he had devoted tion before: Hamann, chapter of his collection, The Age on whom an essay in in he had Vico, 1956;6 of Enlightenment, already published on whom on eighteenth-century 1960 in a collection he had con Herder, Italy;7 on the eighteenth Press collection tributed an essay for a Johns Hopkins century, as an article in Encounter in 1965;8 and de Maistre, the sub subsequently published an of 1960 but first in Berlin essay ject by largely completed published Henry not edition of The Crooked Timber ofHumanity thirty years later.9 Itwould to Jacobi.10 1977 that he first turned his attention the term Counter-Enlightenment is now associated with Berlin Although more than with any other scholar or thinker, we ought to bear inmind that before time he had long retired from the Chichele Professorship the mid-1970s, by which and had also left his subsequent of Social and Political Theory in Oxford position as President that it encapsu of Wolfson and the ideas which expression, College, no bearing at all upon his academic lated, had virtually reputation. His initial were on if at and read with much received the Hamann, Vico, Herder, all, writings Hardy's be until same enthusiasm as had greeted David Hume's Treatise ofHuman Nature 240 years in his seventies Berlin's fame rested chiefly on earlier.11 At least until he was of Marx;12 his intellectual biography four other works: his not altogether flattering in the essay "Historical to the philosophy of history contributions Inevitability" in The Hedgehog and the Fox;13 and, in the field and in his treatment of Tolstoy the most widely of Liberty,"14 much theory, his "Two Concepts in the all the lectures of of politics inaugural given by professors was in virtue world the twentieth century. It of his defense of by English-speaking in his fifties, that Berlin, already the idea of "negative" liberty in particular came to be regarded as the supreme advocate among contemporary political had con of a notion of modern philosophers liberty, which Benjamin Constant treatment of the subject in trasted with the ideal of ancient liberty in his celebrated was to and Stuart form the kernel of modern of 181915 which, Mill, John by way as to be regarded liberalism itself. Berlin came in the late twentieth century of political discussed liberalism's foremost advocate?or its In Perry Anderson's of British critiques instance, or, more recently, Quentin itwas the alleged vacuousness bridge,
closest scrutiny.
to its detractors. chief apologist, according national culture in the New Left Review, for own inaugural Skinner's lecture in Cam to of Berlin's liberalism that was subjected
that, in the years following his retirement, Berlin's imagined to begin its natural course have would ripened sufficiently political philosophy his work on the Counter-Enlightenment has of decay; on the contrary, however, over interest the keen his enhanced years, invigorating past twenty-five standing in new circles, most notably who had earlier found his among communitarians measure in to the Thanks labors of Hardy, liberalism unpalatable. editorial large or more than thirty years ago make him ap broadcast works which Berlin drafted a liberalism than a skeptical critic of the universalist of modern pear less defender a of modernity, the in cultures who sage of disparate recognized pretensions One might have of their values, conflict and incommensurability thereby apparently escapable common cause with detractors of the metanarra the antifoundationalist making or tives of modernity, and becoming?from his unlikely perch at the Albany as Savile Row postmodernist," Ernest Gellner portrayed him.16 Athenaeum?"a
Isaiah Berlin's
Enlightenment
15
even more than his liberalism had done before, it is Berlin's pluralism Perhaps of his reputation; and while that idea figures that now forms the mainspring on in in first his the essay Montesquieu, published Proceedings of the prominently to itwhich British Academy in 1955, and in three eloquent paragraphs addressed of Liberty,"17 it is largely through his form the conclusion of his "Two Concepts that elaboration and embellishment of his notion of the Counter-Enlightenment as of his political philosophy his pluralism has come to be seen as the mainspring a whole.18 I say "elaboration and embellishment" because his original contribu as had been his earlier studies of Hamann, tion on the subject was as much ignored was In 1976 Berlin reassembled it and and Maistre from which distilled. de Herder, as a two the last that would earlier those he edit of book, himself, essays expanded for the first time occasioned the scholarly atten entitled Vico and Herder,19 which to in tion that had previously been devoted his other disciplines. only writings we find these preeminent Here of the Counter-Enlightenment por spokesmen phi trayed not only as critics of some of the most central tenets of Enlightenment the Naturwissenschaften and the divide between losophy but also, in anticipating come to inform the historiography that would and social sci Geisteswissenschaften ences of the next two centuries, the pre-French Revolutionary of post-modernists their day.20 to the timeless of human nature opposed Here we find historicized conceptions verum ipsumfactum and Vico's of of natural notions law.21 Here, through principles Herder's of Einf?hlung or empathy, we can detect a species of conception putative a scheme to persons able to penetrate of Verstehen, only accessible understanding, it is.22 of things subjectively, with an insider's grasp of how it comes to be what notions of culture, of the spiritual dimensions of Here we find our contemporary in the arts, in legal systems, and myths.23 activity represented languages, we in confront ideas of communal Herder, particular, Through identity, of lan as essence arts and the of man's the of a celebration guage forming species-being, human and difference, which Berlin termed populism, and expressionism, as two In and radical pluralism, casting provin profoundly original respectively.24 cial and, in certain respects, reactionary century?each figures of the eighteenth in the international of largely unappreciated by his contemporaries republic to from the letters?Berlin the of of age managed pluck peripheries Enlightenment come to transform ever having to the seeds that would it, without subsequently a course through commentators that channel those ideological other swamps above all with the influence of Rousseau. interested in the same subject associated In The Magus in The part inspired by the chapter on Hamann of theNorth?in of multiplicity in fact assembled from papers dating from but which Hardy Age of Enlightenment at Columbia?Berlin the mid-1960s for the Woodbridge Lectures that added in his defense of the particular, the intuitive, the concrete, and the per Hamann, the opposite attributes of the Enlightenment and all its works sonal, denounced and thereby proved the founder of modern and anti-rationalism and romanticism and the existentialists.25 the forerunner of Nietzsche These themes were also to in inWashington in 1965, finally pub the Mellon Lectures Berlin delivered in 1999 as The Roots of Romanticism, with a recording of the last lecture in its as a compact disk.26 original form appended The Roots of Romanticism, which Berlin himself never completed, incidentally, in Saul Bellow's novel, also forms the unfinished of Moses Herzog magnum opus form lished
16
one year before Berlin presented his lectures, that refers to many of the published same persons, and de Maistre, who Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Tolstoy, including were to figure in Berlin's own cast of characters, as well as the Hotel Pierre, inNew in America. One way of reading The Roots York, where Berlin often resided when inchoate lectures at appropriate is by intercalating Berlin's points of Romanticism so that by way of the compact disk one book may be said to of Bellow's novel, thus the first fictional figure in world the other, with Herzog litera complement over ture to have undergone to Berlin the transubstantiation, through passing other side and thereby acquiring his own voice. Several of the reviews of his Vico and Herder Berlin found profoundly dispirit and admirers, like Patrick Gardiner and Hayden friends White, ing. While commended faults major other philosophers and historians of ideas found and took him to task. Arthur Scouten, writing in in Literature and London Hans the Review Studies, Aarsleff, Comparative of Books, in his main of wrath. his incurred the thrust argument particular, They challenged about the Counter-Enlightenment, Scouten partly on account of Berlin's exagger from the Encyclop?distes,28 ating the extent to which Herder had parted company his scholarship,27 in his arguments mainly with respect to Berlin's apparent
and ignorance of seventeenthin the of which and Vico linguistics, anthropological light eighteenth-century as disciples and together, ought to have been portrayed of En Herder, separately as critics.29 In acid replies to each author, rather than lightenment philosophy on his scholarship, Berlin valiantly defended insisting, especially against Aarsleff, Aarsleff the profound
Herder.30
originality
of Vico
and the depth
of the influence
of Hamann
upon
in Mind, William and Arnaldo reviewers, Walsh, writing in The New York Review of Books, troubled him even more. Can it Momigliano, on behalf of Herder, that to explain the really be the case, as Berlin had claimed an was also to endorse in context its of local it?, asked Walsh. meaning activity can a genetic explanation form a justification? We are not required to agree How Two other from the perspective that whatever of an historian of the is, is right.31 Momigliano, a same in the different of classical tradition, pursued way. The philosophies point the second born in the year the first had died, must not be con Vico and Herder, in the values of Christian immersed flated, he argued, since Vico remained deeply and classical culture, whereas Herder's fascination with Orientalism inclined him to overlook racism. In any event, Berlin appeared the instead towards modern two main of of his these the Counter of protagonists implications reading to be asked in each case, Momigliano in The crucial question Enlightenment. was we acount to if of their attachment that Berlin's sisted, accept pluralism, that they were also relativists? Before how then are we to escape the conclusion we celebrate to take stock of where such pluralism their vitality, let us pause would lead.32 was personally with Vico's classical sources and well-acquainted Momigliano and in the ancient Vico with the modern but in contrasting Herder, references, also imputing a relativist stance not only to Vico and Herder but, by implication, to have fallen under to Berlin himself, he appears the influence of Leo Strauss, at the University since 1959, after he had become of Chicago whose colleague a close companion at All of Souls Oxford. earlier been Berlin College, having were from Fascist powers, Strauss and Momigliano Jews, refugees expatriate
Isaiah Berlin's
Enlightenment
17
into Fascism and who were convinced that Central and Eastern Europe's descent it of had Western been social appeasement Europe's prefigured by modern and absolutist principles science's abandonment of the universalist of classical or civilization. The Counter-Enlightenment doctrine of relativism that Christian as warrant to to applaud was denounced them the Berlin appeared by lending it most of and then crisis catastrophic thereby making conceptually modernity, in particular, and practically For Strauss, the relativism historically possible. modern entailed social science had opened the prospect of the by value-free and the extermination his Holocaust of the Jews.33 Alexander from Pope's couplet our on In Man had dilemma. the world of Essay correctly encapsulated modernity, whatever is, is indeed right. as he had and Momigliano Berlin did not reply in print to the reviews of Walsh done with respect to those of Scouten and Aarsleff, but in 1979 he accepted an in of the International Studies to speak at its Society for Eighteenth-Century a at of the Enlightenment few miles from his summer home in Pisa, just Congress a over at which Momigliano and which session himself presided Liguria. There, I attended?virtually his last public appearance in any academic sup setting?he answer to the imputation that his his heroes the of plied Counter-Enlightenment vitation had been heralds of relativism attendant His and all its dreadfully consequences. in Eighteenth-Century talk was entitled "Alleged Relativism European Thought," in 1980, in the British Journal for Eighteenth-Century and itwas published, Studies; a a decade later in Hardy's edition of The Crooked Timber revised version appeared if I fully appreciate and learned critic has wondered the im of the historical relativism of Vico and Herder which, plications unacknowledged ... constituted a problem to this day," Berlin which has persisted by them were "If we grant in fact remarked. that Vico and Herder the assumption ... the now was I made critic valid. to be a relativists But this believe point by my Vico and mistaken of here he Herder, [and may be interpretation although some to in remarks about relativism which he had made his referring original I have in my time contributed to it myself." treatments "True of these writers] in so far as it entails fundamental he continued, doubt about the relativism," is derived of objective knowledge, from other and later sources?from possibility the metaphysics of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, from social anthropology, It is a nineteenth-century not consistently and Freud. from Marx doctrine, influential thinker of the forward any put century, he claimed.35 by eighteenth Vico and Herder, he now contended, were pluralists rather than relativists; they believed not in the absence of objective ends but in their variety, their multiplic not the conflict. he maintained Relativism, here, was ity, and sometimes to universalism.36 The Counter-Enlightenment had confronted monism not sinister of the of a way by trappings Enlightenment potentially but the of by invoking nineteenth-century ideology liberating principles plural ism. Itwas in this manner that Berlin restated the central theme of his concluding in his Two Concepts of Liberty, except that section on "The One and the Many" it had been whereas various forms of monism which had given rise to previously on the altars of the great historical the "slaughter of individuals ideals," as he had now for outcome that dreadful had been passed put it,37 conceptual responsibility even more to relativism. only alternative ofHumanity.M "A distinguished
18
was If the Counter-Enlightenment the Enlightenment pluralist, fundamentally must of course have been its opposite?uniformitarian, ho undifferentiated, and In monolithic. the dimensions of the mogenous, mapping richly pluralist too all for the Berlin, my frequently Counter-Enlightenment, liking, portrayed as if, as he put it in The Roots of Romanticism, it could be boiled Enlightenment to three fundamental which down constitute the also, incidentally, principles, our describes and indeed the Ionian fallacy, as he elsewhere whole of it,38 virtually so enthusiastically tradition Western into well-merited intellectual bludgeoned on Berlin's behalf by John obsolescence These are, first, that all principles Gray.39 can answers are knowable; all be that the answered; second, questions genuine answers must and third, that all those knowable also be compatible.40 That, in of the Enlightenment be termed Berlin's version short, is what might Project, or it has proved and for his communitarian, admirers postmodernist, pluralist to license their hammering of the last nail into the quite sufficiently devastating coffin. Enlightenment's It is of course true that a richer and more portrait of the age of sympathetic can be culled from Berlin's writings, in the in particularly general Enlightenment to Enlightenment of his introduction thinkers where he praises their last paragraph and the courage of their campaigns intellectual honesty against injustice and igno with Ramin above all in his Conversations rance,41 and perhaps Jahanbegloo, in 1992, where he speaks of himself as a liberal rationalist who, despite published to the liberationalist values of Voltaire, their dogmatism, subscribes fundamentally in general. "They were and the Enlightenment Condorcet, d'Holbach, Helv?tius, there, "they were against oppression, they fought the am on their side." [But] "I am I and ignorance_So good fight against superstition not because in the views of the opposition," he continues, interested [I] greatly fallacies" of the admire them but because "clever and gifted enemies often pinpoint some of its "political as "inadequate" and expose implications" Enlightenment we It is just this last proposition, and, "at times, disastrous."42 might note, that forms the central thesis of Jacob Talmon's Origins of Totalitarian Democracy of 1952, in fact inspired by (an unmentioned) Talmon instead Harold Laski in which a as to he debt Berlin's it.43 puts "stimulating suggestions," acknowledges in diverse studies and fields of eighteenth-century For those of us who work Berlin's invention of amonolithic also greatly admire his achievement, Enlighten since it ment with than a trifle embarrassing, just three legs is more particularly manner was so that it might in of the be deconstructed assembled only to a richer understanding of the diverse Procrustes and thereby point the way to for a pluralist Itmakes little sense, I believe, its opposite. threads that constitute to who set aside his own principles when addressing thinkers, my Enlightenment Berlin the values with which mind for the most part characteristically espoused as the Enlightenment than he did. In depicting them no less tenaciously confronts to the pursuit of truth commitment if its centrally guiding thread was an absolutist by way of science, Berlin appears to join both Carl Becker, whose Heavenly City of as well in his Roots of Romanticism,44 the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers he praises an as Richard Rorty, whose mind which doctrine of of Enlightenment portrayal bed.45 mirrors nature is drawn upon a similarly Procrustean to Becker in particular, the philosophes of the eighteenth century had According out which substitut the Christian absolutism turned inside decried, they simply against cruelty," he remarks
Isaiah Berlin's
Enlightenment
19
in place of the unworldly salvation of our ing the pursuit of earthly happiness on to the of rebuild it the terrestrial souls, thereby demolishing city god only can thus be portrayed as having loved the thing it plain.46 The Enlightenment a killed and of taking on itsmantle in the very act of destroying it, by substituting arcane was on rationalist form of to for another, based faith.47 Berlin dogmatism far too wise and learned to be seduced by such nonsense. my mind those philosophes of whom it might Even among be said that this was their the pursuit of scientific truth in the Enlightenment did not preeminent objective, take the form of belief in the one and only true religion by another name. Of all was the most tenacious thinkers, Montesquieu major eighteenth-century perhaps that the laws of nature and the operations of the hu supporter of the proposition man mind must be understood in the same way. No one in the Enlightenment subscribed more plainly to physicalist of social behavior and culture, explanations and Rorty's account of mind as nature's mirror in fact describes the central thrust on perfectly. Yet from that monolithic perspective or cos there springs no universalism sciences, was of any kind. Above all his contemporaries, mopolitanism Montesquieu to sensitive the local of and social insti specially variety, specificity, uniqueness tutions, customs, and mores. His Esprit des loismight well have been subtitled "A His Lettres persanes ought to be required in any Study of Difference." reading course of comparative as indeed to the subject of "Otherness," literature devoted should be Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Voltaire's Candide. A postmodernist definition of the Enlightenment in terms of its deconstruction of Christian dogmas by way of critical theory would, Ibelieve, more aptly describe that century-long intellectual movement which was inspired by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 and the Glorious in England Revolution three years later than do the uniformitarian strictures of Becker and Rorty. From Berlin's own of Montesquieu's both the natural philosophy and human the advent of that fresh approach be said to pluralist perspective, may be marked the from Bossuet's Histoire to universelle Fontenelle's passage by Pluralit? des mondes. No one who read the voyages assembled by the abb? Pr?vost in his collection, which to that produced added so much by Samuel Purchas in the to could fail notice how previous century, disparate were the cultures of mankind the world, and how diverse their social institutions. No one who read throughout about the Egyptian or Hebrew chants in Burney's General History of Music or about Persian or Chinese tunes in Rousseau's Dictionnaire de musique could any longer be that theWestern scale and its harmonies were universally persuaded appreciated. or Accounts or singing the real relating imaginary journeys to exotic worlds, and often among the same praises of a primitive golden age, circulated as widely, as on did the treatises natural and on the progress sciences readers, Enlightenment of civilization. over and the rest of the spiritual Europe's political hegemony world was not appreciated at all but in fact fiercely a in great many anti opposed colonialist classic works of eighteenth-century and philosophy anthropology, sur from Rousseau's Discours au l'in?galit? to Diderot's Suppl?ment Voyage de to the Abb? Histoire des Indes. deux Even while Bougainville Raynal's op expressing timism with to the increasingly secular development of the human respect race as it rose from barbarism to civilization, the proponents of the Enlightenment a about the imperialist Project characteristically displayed pessimism profound nature of Western Christendom. Instead of denouncing the Enlightenment's
20 rationalist
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment and universalist its detractors would do better to investi informed the doctrines of its leading who framed fundamentally d'Holbach, as uncovered knowledge by revelation
pretensions, which gate empiricism skeptical from Bayle to La Mettrie and advocates, to the bigotry of sacred liberal objections and to the universalism of blind faith.48 the These
reiteration only because truths, which warrant commonplace they are so most and crit remembered communitarian modern, infrequently by postmodern, were to known it ics of Enlightenment Berlin. had well philosophy, Although and was seldom reliably stored for invocation sometimes been gained secondhand in scholarly footnotes, Berlin's erudition was vast and his command of the litera ture in eighteenth-century Iwas working myself was as broad as fields in which I ever met while at Oxford; and itwas completing my doctorate on own account of the fact that his interests more deeper philosophical generally we discussed in texts the ideas the than of my tutors those closely approximated context of the with just literary backgrounds, whose intellectual of an eigh grasp work sometimes obscured their of its penetration teenth-century meaning. I conveyed to Berlin my thoughts about the Querelle des Bouffons of the When he not only pointed me towards commentators who had addressed mid-1750s,49 some but also corrected this musical precursors dispute's seventeenth-century was I in Italian had transcribed that of need doubtful prose eighteenth-century on own in the Current sheds such attention. Berlin's essay Against Montesquieu fresh light upon that central thinker, perhaps the most central thinker, genuinely that of any person not of the Counter-Enlightenment but of the Enlightenment itself. Although the me as to account tone of Aarsleff's Berlin's of Herder strikes objections excessively that the intel severe, I feel more than a little inclined to agree with his contention to find from re lectual gulf between Herder and Hamann is vast, and I am pleased on Herder cent scholarship (ofwhich Berlin could not have been aware) that many were drawn directly of Herder's crucial passages from Ideen, his masterpiece, Adam Ferguson As Berlin himself and, more distantly, Montesquieu.50 reports at Hamann read Hume meticulously and was greatly persuaded length, moreover, account to my mind, of the nature of belief and reason.51 All of which, sug by his come to pass for the Counter-Enlightenment gests that much of what has properly and not outside the Enlightenment it.52 figures within With the exception of the caricatures of that intellectual movement he which what he supposed was its opposite, drew for the purpose of highlighting Berlin's strike me as cast corpus of his writings sympathies, style, and almost the whole an in to convey mold. This really is the principal thesis Iwish Enlightenment Berlin was a philosophe of enlightened here?that disposition malgr? lui,53 whose at virtually life and work the spirit of enlightenment every together display to address he contrived that subject. However post juncture apart from where modern he might have come to appear by virtue of the recent diffusion of lectures or it is hard to imagine he conceived this thirty forty years before his death, of Austin's admirer of the analytical precision prose impressed by the lectures on in Freiburg "the secret king of philosophy" rendered Heidegger ontology which I suppose that he would have regarded of an utterly different kind, although an an reason to insufficient him Derrida's charlatanry deny alleged honorary at rate main from describes the thrust of his phi any Gray degree, Cambridge.54 as agonistic in its liberalism,55 but the combative nature of his imagery is losophy
Isaiah Berlin's an
Enlightenment
21
affair than the traumatic notion of Geworfenheit?of altogether milder being thrown?that lies at the heart of the human predicament described by Heidegger coarser notions of a decidedly have sprung postmodernist and out of which from Savile than Berlin's Row.56 species bespoke variety I suspect and "otherness," that no philosopher of the As for "difference" at home but at the same time comfortably twentieth century was more peripatetic in which he was wel in every culture of the three continents he visited regularly in the company of Anna the night of his spiritual apotheosis comed. Throughout so in it was she Michael Akhmatova, Ignatieff's biography, depicted brilliantly and dark intensity of Dostoyevsky who spoke incessantly of the inner world and Berlin who instead other writers who had labored on Russian invoked the soil, more luminous of Turgenev subtleties among exiled artists who had worked was to command his admiration more abroad.57 No nineteenth-century figure that cosmopoli than Herzen, that ebullient Westernizer among dour Slavophiles, tan Russian abroad, that generous from a dark-eyed nation spirit of enlightenment as a kind of Russian Voltaire in a still benighted he describes of his age, whom the greatest lan of his native Berlin addressed literary masterpiece day.58 When guage, Tolstoy's War and Peace, itwas not the rich tapestry of the social life of the there which and aristocracy Russian peasantry portrayed engaged his attention Rousseau and other of his for most, but rather Tolstoy's respect theory history, his contempt for "unintelligible of the French Enlightenment, mysteries" to the cant of the freemasons. his hostility The from "mists of antiquity," own image, he describes as a cast in most he his realist admired, Tolstoy skeptical to dogmatic who stood in lifelong opposition authoritarianism.59 In several respects, and above all in his comprehensive of the Enlight mastery so enment oraison fun?bre or funeral oration which many chapters of his comprises of both d'Alembert and Personal Impressions,60 Berlin was the spiritual descendant in the late of the Acad?mie secretaries, Condorcet, permanent century, eighteenth for instance, he congratu fran?aise and Acad?mie des sciences, respectively. When, on his production of an excellent book?"all the better for lated Lewis Namier But wit with the of Voltaire. added?his could he sparkle glisten being short,"61 tomy mind, in his ideals, his enthusiasms, his spontaneity, his vitality, his mimicry he was more fuelled by genuine of others, his genial self-abasement self-doubt, than anyone I ever knew. By dint of his own Einf?hlung with diverse like Diderot thinkers drawn to make their ideas vivid and com and present thinkers Berlin managed as his own. Such transitivity or to them without pelling, having adopt clairvoyance was much I sought and greatly prized by the philosophes of the Enlightenment our was more or to time of suited attracted know best. No academic better figure the delights of the linguistic turns of the eighteenth-century salon. and Zionism, Even with respect to his nationalism Berlin strikes me as a child past of the Enlightenment. At least in the English-speaking communitarians world, more to who found themselves drawn Berlin's today, including many pluralism than to his liberalism, have been mainly concerned with the cultures of ethnic or with in parts of the world and colonized minorities conquered by Europeans, in societies predominantly the loss of spiritual bonds of fraternity held together alone. Berlin, by contrast, focused on the identity of a by market mechanisms never a but that colonized community gained security in Europe, and although a to to in him with command of sufficient enable Hebrew lecture Jew practicing
22 that
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment language, he never displayed any in Jewish culture
in Jewish the slightest interest theology arts. and the However remarkable their scarcely the greatest of Jewish artists?Heine and Mendelssohn, for achievements, to instance?he Goethe inferior and if Beethoven, judged manifestly respectively, too and because Heine Mendelssohn had all to only conspicuously attempted scale the summits of just German he con culture, whereas Goethe and Beethoven, and of universally sublime character which tended, had produced poetry and music had transcended the national identities of their composers.62 Though he traveled to in Jerusalem?fa the Wall the of Mount Israel, frequently Wailing Temple as the described his observant relative, Yeshayahu Leibowitz, mously by devoutly Kotel recast as a Dis-kotel?bore scant mystical him. for As significance passionate as was his commitment to Zionism, he loathed the extremism of Menachem Begin and the Irgun,63 which he regarded as a band of terrorists, and although he seldom he was convinced that the existence of a Jewish spoke in public on such matters, as he sometimes put it64?did not state?that last child of a European Risorgimento, exclude but on the contrary necessitated the establishment of a Palestinian state as well. "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in," Robert Frost had once said,65 and Berlin concurred. What was necessary in which above all else, to his mind, was that in a world Jews cannot but remain never to be destined there must somewhere strangers, perpetual truly naturalized, a or one not homeland for them in be which too, refuge they should all be obliged to live, but one to which they might one day have to flee. These are questions which have bedeviled the history of their Jews throughout to the late eighteenth diaspora. But from the late seventeenth century, in the great and Calvinist schisms of Catholic gave rise to a different diaspora Europe which that inspired the pleas of toleration of Spinoza, Bayle, Locke, and others?which to my mind lie at the heart of the only intellectual movement of the period that issues were might correctly be termed "The Enlightenment Project"66?these in fresh ways, and for the Jews in a new idiom, in the language of civil pursued and human rights. Here, in the context of an eighteenth-century debate about Jew in the state, pursued with ish identity, assimilation, and incorporation renewed enfranchisement of the Jews?not least by vigor after the French Revolutionary Marx?lies the proper context for an understanding of Berlin's Zionism. Imust not, however, fail to introduce the fly in this ointment. If the Enlighten ment constitutes the background of Berlin's Zionism, its fundamental tenets, contrary to the central thesis I have just put forward, do not spring at all from ideals of toleration. Those ideals?encapsulated most famously by Enlightenment a London Stock in his Lettres philosophiques where he describes Voltaire Exchange of men who before they worship their different gods in their separate comprised in a common churches negotiate the only infidels are traders currency, of which not and cannot embrace Berlin's Zionism. For Voltaire and who go bankrupt67?do most other philosophes of the Enlightenment, the the Jews only required in matters of the rule of law by civil powers uninterested of faith. protection to return to a land in which For Berlin, the Jews must be empowered they alone constitute the predominant When writing about such matters with community. to the eighteenth not by the Plea for Berlin was respect century, impressed the Toleration of the Jews compiled Moses of the Mendelssohn, by grandfather one translator of Rousseau and, by virtue of his learning and humanity, composer,
Isaiah Berlin's of the foremost the provocative
Enlightenment
23
He was struck instead by luminaries of the German Enlightenment. even anti-Semitic and in some respects diatribe produced by mere as a denial of their toleration of differences the who Hamann, regarded claim. When pursuing the same themes importance?a postmodernist genuinely on in in the mid-nineteenth his the "Life and of Moses essay century Opinions treatment of Rome und Jerusalem, inwhich Hess's Hess," he hailed as amasterpiece a belief both in as inconsistent and in the Jewish Hess denounced enlightenment and the con in exile, on account of its endorsing the ultimate dissolution mission tinued existence of Judaism at the same time.68 Here, wrote Berlin, was a work which preached Zionism more than thirty years before the term had been invented, in the course of Hess's all the more powerfully persuasive today than it had proved own lifetime, in view of itswarning to Germany's assimilated Jews that they would one day suffer a cataclysm of greater magnitude than any they could conceive.69 In 1932, in the same year that Becker's Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century one of the first Jewish rectors of a Ernst Cassirer, Philosophers was published, as in large German university, well his Philosophie der Aufkl?rung, which produced a own measure articulates his defense of noble tradition of German Enlightenment, in the face of contemporary and Baumgarten, Wolff, Leibniz, including was he the Weimar barbarism.70 But while Cassirer drafting his work, Republic own effect modern Germany's itself in its served?in Enlightenment Project?was death throes. A few months of Die Philosophie der Aufkl?rung, after the publication the civil rights of assimilated the institutions which had protected Jews vanished and as a consequence Bertolt Brecht, Albert with the Republic's dissolution, Thomas Mann, Paul Tillich, Bruno Einstein, Walter Gropius, Wassily Kandinsky, science and culture, as well Walter, and many other luminaries of twentieth-century as Cassirer, were forced into exile.71 In an essay on "Jewish Slavery and Emancipa in The Jewish Chronicle in 1951 and has only just been pub tion" which first appeared the Jews had taken every conceivable lished again, Berlin remarked that while step in the societies in which to adapt and adjust themselves they had sought to be nat their efforts had all "proved unavailing."72 The extermination of European uralized, true in his Conver had he adds the established of assimilation, hopelessness Jewry It sations with Jahanbegloo.73 That perception above all else sustained his Zionism. to the principles of the Enlighten marks the most decisive break of his attachment ment I know, tomy mind much more striking than his depiction of its three-legged faith in his portrayal of the Counter-Enlightenment. uniformitarian I believe to I should like finally to comment briefly on just one matter which itwas not addressed this subject, although be intimately connected with directly when he first raised it in his own fashion in an essay on "Com by Perry Anderson in the New Left Review in the of the National Culture," which ponents appeared summer of 1968.74 Readers of this collection who can should cast their minds back to that period of our history which, by way of the Prague Spring and the student in France inMay, seemed for many at the time a uprising left-wing commentators a false dawn. Almost as if to recapitulate celebrated fresh and then subsequently the revolutions lines about a specter haunting occasioned of 1848, Europe by as follows: "A coherent and militant text movement Anderson student his begins in England," he writes. "But it may now be only a matter has not yet emerged so bereft of a radical political of time before it does."75 Why was England culture, rea he wondered, such as had arisen in Germany, and France? The Italy, principal
24
center in England, which had son, he explained, was the absence of a theoretical a classical or national never tradition of Marxism. And one of sociology produced "listless and the main "wizened factors which explain England's mediocrity" as he put it, was that since 1900 it had been sub in such matters, provincialism" a wave of immigrants from Eastern and Central Europe whose "elective jected to a quiescent and and untheoretical social sciences for society unsystematic affinity" of a political culture such as could be found, in had impeded the development dissident 1968, in Germany, radicals, or "Reds," who Italy, and France. Whereas in Frankfurt Marxists fled the instability of Central Europe settled elsewhere?the in Mann in and and for Luk?cs Brecht Scandinavia? instance, Russia, America, had by a process of natural selection attractive only to the proved England that the mantle which had thus ensured intellectual of "Whites," authority families the name Macaulay, from Victorian bearing progressively passed or Hodgkin, to Germans like Arnold, Huxley, Stephens, Wedgwood, Trevelyan, asWittgenstein, to to and Austrians such Poles Klein; Popper, Gombrich, Eysenck; and to Russians and Namier; like Isaiah Berlin.76 like Malinowski too lengthily here on this curious tableau of enduring Imust not comment attraction of expatriate academics made possible by England's from complacence Let me Central and Eastern Europe, cloned with suitably acquired characteristics. never once note only that, while distinguishing "Reds" from "Whites," Anderson to do with Judaism mentions the word "Jew," nor does he take stock of anything abandoned their homes abroad. If these which might expatriates explain why or in had settled instead when Russia Berlin's parents Germany, Italy, fleeing than likely that I should not have had this tale France and stayed there, it ismore no in the to tell. Unless it was Chaim Weizmann, leader of any people political as so esteem Berlin's Winston Churchill. Even world commanded contemporary to his own followers more it seemed if only because than Franklin Roosevelt, he rallied to his cause that success was so unlikely, Churchill's whom "greatest to be politically to mankind" service had been to show that it was "possible and humane."77 effective and yet benevolent the last survivor of that Berlin died on November 5, 1997. He was virtually over higher education in Great Britain of immigrants whose generation ascendancy so much lamented. He had precious little in common, Anderson ideologically or temperamentally, with other luminaries of that White rather than Red or Popper, for instance?who Eysenck, collectively Hayek, emigration?with are held to have steered the English nation its long slumber while less through revolted. His Zionism, radical students on the Continent ideologically hamstrung He formed no school and had no followers. He like his liberalism, was undogmatic. was ever not his own without in a civic culture which his flourished abandoning native identities or the exotic languages of his youth. He was a Russian Jew who had come to feel at home abroad, the first Jewish Fellow of All Souls and the only two and President whose holder of the Order of Merit of the British Academy an uncle, an aunt, and three cousins had been shot, quite possibly by grandfathers, the British Home the associates of a very elderly Latvian citizen of Australia whom in to not but minded detain when alerted of his presence felt Secretary deport A few before Berlin's Pocock weeks three around death, John years ago.78 England the first of a series of lectures in his honor at Oxford, which he had had delivered as both his tribute and articulating their differences. conceived paying
Isaiah Berlin's
Enlightenment
25
after his passing, Quentin Skinner gave his inaugural lecture Exactly one week as the Regius Professor of Modern History in Cambridge, before Liberal "Liberty and sought to correct the concept of negative ism," in which he addressed liberty introduced by Berlin's own inaugural lecture forty years earlier.79 to the reading of texts in political With respect to Berlin's approach theory and the history of ideas, Pocock and Skinner in their different ways point to d?calages or breaks which are both epistemic In view of the number and generational. of columns of print that followed the demise of Britain's preeminent academic pillar some of which in other circumstances of the establishment, might have been de a sense is in there voted to reporting Skinner's which Berlin's death could lecture, in the words of Norman Mailer on the passing of Truman accurately be described, as career "a move." But although he was eighty-eight years old, his Capote, good demise shook me and many other persons the world very deeply throughout so in Louis of the Jewish child portrayed indeed. Iwas reminded affectionately Au Malle's Revoir les whose command of enfants, autobiographical dazzling a his Schubert at the piano just before his deportation classmates gave glimpse of never in their midst which had another world known of all that was firsthand, they was to and best in European then taken all that them civilization, away by brought worst. Not only by the sheer humanity of his writings and the exuberant cadences in England, of his style, but by virtue even of the circumstances of his presence Berlin was, to my mind, the very epitome of the spirit of enlightenment.80
NOTES
Conversations with Isaiah Berlin (London: Peter Halban, Jahanbegloo, 1992), pp. 95-6. 2. Philip P. Wiener (ed.), Dictionary of the History of Ideas (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1968,1973), vol. 2, pp. 100-12. 3. In French, the expression "les lumi?res" refers to the authors of Enlightenment as to their doctrines' to Rivarol collective ideas as well character. Thanks a certain currency in the course of the French and others, the term achieved and in the second half of the nineteenth Revolution, century, partly by way of Taine's surveys of the origins of contemporary France, what in English around as the "the Age of was en the same time came to be described Enlightenment" as in "le On in French si?cle des lumi?res." the inauguration capsulated see on of The the expression John Lough, "Reflections English Enlightenment, in the British Journal for Eighteenth-Century and Lumi?res," Enlightenment Studies 8 (1985), pp. 1-15, and especially the James Schmidt, "Inventing British and the Anti-Jacobins, Enlightenment: Hegelians, Oxford English in 2003 in the Journal of theHistory of Ideas. The mod Dictionary," forthcoming ern imagery of the age of The Scottish Enlightenment owes much to James Mc Cosh's The Scottish Philosophy of 1875 and, above all, Henry Grey Graham's Scottish Men of Letters of 1901, but itwas first conceptualized within the eigh teenth century by Dugald Stewart. With respect to the expression The Enlight enment Project, I am unaware of any published instances before the appearance in 1981 of Alasdair Maclntyre's Virtue: A Moral Theory (London: After Study in (see chs. 5-6. pp. 49-75). 1. Ramin
Duckworth)
26
4. Norbert Hinske and Michael Albrecht (eds.), Was istAufkl?rug? Beitr?ge aus der Berlinischen Monatsschrift (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Ehrard Was ist Aufk?rung? Thesen und Definition Bahr, 1973), (Stuttgart: Reclam, (ed.), What is Enlightenment? 1974), and James Schmidt Eighteenth Questions Century Answers and Twentieth-Century (Berkeley and Los Angeles: see Friedrich of California For Press, 1996). University Gegen-Aufkl?rung, summer Nietzsche's of the and of 1877, in Fragmente spring Nachgelassene Werke: Kritische Walter de Nietzsche, (Berlin: 1967-), Gesamtausgabe Gruyter, sect. 4, vol. 2, p. 478, 22[17]: "Es giebt k?rzere und l?ngere Bogen in der Cul die H?he der Gegen Der H?he der Aufkl?rung turentwicklung. entspricht in und Wagner." Aufkl?rung Schopenhauer 5. William Barret, Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy (New York: 1958), p. 244. Doubleday, 6. Isaiah Berlin, The Age of Enlightenment, forming vol. IV of the The Great Ages of Western Philosophy Miflin, 1956), ch. 8, pp. 271-5. (Boston: Houghton 7. Isaiah Berlin, "The Philosophical Ideas of Giambattista Vico," in Art and Ideas e in Eighteenth-Century di Storia Letteratura, 1960), pp. Italy (Rome: Edizioni 156-233. in Earl R. Wasserman 8. Isaiah Berlin, "Herder and the Enlightenment," (ed.), Press, Aspects of the Eighteenth Century (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University in Encounter, 25 (no. 1, July 1965), pp. 29-48 and (no. 2, August 1965), reprinted 1965), pp. 42-51. 9. Isaiah Berlin, The Crooked Timber ofHumanity: Chapters in theHistory of Ideas, ed. 1990), pp. 91-174. (London: John Murray, Henry Hardy in and the Sources 10. Isaiah Berlin, "Hume of German Anti-Rationalism," (ed.), David Hume: Bicentennial Papers (Edinburgh: Edinburgh in Berlin's Against the Current: Essays in Press, 1977), reprinted University a bibliography an the History of Ideas, ed. and with by Henry Hardy, with see introduction Hausheer Press, (London: 1979); by Roger Hogarth especially pp. 181-5. re in his autobiography, 11. "It fell dead-born from the Press," remarked Hume a line from Pope's Epilogue to the Satires. capitulating 12. Isaiah Berlin, Karl Marx: His Life and Environment, first published by in London in 1939, of which four editions and over ten Thomas Butterworth translations had been published by 1978. Trust Comte Memorial 13. Isaiah Berlin, "Historical Inevitability," Auguste no. 1 (London: Oxford University Lecture Press, 1954), and The Hedgehog and and Nicolson, the Fox (London: Weidenfeld 1953). 14. Isaiah Berlin, "Two Concepts of Liberty" Press, 1958), (Oxford: Clarendon in ed. most Oxford Berlin, (Oxford: Liberty, Hardy recently published Press, 2002). University 15. Stephen Holmes, ofModern Liberalism (New Benjamin Constant and theMaking of Liberty," pp. Yale University Haven: Press, 1984), ch. 1, "The Anatomy to this volume. contribution 28-52, and Lionel Gossman's "Sauce for the Liberal Goose" 16. Ernest Gellner, (review of John Gray, Isaiah Berlin, London: Harper Collins, 1995), Prospect (November 1995), p. 61. in his Against the Current, pp. 142, 144, and 17. Isaiah Berlin, "Montesquieu," 157-8, and his "Two Concepts of Liberty," in Liberty, pp. 212-17. G. P. Morice
Isaiah Berlin's
Enlightenment
27
18. Berlin's pluralism was, tomy mind, inspired ultimately by his reading of both its connections with later philosophical Herder and John Stuart Mill, although doctrines have still to be traced. I am unconvinced Ignatieff's by Michael in this regard (see his Isaiah Berlin: A Life, [London: Chatto & Windus, allusion 1998], p. 336, n. 4) to James Fitzjames Stephen's Liberty, Equality, Fraternity of I with in Berlin's own and that ideas associated 1873, suspect pluralism would as were lifetime have come to his notice more by way of such distinctions made by W. D. Ross in 1930 in his account of The Right and the Good. Kingsley in his biography of Harold Laski (London: Victor Gollancz, Martin, 1953) in London in describes what he terms "the pluralist movement" prevalent the 1920s (see pp. 71-2 scant connection have and syndicalist and 74), whose decentralist principles In the final chapter with Berlin's of pluralism. and liberalism Isaiah Berlin, Gray argues (see pp. 141-56) that value-pluralism are inconsistent to derive one from Berlin's endeavors ideals, notwithstanding the other. But in his Conversations with Jahanbegloo (see p. 44) Berlin himself as incompatible, even to each describes these principles though he subscribes
of them. 19. Isaiah Berlin, Vico and Herder: Two Studies in theHistory of Ideas (London: The Vico, Press, 1976), and Berlin, Three Critics of the Enlightenment: Hogarth Hamann, Herder, ed. H. Hardy (London: Pimlico, 2000). 20. Berlin, Three Critics of the Enlightenment, pp. 8-12,13-16,30-40, 111, 131-2,143, and 169. 21. Berlin, Three Critics of the Enlightenment, pp. 57-62 and 212-13. and 360. 22. Berlin, Three Critics of the Enlightenment, pp. 14,34-9,131,212,233,318, 23. Berlin, Three Critics of the Enlightenment, 55-6, 64-7, 108, 10, 73-8, 192-6, pp. and 314-15. 24. Berlin, Three Critics of the Enlightenment, pp. 15-16,168-172,176-7,179-80,189, 25. 208-9, 224-5, and 231-9. Isaiah Berlin, The Magus of the North: J. G. Hamann and the Origins ofModern Irrationalism, ed. H. Hardy (London: John Murray, 1993), and Three Critics of in his preface 328-9. 283-4 and As the Enlightenment, pp. Hardy explains a text this has been for readers (p. 246), salvaged partly by way of machine and the expertise of staff at the Science Museum relic found in the National of National Sound Archive, which the reconstitution together made possible a defunct for "Dictabelt" passages recordings?now technology?embracing or typescript survived. which no original manuscript in the Fine the A. W. Mellon 26. Isaiah Berlin, The Roots of Romanticism, Lectures Arts, 1965, ed. Henry Hardy (London: Chatto and Windus, 1999). in review, Political Theory, 5.1 (February 1977), pp. 124-7, and 27. White, books and Theory, XVI.l (1977), pp. 45-51. While essays, History in a critical Berlin's William scholarship, largely welcoming Dray, however, IX.l (March 1979), pp. 179-82, doubts notice, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, to establish Vico's and Herder's Berlin had managed whether for significance readers today. Among commentaries rather of a predominantly descriptive than evaluative character, see, for instance, John Michael Krois, book reviews, Philosophy and Rhetoric, 10.4 (Fall 1977), pp. 276-80, and James C. Morrison, as well of Ferdinand assessments "Three Interpretations of Vico," including Fellmann's Das Vico-Axiom and Leon Pompa's Vico, offering interpretations Gardiner, review
28
strikingly different both from Berlin's and each other's, Journal of theHistory of Ideas XXXIX.3 (1978), pp. 511-18. 28. Scouten, book reviews, Comparative Literature Studies, XV.3 (1978), pp. 336-40 (especially p. 338). 29. Hans Aarsleff, "Vico and Berlin," collectively reviewing Russian Thinkers, Con and the and Personal Impressions, as well as Current, cepts Categories, Against Vico and Herder, in the London Review of Books, 5-18 November 1981, pp. 6-7, letter in retort to Berlin's response of 3-16 June succeeded by his published and regard his command of 1982, pp. 4-5.1 greatly value Aarsleff's friendship as seventeenthand eighteenth-century and linguistics philosophy virtually in the world of historical unrivaled scholarship today. But, tomy mind, his oc casional rebuke of linguists and philosophers whose purportedly inflated self esteem and standing he takes to be unmerited distracts from the strength of his arguments. Other critics, none more than Christopher in an egre Hitchens review of Ignatieff's to have not hesitated ill-tempered giously biography, accuse Berlin of appeasement, or charlatanry. "Here is the rich inactivism, man's remarks Hitchens John Rawls," (in the London Review of Books, ... 26 November for irony "conditioned 1998, p. 11), his aptitude by his long of masters." service to a multitude 30. Isaiah Berlin, "Professor Scouten on Herder and Vico," Comparative Literature to the Studies, XVI.2 (June 1979), pp. 141-5; and "Isaiah Berlin responds criticisms of his work" and "Isaiah Berlin writes," London Review of foregoing 1981, pp. 7-8, and 3-16 June 1982, p. 5. Books, 5-18 November vol. LXXXVII, no. 346 (April 1978), pp. 31. W. H. Walsh, book reviews, Mind, 284-6 (especially p. 286). "On the Pioneer Trail," The New York Review of Books, 11 32. Arnaldo Momigliano, November 1976, pp. 33-8 (especially pp. 34 and 38). 33. Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History of Chicago Press, (Chicago: University or Return? The 1953), introduction, pp. 2-6, and "Progress Contemporary Crisis inWestern inModern from 1952, first published Civilization," dating in Strauss, and Judaism (1981), pp. 17-45, and reprinted Jewish Philosophy the Crisis ofModernity, ed. Kenneth Hart Green of (Albany: State University see New York Press, 1997), pp. 87-136. On Berlin's assessment of Strauss, Conversations with Isaiah Berlin, pp. 31-2. Jahanbegloo, 34. British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 3 (1980), pp. 89-106, and Berlin, The Crooked Timber of Humanity: Chapters in theHistory of Ideas (London: John 70-90. in L. Pompa and W. Berlin's revisions first appeared 1990), pp. Murray, H. Dray (eds.), Substance and Form inHistory: A Collection of Essays in Philoso
phy ofHistory (Edinburgh, 1981).

The Crooked Timber ofHumanity, pp. 76-8. The Crooked Timber ofHumanity, p. 85. in Liberty, p. 212. "Two Concepts of Liberty," 38. The "Ionian fallacy," as he termed it, was first discussed by Berlin in 1950 in his essay on "Logical Translation" in the Proceedings of the published some on It in is Aristotelian treated detail Claude 50-58 pp. Society. by Galipeau of his Isaiah Berlin's Liberalism (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994). 39. John Gray, Wake: Politics and Culture at the Close of the Enlightenment's and Modern New York: review, 1995), and my Age (London Routledge, 35. Berlin, 36. Berlin, 37. Berlin,
Isaiah Berlin's
Enlightenment
29
to Rest," Government and Opposition, 32 (1997), "Laying the Enlightenment 140-5. pp. 40. Berlin, The Roots of Romanticism, pp. 21-2. Variants of the same argument appear in "The Decline of Utopian in The Crooked Timber ofHuman Ideas in theWest," in in "Hume and the of German Anti-Rationalism" and Sources ity, pp. 24-5, Against the Current, pp. 162^4. 41. Berlin, The Age of Enlightenment, introduction, pp. 28-9. 42. Jahanbegloo, Conversations with Isaiah Berlin, pp. 70-1. The Origins 43. Jacob L. Talmon, of Totalitarian Democracy vii. 1952), preface, p. Warburg, 44. Berlin, The Roots of Romanticism, p. 32. 45. Richard
(London:
Seeker
&
and the Mirror Princeton (Princeton: of Nature Rorty, Philosophy Press, 1980). University 46. Carl H. Becker, The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century (New Philosophers Haven: Yale University Press, 1932), pp. 29-31. 47. On this theme, see especially my "The Enlightenment, the nation-state and in Norman the primal patricide of modernity," Geras and Robert Wokler and Modernity Press, 2000), (London: Macmillan (eds.), The Enlightenment pp. 161-2. own "Multicultural 48. I have drawn the last three paragraphs largely from my in the Enlightenment," in Ole Peter Grell and ism and Ethnic Cleansing Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge Roy Porter (eds.), Toleration in Enlightenment Press, 2000), pp. 81-2. University of France: A Study 49. See my "La Querelle des Bouffons and the Italian Liberation Studies in the of Revolutionary Eighteenth Century, 6, special issue of Foreplay," 11 94-116. (1987), pp. Eighteenth-Century Life, Pr?ss's edition of Herder's Ideen zur Philosophie 50. I have inmind here Wolfgang der Geschichte derMenschheit (M?nchen: Hanser, 2002). 51. Berlin, Three Critics of the Enlightenment, pp. 281 and 328. 52. On this point, if I read him correctly, I largely subscribe to Aarsleff's interpre and philosophy, tation of a central tradition of Enlightenment linguistics and S?ssmilch, which he inspired by Leibniz and embracing Locke, Condillac, as other takes to have been misconstrued commentators, sometimes, by with regard not only to Berlin but also Noam Chomsky, because he regards on the course of them as skewed by nineteenth-century perspectives intellectual history. European I have borrowed this remark from Mark Lilla. a In 1992 Jacques Derrida was awarded doctorate highly contested honorary an vote of from Cambridge, forced by way unprecedented mainly by the in votes with favor 336 his triumphing against 204. university's philosophers, See especially the sixth chapter of Gray's Isaiah Berlin, pp. 141-68. Martin Heidegger, Sein und Zeit, seventh edition (T?bingen: Max Niemayer
53. 54.
55. 56.
1953), p. 348, and Ernst Cassirer, The Myth of the State (New Haven: Verlag, Yale University Press, 1946), p. 293. 57. Ignatieff, Isaiah Berlin: A Life, ch. 11, pp. 148-69. IV: Alexander 58. Isaiah Berlin, "A Remarkable Decade. Herzen" (first published in Encounter in the mid-1950s), in Russian Thinkers, ed. Henry Hardy and Aileen an introduction Press, 1978), p. 189. by Kelly (London: Hogarth Kelly, with
30 59.
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment Isaiah
and the Fox (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Berlin, The Hedgehog 79. 46 and 1953), pp. of L. B. Namier in his 60. See especially and J. L. Austin Berlin's commemorations Personal Impressions, ed. Henry Hardy, with an introduction Annan Noel by Press, 1980), pp. 63-82 and 101-15. (London: Hogarth 61. As recounted by Simon Schama at ameeting Berlin's life and commemorating work held in New York's Harvard Club in 1998. in The Power of Ideas, ed. 62. Isaiah Berlin, "Jewish Slavery and Emancipation," Henry (London: Chatto & Windus, Hardy Berlin: A Life, p. 234. Isaiah Ignatieff, 2000), pp. 169-70.
63. 64.
of Israel" (first published Isaiah Berlin, "The Origins by the Anglo-Israel in 1953), and "Jewish Slavery and Emancipation," in The Power of Association Ideas, pp. 150 and 164. at the Commemoration in the Sheldonian "Address delivered 65. Avishai Margalit, on 21st March "The Crooked Timber of Theatre, Oxford 1998," and Margalit, in Ronald Dworkin, Mark Lilla, and Robert B. Silvers (eds.), The Nationalism," Legacy of Isaiah Berlin (New York: New York Review of Books, 2001), pp. 151-2. in the Enlightenment" 66. See my "Multiculturalism and Ethnic Cleansing in Toleration in Enlightenment Europe, pp. 69-85. on Lettres philosophiques. 67. See the sixth of Voltaire's This text, incidentally, account of its description of Presbyterians who only preach through their nose the majority, might when be they constitute they return to Scotland where to Virtue. said to form the Enlightenment's Alasdair reply Maclntyre's After in Against the Current, Isaiah Berlin, "The Life and Opinions of Moses Hess," the 296-7 and and Critics 309. Three 237-40, pp. pp. of Enlightenment, in Against the Current, pp. 245 and 249. 69. Isaiah Berlin "Moses Hess," and 70. On the circumstances the composition of Cassirer's work surrounding see especially my "Ernst Cassirer's its defense of the German Enlightenment, An Exchange with Bruce Mazlish," in Studies in Eighteenth Enlightenment: and Kent "'A Bright Clear 29 335-48, Culture, (2000), pp. Century Wright, in K. M. Baker and P. The Philosophy of the Enlightenment," Mirror': Cassirer's A Postmodern Question H. Reill (eds.), What's Left of Enlightenment? (Stanford: the English Stanford University Press, 2001), pp. 71-101. Berlin reviewed in 1951, in first published translation of Cassirer's Philosophie der Aufkl?rung, 68. the English Historical Review, 68 (1953), pp. 617-19. 71. Peter Gay, Weimar Culture: The Outsider as Insider (Westport, wood Publishers, 1968), p. xiv. 72. Berlin, The Power of Ideas, p. 165. Conversations with Isaiah Berlin, p. 21. 73. Jahanbegloo, of the National 74. Perry Anderson, Culture," New "Components 3-57. 1968), pp. (July-August of the National 75. Anderson, Culture," p. 3. "Components Conn.: Green
Left Review,
50
of the National 76. Anderson, Culture," pp. 7-8 and 15-19. "Components in 1940," "President Franklin Delano "Winston 77. Isaiah Berlin, Churchill in Personal "Chaim and Berlin, Weizmann," Roosevelt," Impressions (London 1981), pp. 16, 31, 52-3 and 62. a member of the Arajs Kommando Unit responsible 78. Konrad Kalejs, allegedly of Latvian Jews during the Second World War, for the murder of thousands
Isaiah Berlin's returned to Australia
Enlightenment
31
Leicestershire.
He died
79. Quentin Skinner, Press, 1998), pp. 113-16. in January 2000 for the Oxford 80. These remarks, Political initially prepared on and Aviv the Tel "Isaiah Berlin's Conference symposium Thought were which is from this collection also de drawn, Counter-Enlightenment" as a public livered the following March lecture at the Central European in Budapest and subsequently for the political University theory seminar at In their original Harvard University directed by Harvey Mansfield. format, were in the second Jewish and virtually without annotation, published they in 2002.1 am grateful to Studies Yearbook of the Central European University and Joshua Cherniss, Henry Hardy, Roger Hausheer, Joseph Mali, Wolfgang Pr?ss for supplying me with several leads and references.
in January 2000 after a long stay in a retirement home in inMelbourne the following year. Liberalism Liberty before (Cambridge: Cambridge University
tnlightening Enlightenment
the
Roger
Hauskeer
in any doubt about where he stood vis-?-vis the and its legacy. Broadly speaking, he saw him Enlightenment eighteenth-century and continuators. self as one of its proponents "The intellectual power, honesty, love truth of the most gifted thinkers and disinterested the of courage lucidity, once to this day without of the eighteenth he "remain wrote, century," parallel. in the life of mankind."1 Their age is one of the best and most hopeful episodes Berlin could be as unspar friend or sincere family member, But, like any genuine to and towards those close whether him, contemporary intellectually ing morally or dead and gone, as he was profoundly well-informed about their innermost to believe that among character and habits. He seemed the most precious to to human available difficult but still more painfully gifts beings, painfully give to accept, is the truth about themselves. In any event, he placed the high difficult est possible And since both love and hate in their value upon self-knowledge. to abandon the very different ways sharpen human vision, he did not hesitate of and for and rose-tinted affection the remorseless spectacles intimacy telescopes instruments of night-time vision wielded and the deadly microscopes by the never had a for the enemy. Sapere audel Kant's slogan Enlightenment probably left the world more faithful practitioner. But one of the consequences of Berlin's almost Nietzschean daring and passion for hunting down and stating the truth quand-m?me, is that the Enlightenment also never had a friend and supporter with a pro fewer illusions about it or with it is precisely And of its potentially fatal weaknesses. this knowledge so to with the that rise much mis has given engagement Enlightenment His almost preternatural bent about Berlin and the Enlightenment. understanding for sliding into the skins and acquiring the eyes and hearts of its most savage and and then retailing their worlds in toto with consummate effective opponents, lit in and mental and moral conviction skill memorable short, erary sharp, vibrantly an erudite but un essays rather than interminable gray tomes, has misled many founder ruthless wary critic friendly to the Enlightenment enemies. subtle and insidious Likewise, into identifying Berlin as one of its most there have been, and are, enemies of
Isaiah Berlin never
33
34
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment seen who have a little this curious in him one of their
complex relationship. and quasi-sociological Before doing considerations so, some biographical no amuch in to be With the of and lesser Rousseau, doubt, exception might place. were on of French the leaders the great degree, perhaps, Diderot, Enlightenment secure cos in what the whole and rooted to took be the socially they firmly of their place and time. They were French, (i.e. French) civilization mopolitan Problems of identity, they were upper class if not aristocratic, they were universal. were to at all. The pattern of and arise much less if for status, them, position likely their allegiances tended therefore to be correspondingly simpler, more homoge neous and unified, and their vision of the world and of the human past, present, and serene, for all that many were in a future more harmonious engaged fierce and dangerous battle against the ancien r?gime. Nor had the world yet gone educational collective process of the French Revolution, through the harrowing the Russian Revolution, the great European Wars, and mass industrialization. By three major allegiances the tug and pull of Berlin's and identities was contrast, the most formative factors of his life and gave him an early among important rut. He felt himself, and in his life revealed existential jolt out of any comfortable to be, at one and the same time fully a Jew, a Russian, and an himself Englishman.2 in the heart and mind of a supremely Itwas perhaps this early collision intelligent his active interest in the cluster of central and sensitive man that first stimulated him all his life, and were in lead human problems that preoccupied instrumental some to him himself from of the ing positions. disengage principal Enlightenment too smooth, simplistic, To him such positions were palpably rational, universalis tic, and, for the most part, blandly optimistic. His own early life was profoundly storms of the twentieth century, and his by one of the two great political disrupted were dominated his middle of the war and his work as years experience early by a political to in attached the British and then in analyst Embassy Washington, Moscow. Also, though he rarely spoke of this, no account of his life can leave out in the Nazi Holocaust the persecution and loss of many close relatives and under Soviet tyranny. There is therefore an authentic quality to everything he says about in the writings the great issues of our time that is often lacking of academic as And is indeed social and he of he if, claimed, political practitioners thought. an seen as one is he should be older and who Enlightenment figure, essentially wiser than his eighteenth-century forebears. In addition to his in to these outward which were so propitious circumstances, there was his unique tensive study of the perennial human problems, intellectual his astounding temperament, capacity for what might perhaps be termed objec or what Keats called "negative tive empathy, qualities capability." He possessed of mind and heart of a type best exemplified by some of the great creative writers, and or Balzac. This creativity is evident not just in the all-embracing like Shakespeare sense of detail and nuance, but also or in of his inexhaustible his vision, sweep to enter into and recreate, to become, as it and above all in his uncanny ability some of the central figures he studied and wrote about. Itwas this capacity were, into the minds and tempera for self-transposition for a kind of higher mimicry, in times which made ments other and of him of radically differing types places, a man who a master set out to the modern condition: of navigator explore and
reason and universalism Enlightenment In I shall clarify what follows confr?res.
and highly
Enlightening map,
the Enlightenment contours
35 of the
objectively European mind I.
and exactly, the oceanic depths and continental onwards. from the Enlightenment
was influenced development by the dry, strongly early philosophical own account the of British His tradition. of the ahistorical, empiricism analytical and his friends, Ayer and Austin informal dialectical clashes between himself technical points and sharply astringent among others, involving minute logic, is in with marked contrast But his Oxford very revealing.3 colleagues, philosophical a boundless he had from the start displayed curiosity about the endless diversity and the arts, in politics and life. This interest in history, of human literature, in every conceivable social life, in gossip and intimate self-revelation, expression of human existence and behavior, grew with time. In contrast tomost of his philo of the major European he moved easily in the medium sophical contemporaries, and their literary and philosophical cultures. He was driven by an al languages most Faustian desire to taste at first hand the teeming variety of human existence. for its own sake, for the pursuit of truth This very Jewish passion for knowledge was in all its manifestations, the prime motive for his abandonment of pure came to in "I He announced that the the 1950s. conclusion gradually philosophy one could that I should prefer a field in which hope to know more at the end of one had begun; and so I left philosophy for the field of the one's life than when Berlin's interest tome."4 history of ideas, which had for many years been of absorbing on course in in of his Marx the book the 1930s, Berlin had writing Already the scientific, naturalistic, of the thinkers of encountered sociological approach in rationalist methods As an empiricist and a believer the French Enlightenment.5 to find something and superficially attractive himself, he was bound agreeable their approach. The sweeping away of theology and metaphysics, supersti were a major part of the and blind authority, critical tradition, general saw themselves as was in and his which he There friends activity being engaged. not unconvincing about the Comteian schema of the progress after all something first came mathematics, then physics and astronomy, fol of human knowledge: so on and lowed in turn by chemistry, up the biology, psychology, sociology, and organization; scale to the scientific study of ever higher levels of complexity to form the each successive upon its predecessor, stage requiring and building edifice. Why should there not be a science of seamless whole of the completed Indeed man, history, and society on a par with the Newtonian system in physics? had Comte's looked Condorcet, predecessor, explicitly eighteenth-century to study human there would be a naturalistic forward to the day when sociology as the life sciences it was and And indeed this bees beavers.6 study beings in that the had scientific rationalist Enlightenment formed programme principal the Revolution. Yet all of for tellectual French that the Revolution inspiration storm through Europe, the old order and swept like a cleansing transforming and human classes hitherto re whole of (and unleashing groups liberating beings areas it of collective did but its positive the achieve pressed psyche), anything a on of rational social based organization lasting, stable, goal liberty, equality, of the civilized world. Indeed, a great part of the work fraternity throughout as an attempt to find out where Comte and even of Marx can be understood the about tion,
36
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment of a still the next
went wrong and to discover methods French Revolution and principles more more success still scientific that would rational, kind, guarantee
time round.
But by the time Berlin came to write his book on Marx, itwas at least absolutely recent heir of the scientistic Enlightenment clear to him that the most tradition, built upon Marxist-Leninist the Bolshevik Revolution had namely principles, an even excesses iron which made the of the oppressive spawned dictatorship era Berlin was thus among French Revolutionary the very pale by comparison. few Western intellectuals who, from the very start, could see that there was some askew in principle?at the heart thing radically amiss?and generally something to the study of man, society, and human history.7 But what of this entire approach exactly was it?
IL to the problems that trouble him in an attentive always, Berlin finds answers was on Marx It of the relevant of while that he portions study history. working was contact with tradition of into the and whole nineteenth eighteenthbrought to lands, and itwas immediately century thought in German-speaking apparent him?as intellectual historians who are his true it had been to the great German a great part of the most in original and revolutionary thinking precursors8?that in reaction against the French Enlightenment those times and places developed after another of writers, thinkers, move spirit and its later progeny. One wave As ments, of thought, and schools had rebelled the entire rationalist, against as scientific outlook. To treat human beings naturalistically universalistic, nothing but objects of science was to offend against the most truth about them, important are free and creative, and was a furious to that they namely guaranteed provoke response from those so treated. Thus, itwas to the enemies of the Enlightenment? and systematically and the more the better violent, critical, sharp-sighted, now drawn, half in terror and half in admiration, was were?that Berlin but they an ultimate causes inner with into the of detachment, insight always seeking with whose of a general movement the foundering overall ambitions for greater reason and humanity, in total sympathy?even he was if he clarity and light, had himself begun to entertain the most serious doubts over some of its dogmatic, unexamined
about the nature of human beings.9 assumptions of the rational, the basic scientific, assumptions Among Enlightenment can nature to the both of and of is the belief that everything man, world, approach as inert material which can be and should be studied with objective detachment or brought causal laws. For under covering classified, described, exhaustively no is conceived of scientific investigation, the world the purposes of as possessing own outside the system of scientific laws that govern its be its life of independent the exhaustive schema into which it falls. Whether havior, or beyond classificatory or movements it is Newtonian the for of bodies accounting physical physics of Linnaean botany meticulously such methods plants, study explicitly describing the unaccountable, the unpredictable, the undescribable. rule out and exclude are In the case of physics, for ex They by their very nature fixed and deterministic. was can the science which for the there be par excellence, Enlightenment ample, no question of final causes or purposes, of inner lives things possessing absolutely
Enlightening and consciously course referring
the Enlightenment
37
ideals, but only of causal regularities. (Here I am of pursuing to classical physics of the kind that inspired eighteenth-century was he of anthropomorphism when doubt Aristotle No thinkers.) guilty in the universe, to literally everything final causes the attributed including in the new universe of the thinkers itself; but the nefarious general tendency in the Renaissance, had first emerged tradition?which which was most power in the sciences established and Newton, and which, by Galileo fully embodied come to and had the dominate French after, Enlightenment literally every through to eliminate field of human final causes not just thought and investigation?was but from the scheme from those areas where belong, they do not properly even corner from that the universe where of things altogether, of they originate at home, namely and are specifically the human realm. The austerity of this ap comes out very clearly when we try to adopt it in proach, not to say its absurdity, and culture. When it comes to dominate political prac the study of human history tice, tragedy is the inevitable result. More generally still, as Berlin saw it (and he returned to this again and again in new scientific world-picture, his writings), the categories of purged of purposive out all kinds, as well as the generalized view that of it, rested grew Enlightenment common to systematic Western upon three central presuppositions thought since in it, including hu the time of Plato. The first is that the cosmos and everything man a structure is objectively whole whose single harmonious beings, represents all and and the exists of observers; second, that with suf any given independently we can discover and determination the appropriate methods ficient intelligence for establishing what this structure is, and thereby gain answers and procedures to all our questions both of theory (concerning fact, the way things are in the we widest values how should live and act and sense) and of practice (concerning and larger groups); and finally, that once we have discovered both as individuals will structure and unvarying of things we about the ultimate in possession of a neat, seamless, coherent logically body of no proposition was contradicts another. It monolithic where these knowledge, and writing about. that Berlin spent so much of his life worrying presuppositions in his own voice; at other times he exposed At times he attacked them directly in ways that were necessarily historical and indirect, for ex their shortcomings these fixed truths find ourselves to sympathetic but unsparing the ideas critical examination ample, by subjecting In his Berlin of some of their most formidable has, as task, opponents. performing a in itwere, conducted which human the realm of gigantic campaign specifically
values?where freedom, choice, self-conscious purposive action, self-understand
are the defining core of things?is and self-interpretation deci ing, self-creation, alien rule of science and This liberated the methods. is the from generalizing sively reason he set such store by the existence of some types of radical, nondeterminis of Holbach tic freedom and inveighed determinism and against the hard-boiled successors. His penetrating and their modern Helv?tius "From and essay, Hope a one in this to blow Fear Set Free,"10 for example, represents respect resounding of the central orthodoxies from the ancient Stoics of point in the writings is Equally powerful a level, preoccupation running through the greater part of Western philosophy to the present day, an orthodoxy which reached its high some of the major Enlightenment thinkers. Berlin's defense of freedom at a collective and historical which informs his passionate and celebrated essay
38
It is an interesting any of the major question whether Inevitability." was without own more or less deterministic his thinkers Enlightenment theory of In Berlin attacks deterministic whether all theories of any event, history. history, and his idealistic heirs, or positivistic like those of Hegel like those metaphysical successors to the of Comte and his many contemporary present day, or those while elements nevertheless combine of both, which, being wholly materialist, an unalterable In all of these human history is seen as obeying such as Marxism. in pattern. Such views are partly inspired by the success of the natural sciences a of the of their respective category spheres, partly by misapplication deep-rooted as they are, but, like indi to which all things are not merely (according teleology and not least by the perennial vidual human beings, also pursue purposes), desire With and of human beings to abdicate personal great thoroughness responsibility. as all and Berlin these exposes positions acuity unempiri being utterly dogmatic that the history of the past decade or cal. And itmight be noted parenthetically more has scarcely belied his judgment. or whether theories of history however, dealing with deterministic Always, a as to much more free will with the question of individual such, Berlin points our lives are set of and much the that thesis arguments against deeper general or as functions in the processes either as isolated individuals of determined "Historical These arguments take us to the very core of his vision of man historical wholes. and of the essence of human nature, and furnish a major key to his peculiar ap to few human studies. modern thinkers Kant since have been proach Very human beings and their quite so intensely aware of the truth that to understand one must of and their world understand first themselves the central knowledge a it Kant constitutive that motivate them. After became categories commonplace we and our world are in that there is a framework of categories by which some sense bounded, and that these categories establish absolute limits of and for human and in terms of these life. We perceive, think, sense, feel, and act within we can become aware virtue and while of reflection categories, by philosophical of them, they cannot, as constitutive the foundations is, upon categories?that else rests, including scientific theories?be made the objects of everything are not many science fatal without There study by empirical circularity. own inner thinkers who are much preoccupied with peering into their intently are find it hard to sustain for any period of time. This and who those subjectivity, act of self-dwelling, reflexive this turning back of the inner eye upon itself, of was add Descartes) the systematic and which Kant (some would pioneer by far in two main directions. It can be pressed be extended the greatest master?can and deeper its basic into the realm of subjectivity itself, revealing deeper as Husserl, structures with increasing depth and refinement, Heidegger, Bergson, Sartre, and others have sought to do; or it can explore the emer Merleau-Ponty, realm of some of the deepest presuppositions about what gence in the historical as thinkers from Vico and Herder we are (and should be) as human beings, to In and others have done. event, Troeltsch, Meinecke, any Dilthey, Windelband, none of these thinkers, not even Kant in any straightforward sense, despite his as an thinker famous essay of that title, can easily be categorized Enlightenment or as too methods. For from En Enlightenment they depart adopting sharply as well as from monism naturalism and scientific lightenment epistemological value universalism for that. which
Enlightening Berlin's great has lain largely says, however obliquely of the first interest. As or Jacobi to Heidegger While
the Enlightenment
39
contri world, (and, in the English-speaking incomparable) in conceptual in the what he historical archeology sphere, and impressionistically, about the reflexive subject is also as any German Lebens- or Existenzphilosoph from intensely with far but less and Bollnow, portentousness metaphysi as humans a sense of that we all possess cal fog, Berlin indicates primordial a in to all which is further and ra prior reality, being, thought, reflection, being rest. and The tional analysis, which these science, upon pages including predictive in "Historical shines forth clearly?for Inevitabil where this conviction example, and the Fox," in "The ity," in the last two or three sections of "The Hedgehog and in various the most Sense of Reality," other places?are luminous among bution
Berlin ever wrote.11
sense of some form of primal subjective being or agency that This primitive a very strong theme in Berlin. It seems to be for him the ulti all else is precedes mate root both of our conviction in some absolutely that we are free beings sense our and also constitutive nondeterministic essential human nature at the of so our rests level. Indeed, basic is it, that entire moral vocabulary very deepest upon it, and basic terms like responsibility, praise, guilt, remorse, regret, desert, and others, stand or fall with it.We literally cannot think it away or else we will sense at the same time think away so much of our humanity, of our bedrock a it is to be to do so is an human being in the world, that the attempt of what or of a type not merely but impossibility impossibility?an logical psychological, sui generis and deeper than either. To seek to explain in causal or any other terms awareness is like trying to balance this not-further-analyzable the "categorial" on its summit. There is a base of the mountain almost peculiarly compelling, in those pages of "Historical existential where Sartrean, agony Inevitability" a world where in vain to envisage the Berlin struggles everything, including are to which is and He determined it, trying envisage through. thoughts through as he tries to state it. is living through the nightmare reasons There are then very compelling why human beings cannot be studied as science or the disci natural by natural just explainable objects exhaustively on it. In in particular, of "The Scientific Berlin modeled Concept plines History" inwhich history differs from offers a comprehensive survey of the principal ways science, and spells out in detail the reasons why a science of history on a par with, is a conceptual This essay, taken together say, Newtonian physics impossibility.12 with "Does Political Theory Still Exist?,"13 offers something like a program for For human beings the type of history of ideas which he advocates. interpret in terms of very general models and their associated themselves Some categories. of these are as old as humanity Others itself and so virtually universal. change, and sometimes time. The Western tradition of quite radically, through historical a succession As a model of such models. political thought, for example, has seen or models or are seen to do too little justice to the alter come to seem antiquated, are often overlap ing patterns of experience, they replaced by others. Such models or clash; but one thing is certain, and that is that no single model, no matter how can ever encompass and sophisticated, the whole of experience deep, penetrating, once and for all. Each is exclusive and at best casts light on a portion of human life for a period of time. But unlike scientific theories which have been superseded, such systems of concepts and categories remain of permanent interest and value.
40
For each opens its own special doors to human and it should self-understanding, be a central preoccupation and historians of both philosophers of ideas in each of any civilized human) to ask critical nor (and a part of the education generation in to mative of these models relation the of their own questions unique problems in Berlin his adult life not entire this spent day. activity and, engaged surprisingly, came up with some very remarkable and deeply results. transforming
III.
in the history of ideas revolves around what he sees all of Berlin's work Virtually as the greatest revolution in our concepts and categories since the Renaissance and in all fields of human the Reformation: the rebellion against monism thought and action. This does not of course entail a crude chronological universal break?first is to then universal For he careful allow that monism, very pluralism. suddenly there were skeptics and relativists from antiquity onwards, but they were largely and did not deflect the main rationalist current.14 The full statement of marginal and their immense practical anti-monist for later positions impact had to wait now even full and the of these for and thinkers, practice are implications theory as out with unforeseeable still working themselves Moreover, consequences. were two at the of millennia Berlin often notes, monist presuppositions which the core of the French Enlightenment our contemporary still (more or less) dominate and are perhaps side by side with, culture, though they now exist uneasily currents to, the powerful (and relativistic) increasingly succumbing pluralistic and German Romanticism.15 released by the Counter-Enlightenment A major part of Berlin's work in the history of ideas has been to identify some of the principal moments in this process. Among the thinkers who most unaware vast of what he was of the (albeit consequences powerfully exemplify to isMachiavelli.16 bedrock doing) the earliest shifts in our conceptual According was probably the very first to juxtapose starkly two coherent, Berlin, Machiavelli valid but mutually exclusive the systems of morality: objectively all-embracing, aim at the perfection Christian ethics of his time and ours which of the individual life and preach meekness, and renunciation of this life for the self-abnegation, and aim at the power and those of the Greek Rome which next; polis Republican in this and glory of the body politic and aspire to self-assertion and self-fulfillment life. The critical consideration is that no criteria exist for choosing between these two equally valid but totally incompatible systems. It is this, and not Machiavelli's to Berlin, has exercised the civilized world "Machiavellianism," which, according ever since. In the early modern world itmarks the first irreparable fracture in the structure of values binding on all mankind. belief in a single universal of Berlin's with the massive collective shift in mind-sets to of such inexhaustible fascination him.17 On Berlin's object of this isolated born before and him, strange, interpretation genius, long long af ter his time, traced unerringly all the chinks in the monist edifice into which the were movements two to of the hundred drive fatal years coming revolutionary an that human beings do not possess Vico was the first to state explicitly wedges. that they understand their own works and the world of his unalterable essence; in which in a way the tory which they cannot understand they themselves make, to be drawn between world of external nature; that there is therefore a distinction that makes It is this concern Vico an
Enlightening
the Enlightenment
41
we acquire which of things and actions from the inside the knowledge (as their creators and agents), and that which we acquire of them from the outside by and scientific inference; that a society or culture has a observation, experiment, are marked or "coloured," its all and that which pattern by products pervasive of and from cultures move identifiable phases growth development through to old age; that all human and activities, institutions childhood through maturity are never even the most and utilitarian, just that, but also vital severely practical in art or that therefore timeless principles and standards forms of self-expression; life are not available and that every human manifestation should be judged by the canons of its own time and place, of the specific phase reached by its own culture; or types of human that finally a new distinction among the varieties knowledge must be added to the two types traditionally (a priori-deductive distinguished a form of "inner" and a posteriori-empirical), namely knowledge by which we en ter into the mental of other ages and peoples by what Vico calls fantasia universe or acts of reconstructive of all this for Berlin's own The implications imagination. and cultural history will be very apparent: the works of of intellectual conception Vico are the womb from which between the sci sprang the cardinal distinction a distinction which has suffered a curious ences and the humanities, in the neglect it from and who has taken seri world. Berlin, (Apart Collingwood Anglo-Saxon of Einf?hlen and Verstehen later developed ously?) This is the seed of the doctrines him German Herder and after the historicists, great by Dilthey, Windelband, by Max Weber, and their many colleagues. No Troeltsch, Simmel, Scheler, Meinecke, modern thinker has thrown more and precise light upon the historical genesis status of that distinction than Berlin, with more than a hint that fail philosophical ure on a grand scale by our uncompromisingly to ap civilization technological one our it it of for what is constitutes the and of ills preciate major rapidly growing times. However that may be, the fatal consequence that follows from it for monism the natural sciences and humanistic is that if an unbridgeable gap exists between can never in if and the latter therefore studies, principle be reduced to the former, in the two-thousand-year-old then a breach has been made dogma that all knowl a must form interconnected whole. The Enlighten seamless, systematically edge ment and neo-positivist dream of a unified science of all there is is a creature that in the realms of philosophical belongs properly mythology. It is above all in the German-speaking world of the second half of the eighteenth to take a that Berlin sees the great antinomian revolt first beginning century incalculable theoretical and practical The real hold on life, with consequences. writers of the Sturm und Drang movement of the 1770s, for example, Lenz, Klinger, in their chaotic and turbid and the very young Goethe, Leisewitz, Gerstenberg, and plays (and lives) railed against all forms of social and political organization; were in every sphere of human life rejected rules as such, not because unjust, they or irrational, but because, as rules, or authoritarian, the general, they addressed is a fiction, and not the concrete, which which alone is true. But it was above all the great counter-rationalist Hamann who was the first to say all this very con abstraction of any kind filled him with blind rage. Scientific sciously.18 Systematic had for him at very best an instrumental and value; hypotheses generalizations was not could unassailable Such knowledge they knowledge. yield always concrete and specific, given to us only by the senses and by spontaneous imagi the world, not the nation, instinct, and insight. The lover and the poet understand
42 scientist.
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment Everything worth knowing
our is known by direct perception alone?by sense of Hamann's of immediate, not-further-analyzable reality. theory language, towhich which struck Berlin with especial force, and according language does not timeless reality but rather cre map the objectively given features of a pr?existent ates its own unique world in place and time (with the implication that there are as a as are there has worlds modern (and for that mat many languages), remarkably ring.19 vision more the impact of Hamann's than original forcibly Berlin who is absolute For for of central Herder uncovered Herder, importance.20 some of the major that have transformed the modern categories literally a to and made contribution human world, permanent thereby self-understanding. or the belief He is the true originator of three utterly novel ideas: populism, an to that men can realize themselves when identifiable fully only they belong or a common roots in with culture and custom, tradition, group language, common historical memories; or the notion that all men's works expressionism, or communication, "are above all voices forms of expression which speaking," a total vision of life; and finally pluralism, which renders convey logically in a universally incoherent ideal path to human the belief fulfillment valid, success men at all times and places. After by all sought with varying degrees of was ever to be quite the these two seminal thinkers, Vico and Herder, nothing
same again.
ter, postmodern) No one felt
IV. in the of the nineteenth century onwards, particularly and immensely bound itself the upon image powerful on this Berlin threw much in light European imagination. development such as "The Apotheosis and "The Counter of the Romantic Will"21 essays as well as in his Lectures, The posthumously published Mellon Enlightenment,"22 Roots of Romanticism?3 which contains his most sustained account of it. Successive waves to greater and greater lengths in their and thinkers went of German writers as such. In this they left rejection of the entire notion of objectivity figures like Vico not only to the realms of ethics far behind. This rejection pertained and Herder and aesthetics, but also to the very existence of the external world, real objective a great revolution A itself. radical of of the shift occurred, categories ity spirit, re creation where will usurps the function of intellect, and free, quasi-artistic From German the first quarter lands, a new this shift began in the sphere of literature, art, Though places scientific discovery. in private life, it soon overflowed and music, and in relations between people into and with social life The central results. catastrophic (ultimately) politics figure in this scenario for Berlin was Fichte. His voluntarist of the absolute ego philosophy an epoch. Poets, that creates literally everything artists, inaugurated philosophers, and divines were intoxicated by it. The heroic individual statesmen, imposing his The notion of the self as an the dominant model. own its values and goals and the mate principle freely generating came to which it and very diverse inform many operates, rial?nature?upon moral, artistic, and political movements. From the heroic and defiant figures of Schiller's early plays and poems and the we have ever tragic heroes of Kleist, to the works of Tieck, Arnim, and Hoffmann, will became active, creative on nature or society
Enlightening more
the Enlightenment
43
In Tieck especially, whose insistent attacks on the objective system builders. and with and novellas fast loose time, space, and causality, Berlin sees play plays In the works of Hoffmann, where the true originator of the Theatre of the Absurd. a in state and of where all things become totally fluid, suspended perfect virtuality we see no boundaries turn into and unmistak exist, anything may anything else, of full-blown German Expressionism. able premonitions early twentieth-century a man as and of Fichte's Again, image demiurge inspired Carlyle and Nietzsche of Fascism and National had a fateful impact on the ideologies Socialism. Even the Marxist doctrine of the dignity of labor, and the heroic, Romantic vision of man as a a creative being, united together with his fellows in vast collective assault upon nature with a view to molding it to human ends, owes something to this current scene. of ideas. Voluntarism, dominate the self-assertion This, surely, dynamism, is the birthplace of Fascism, pragmatism, existentialism, relativism, subjectivism, and many later currents of counter-rationalist, counter-Enlightenment thought. to the sta Here the will finally triumphs over the intellect, knowledge is demoted to our practical purposes, tus of hand-servant and the world is but the image cast and martyrdom, status the absolute all, heroism by our total life-projects. Above are of integrity, and the the values sincerity, unique authenticity, light within, lived. Ends are created, not discovered. lives are henceforth around which The truth or falsehood of an ideal is no longer thought to be important, or even to be a at all. question a subject to which Berlin de In particular, this is the birthplace of nationalism, a coherent doctrine, some of his most prescient it emerged voted essays.24 As in the pages of Herder: for him, and those for the first time in the modern world the archenemy was French universalism and materialism. Germans he influenced, on the one hand, a Berlin sees Herder's rejection of the thought as, comprehensive and that universal rational rules governing doctrine practice could be dis theory to the covered, and, on the other, a traumatic reaction on the part of the Germans towards them of the attitude condescending politically, culturally, scientifically, and militarily of wounded superior French. This natural response pride on the an a a more one backward vis-?-vis advanced is of part people early and typical case of an attitude which was to become in the nineteenth prevalent increasingly a worldwide our own in and has become time. Yet in the century, syndrome case of Herder to a continuous the sense of nationhood and of belonging culture and language is still benign and in some sense universal: he does not subscribe to that they can the idea of the unavoidability of conflict among nations and believes and productively side by side. The Enlightenment (and should) exist peacefully in his outlook is still strong. But it iswhen the free, creative Fichtean self element of the German with identified the inspired individual Romantics?initially on collective artist?takes forms (as tends to happen with a kind of inner logic in "Two Concepts which Berlin explores of Liberty"25), and becomes identified with a nation, race, or culture, or some other supra-personal that clashes entity, to the death occur. Each such separate "self" creates and pursues its own inde comers. In the absence pendent goals. These itwill seek to realize?and against all of universal rational of universal criteria of adjudication, moral standards or norms, the war of all against all ensues. This is aggressive national inevitably ism with a vengeance, it is but and from there to Fascism and National Socialism
a short step.
44 V.
this great mutation of ideas more fully than Berlin. No one traced No one grasped its principal twists and turns with greater skill and erudition. And no one, it has and hearts of some of itsmajor figures with to be admitted, entered into the minds about one of for example, When he writes, and understanding. greater empathy sound almost like an his words might of Fascism, de Maistre, the great harbingers and even affection for, say, the ardent apologia.26 And so evident is his admiration that the obscurantist life and work of the outrageously Hamann, archreactionary, that Berlin himself could (and do) easily fall into the error of supposing incautious of this essay, he to the irrationalist camp. But as we noted at the beginning belongs in had been all his life that he and in conversation and print, again, repeated again then is his a staunch supporter of the Enlightenment and what it stands for. What ideas and doctrines own relationship to this vast body of Counter-Enlightenment life unearthing the greater part of his intellectual after all, he spent much which, in genealogy?his exercise In a sense, his work was a gigantic and analyzing? it is his protestations of Enlightenment that is. For despite own, leanings, a on even that he his himself has of to cursory reading writings, anyone apparent tree and he at least a hybrid place on the great Romantic delineated, genealogical that his own is, at best, a highly modified position. Enlightenment can be the following At the risk of a good deal of oversimplification, perhaps are in which the Counter-Enlightenment's five main ways said. There arguments and especially Western of the rationalism, assumptions underlying against have radically descendants), (and its modern against the French Enlightenment that have dominated these assumptions force us to abandon, and might modified, for two hundred civilization Western years and more. In the first place, these thinkers, beginning especially with Vico and Herder, faith in a single system of old rationalist the two-thousand-year undermined men on norms at the full all times and places. But where all timeless binding and tended towards subjectivism and their progeny blown Romantics relativism, than could have faith even more the monist and thereby undermined radically to a the latter, each in his own way, subscribed been dreamt of by Vico or Herder, a vast of value of allowed for the flowering form of value pluralism which variety a common human horizon. These systems may conflict with and systems within exclude one another; values within any one system may prove uncombinable; that are at individual of the and the consciousness may be riven by values single and war with one another. Yet so long as these outlooks, attitudes, ways of life are a that they we can effort of such that great imagination, accept, perhaps only after in those times, places, and general circumstances?and were right for those people not offend do against our core sense of what it is to be human?then they provided It is this into the great family of possible moral universes. they must be admitted to albeit and it is this that Berlin has identified as objective value pluralism which, and evolved in a highly sophisticated form, he subscribes. from the above?the this follows In the second place?and insights of these thinkers and to so many Enlightenment thinkers blow to pieces that faith common there is one single, static, unitary those who later carried their flag that somewhere the in the past, which will embrace in the future or buried pattern, floating is thereby shown to be not so much The very notion of Utopia whole of mankind. to realize in purely practical it is difficult (or even impossible) something which
Enlightening
the Enlightenment
45
a sheer logical impossibility, the terms, as rather something literally inconceivable, nature of human values being what it is. in "Two Concepts has set the framework for all of Liberty," which Thirdly, come serve to the serious discussion of liberty over the past four decades (and may "On Liberty" has served that of the past one liberalism of the future much as Mill's a doctrine of and a half centuries), Berlin has used these insights to develop liberty roots in Constant, and highly original its is both profound obvious which (despite to all the standard liberal arguments In addition and Mill). for individual Herzen, one above all which confers he that there is consideration others urges liberty, as on what with he identifies claims great sharpness "negative" liberty. It unique to col is that in a world where values, by their intrinsic character, are guaranteed lide and clash and, in extreme cases, to fight it out to the death, rational solutions in these areas will remain impossible in principle. Hence to problems the rule so dear to the majority of experts and specialists of thinkers in the enlightened, mainstream tradition is an idle and dangerous Western dream. Tragic clashes and so far for their cure, from anomalies choices, waiting agonizing being pathological are a normal, human feature condition. That ineradicable of the being so, it follows that the maximum freedom the consequent from interference?and possible maximization and groups, always allowing of freedom of choice?for individuals for the claims of basic social order and some very basic values like justice, ismore and fulfillment and mitigate human frustration flourishing likely to promote and pain, than any of the more "rational," "enlightened," "scientific" alternatives.
Hence Berlin's eloquent too, his cautionary plea for "negative" liberty. Hence, on The he makes clear several occasions, words latter, against "positive" liberty. its is a profoundly and value with central almost but, genuine invariably monist can all too often and its collectivist motives, claims, its voluntarist implications, can be oppressive convert liberty into its opposite. The outcome tyranny where and every action is forced into its allotted slot in the frictionless every person of the twentieth totalitarian dictatorships this danger century made and Both Hitler and Stalin that they said, believed, very plain. probably really were their peoples. liberating in Berlin's view Herder, and after him the Romantic revolt generally, Fourthly, a permanent to amounts to what historical category, light probably brought to a nation. The and above all of belonging the notion of "belonging," namely, liberal internationalists since their time, have and most Marx, Enlightenment, as a deformation tended to regard the idea of nation and nationalism of the human and not as a natural and integral part of it. Following world and devel Herder, alone liberal among oping some of his most novel Berlin?virtually insights, serious and not unsympa thinkers of any stature in the twentieth century?paid whole. The to this exceedingly Herder?in complex human manifestation. flow the seminal ideas his of that from conception propounding "belonging," as the which he was the very first thinker to formulate explicitly, namely, deep in a continuous for membership cultural and historical need of human beings rooted in its own geographical what discovered community, territory?literally we are increasingly a as to and fundamental unalter being compelled recognize If the coherent thesis built up by Berlin out of Herder's ing human requirement. to belong scattered is then the need to, and acquire and express insights right, is a universal need one's identity in and through, a concrete historical community, thetic attention
46
as the need for food, drink, is just as deep and imperious which shelter, clothing, not in the and procreation: of it but fatal, prove may deprivation immediately a world run itwill wreak inevitable In havoc. of settled nations, long normality, in the ideal case coexist side by side and groups would, for Herder, communities, in a state of happy and creative self-absorption, and untroubled uninvaded, by in or with vidious But this comparisons culturally materially "superior" neighbors. now only very even and human has need of enemies recognized, deep, partially two main types: those that spring from the destructive and universalizing "reify of Western and Enlightenment science and technology standards of the community those arising from radical disruption by con in extreme alien the its from or, case, invasion, rule, quest, by expulsion to live as an alien minority ancestral territory and dispersal nations. other among factors that trigger those pathological These are the principal convulsions of ing" tendencies and generally; self-awareness that now scar the entire globe. This happened for perhaps the French domination the very first time, at any rate in the modern world, with in a climax during of Germany the Napoleonic for several centuries, ending Wars and the invasion of German territories. That led to some of the key insights nature and needs of human thinkers into the perennial developed by German to in the communities, light only way they can be, historically insights brought in terms of general categories and from within, traced and described that define as such, those emerging human beings and evolving most of features general lot which the history of ideas as practiced by Berlin exists to identify the human of something in our own and record. To give but one example that occurred national to the early German experience, the nationalist time and is remarkably analogous in Iran, provoked the fundamentalist revolution under introduction, by too-rapid into a medieval, outlooks and technology the Shah, of Western theocratic society, an eruption so that was wholly unpredicted by any of the conventional wrought and cial scientists, for all their elaborate empirical statistical soundings techniques; to surprise and yet it contains the student of the collective absolutely nothing Berlin so brilliantly describes. For good or evil, ancient learning process which are and cultural identities everywhere reawakening regional today. Berlin is one of the few thinkers who can equip us to analyze and understand them for what
they are.
to acquiring knowledge of human Finally, the roots of Berlin's own approach are in the of the No rebellion great beings firmly planted Counter-Enlightenment. one ismore aware of the variety of types of knowledge and understanding, and of to a single standard or pattern, nor of the immense harm that is their irreducibility to every aspect of human existence of a model that done by the blind application in one area of experience, Newtonian is successful for of as, example, physics Indeed, among the most important results of his in by the French Enlightenment. is the knowledge that the unthinking imposition upon human beings has been both the greatest stum sch?mas drawn from alien disciplines sources of and also one of the greatest self-understanding bling block to human of Adorno, Horkheimer, and human Habermas, suffering. Quite independently the Frankfurt School, but with vastly greater clarity and conceptual precision, the genuinely inhuman and oppressive Berlin has exposed of some implications and scientific very influential aspects of Enlightenment thought and of itsMarxist successors. and on this issue, in From first to last he was an impeccable empiricist, vestigations of abstract
Enlightening
the Enlightenment
47
true empiricist tradition, its thought and ac fashion, he subjects the Enlightenment reaction to most the ferocious the tion, devastating testing available, namely, more over two all human indi hundred and them the those years past by against to them. If the viduals and groups which have in one way or another been exposed this would be it. No better method exists for exposing historian had a laboratory, on human beings. constructions flaws in rationalistic zealously imposed unwilling nostrums break down Wherever these Enlightenment before the irretrievably to it must that Romantic Berlin is concede prepared onslaught, give ground. on a is all too clearly amiss with the proposed remedies. Moreover, Something a wants to to and constructive he virtue learn make of note, very necessity from
such
the mistakes,
key notions as
to enlighten
"man,"
the Enlightenment,
nature," "society,"
and
to revise
"culture,"
and
enrich
"human
"history,"
and so forth, in the light of its defeats. All these "understanding," "knowledge," terms acquire a deeper and richer resonance than they ever had in the eighteenth a our net in increase of what human beings are century. The result is knowledge can most cannot to be). In this sense, be made and be (and, perhaps importantly, in whatever then, his intention is continuous spirit with that of the Enlightenment, some of its more to make with radical breaks he may find it necessary rigidly clash between and Counter Enlightenment aware while of the and violence then, Berlin, savagery Enlightenment, poignantly a extreme manifestations to salvage its more have caused, seeks nevertheless it to of In the human is Vico the and Herder, great enlargement spirit. particular, and Schelling German Romantics, (and also no doubt to Schlegel, Schleiermacher, their heirs, Dilthey, Windelband, that we may Troeltsch, Rickert, and Meinecke), trace the origins of his own acute sense of those priceless forms of knowledge we have in the purely which human exclusively realm?empathy, insight, and the into the lives imaginative understanding, capacity to transpose ourselves of other human beings and to share in what of the they value most, regardless or action. These, surely, constitute much medium of expression sacred the most and valued part of our lives. Berlin refines and develops the notion of "Verstehen" in this sense, especially in his work on Vico, with and incomparable sharpness a to the full the he when clarity, utilizing scrupulous logical techniques acquired young man as one of the founders of Oxford philosophy. in tracing the earliest origins And by a curious paradox, of the Counter some of its most and in analyzing and describing radical conse Enlightenment, in their fullest form and in their relevance to our own day, he made quences in a sense both the genealogist and consummator himself of that elusive but in the human studies desiderated "Newtonian Revolution" long-awaited precisely (and their descendants by Kant and by the thinkers of the French Enlightenment down almost to the present). To present Berlin as some kind of not-yet-recognized in the field of the human studies would as uncritical Newton rightly be dismissed it is perhaps not too fanciful to see him as representing the cen which began in the late eighteenth of a series of developments, a chain of thinkers, in the German tury, passed through the hands of principally came to and in their fruition him. fullest Taken these world, speaking together, in various ways revolted and degrees the thinkers, who against Enlightenment as an object of science like any other, attained ambition of treating man exclusively adulation. Yet summation unempirical Out of assumptions. this "dialectical"
48
what Newton and others were able to do for by tortuous routes for the humanities the sciences of nature by more direct paths. By turning their backs upon what they in this re took to be the false start made by the official Enlightenment approach an in for the alternative the way spect, they helped pave approach which, figure of at in has last what succeeded makes the humanities the Berlin, perceiving clearly and prevents them in principle with the from ever being homogenous humanities in natural sciences. The rational study of man, viewed from the outside essentially terms as the Enlightenment would naturalistic have it, as a physical, biological, itmust be natural-historical, anatomical, neurophysiological object (all of which, as the Berlin of modern stressed, science), and among greatest triumphs applauds to some degree as a psychological, economic and sociological, anthropological, some secure for has rested foundations time. animal, too, upon relatively But here at last the study of that which makes humans most specifically human a same at time rational and the freed from the is also placed upon footing so and it bedeviled. which had been profound damaging misconceptions by long That is the study of man as a free, autonomous, unpre purposive, consciously and self-transforming creative, proper species, whose dictably self-interpreting once and for all nature is history and whose is revealed, not timelessly element most and evolving? from the outside, but in his basic, all-informing, developing transformed and clashing?concepts and categories, and sometimes violently as it were, are known, "from within." and can only be known, This has which the human sciences?now of extraneous the effect, surely, of rendering purified autonomous and theological-metaphysical?as elements both natural-physical as ever be made. Their intellectual and and as rationally they can self-transparent as great as that of the natural sciences, at to if is least revealed be spiritual dignity to not much greater. And the type of history of ideas which Berlin did so much one of the greatest masters, was opens perfect, and of which he by general consent so much inwhich to be done. iswaiting field of rational investigation up a whole is full of paradoxes. The history of ideas, as Berlin himself used often to observe, should eventually have been achieved by That a prime goal of the Enlightenment to conceive, and by intellectual have found it impossible paths itwould winding to comprehend, itwould is have found it impossible many of whom personalities one. a one of but major them?though near correct, then Berlin is a true patron If this interpretation is anywhere saint of the Enlightenment, but with this great difference that, unlike the founding more he alone and their has fathers passed through the crucible legitimate heirs, with the light and of the Counter-Enlightenment emerged transformed?shining one ever. more than of Enlightenment Indeed, go further, and might radiantly or so an one to declare him intellectual colossus: of the half-dozen feel tempted most most consistent and most penetrating, and most wide-ranging, deepest richly generous and humane standing Enlightenment, true status is only gradually to emerge thinkers since the social and political its within ranks?a seminal great figure whose squarely dawning.
Notes
1. Isaiah Berlin, Philosophers, Isaiah Berlin to The Age of Enlightenment: The Eighteenth Century Introduction comments and interpretive and introduction selected, with by Miffin, 1956), p. 29. (New York: Houghton
Enlightening 2. Isaiah
the Enlightenment
49
in My Life," Jewish Quarterly 27 [2-3] "The Three Strands Berlin, (Summer/Autumn 1979), pp. 5-7. 3. Isaiah Berlin, "J. L. Austin and the Early Beginnings of Oxford Philosophy," Personal Impressions, ed. Henry Hardy, with an introduction by Noel Annan Press, 1980), pp. 101-15. (London: Hogarth 4. Isaiah Berlin, Concepts and Categories: Philosophical Essays, ed. Henry Hardy, with an introduction by Bernard Williams (London: Hogarth Press, 1978), p. xii. 5. Isaiah Berlin, Karl Marx: His Life and Environment, 4th ed. (London: Oxford 27-33. Press, 1978), pp. University 6. Isaiah Berlin, "Historical in Four Essays on Liberty (London: Inevitability," Oxford University Press, 1969), pp. 42-43. 7. Ramin Jahanbegloo, Conversations with Isaiah Berlin. Recollections of an Historian with Russian 1992), pp. 8-13; and "Conversations of Ideas (London: Phoenix, an Russian and Aileen Writers," Thinkers, ed. Henry Hardy Kelly, with introduction Aileen 212. Press, 1978), p. by Kelly (London: Hogarth once after lunch with Berlin at his home 8. I remember in Headington House in early 1992 his saying, in a remarkable aside, after we had talked sometime a bit about I am and particularly Rickert, "Well, perhaps Dilthey, Windelband, a German in who thinker writes For all his Humean char very really English." in acteristics, "Nationalism," singled out among others by Stuart Hampshire, Isaiah Berlin: A Celebration, eds. Edna and Avishai Margalit The (London: than a grain of truth in his remark. My Press, 1991), there is more Hograth intellectual biography of Berlin will enlarge on this topic. forthcoming 9. See Jahanbegloo, Conversations with Isaiah Berlin, pp. 70-1. 10. Isaiah Berlin, "From Hope and Fear Set Free," in Concepts and Categories. 11. Isaiah Berlin, "Historical "The Hedgehog and pp. 69-73; Inevitability," the Fox," in Russian Thinkers, pp. 74-80; and "The Sense of Reality," in The Sense of Reality: Studies in Ideas and their History, ed. Henry Hardy, with an introduction Patrick Gardiner Chatto and Windus, (London: 1996), by 16-28. pp. 12. Isaiah Berlin, "History and Theory: The Concept of Scientific History," History in and Theory 1 (1960), pp. 1-31, repr. as "The Concept of Scientific History" and Concepts Categories. 13. Isaiah Berlin, "Does Political Theory Still Exist?" (1962), repr. in Concepts and
Categories.
14. Isaiah Berlin, "The Counter-Enlightenment," in Against the Current: Essays in a an the History ed. and with of Ideas, bibliography by Henry Hardy, with introduction Hausheer 2-3. Press, 1979), pp. (London: Hogarth by Roger in The Sense of Reality, pp. 191-3, 15. Isaiah Berlin, "The Romantic Revolution," and Jahanbegloo, Conversations with Isaiah Berlin, pp. 158-159. 16. Isaiah Berlin, "The Originality in Studies on Machiavelli, of Machiavelli," ed. Myron
Current.
P. Gilmore
(Florence:
Sansoni,
1972), pp.
149-206,
repr. in Against
the
Berlin, Vico and Herder: Two Studies in the History of Ideas (London: Press, 1976). Hogarth 18. Isaiah Berlin, The Magus of the North: J. G. Hamann and the Origins ofModern ed. Irrationalism, (London: John Murray, 1993). Henry Hardy to The Magus 19. See the appendix of theNorth, pp. 129-132. 20. Berlin, Vico and Herder, pp. 149-205.
17. Isaiah
50 21.
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment Isaiah Berlin,
in The Crooked Timber of the Romantic Will," "The Apotheosis in the ed. Ideas, (London: John Henry Hardy History of Chapters of Humanity: 1990). Murray, in Against the Current. 22. Isaiah Berlin, "The Counter-Enlightenment," in the Fine Lectures the A. W. Mellon 23. Isaiah Berlin, The Roots of Romanticism, ed. Pimlico, 1965, Arts, 2000). (London, Henry Hardy in in Against the Current; and "The Bent Twig," 24. Isaiah Berlin, "Nationalism," The Crooked Timber ofHumanity. of Liberty," pp. 149-54. 25. Berlin, "Two Concepts and the Origins 26. Isaiah Berlin, "Joseph de Maistre Timber ofHumanity.
of Fascism,"
in The Crooked
/ i
?erlin,
Vico, and
the
principles
of Humanity
Joseph Mali
a short on Peter Burke's Vico Late in his life, Isaiah Berlin wrote review-essay to the Past Masters contribution series of Oxford University Press.1 The essay, which was published under the title "The of Vico," was posthumously Reputation as a genius whose to justify Vico's reputation last attempt Berlin's "originality" was fully appreciated, if at all, only long after his time.2 As Berlin would have it, that Vico was not a "forerunner" Burke's contention of our times but rather "a scholar and thinker of his time" aligned him with those who typical Neapolitan failed to appreciate Vico's "originality."3 This apparent fallacy in Burke's positive assessment of Vico outweighed the "many merits" that Berlin otherwise found in more so all the his book, for Berlin, "originality"?the because, ability to think the singular quality that distinguished those thinkers "against the current"?was whom he deemed really important to the history of ideas, even if, as in the case of in it.What made Vico, along with Vico, they themselves were rather insignificant or Sorel, who were thinkers such as Hamann in their rather marginal likewise our most into the masters of modern cultural history was times, "original" past to the dominant their opposition in "monistic" For Western civilization. ideologies Berlin these comprised all those ethical and political doctrines that sought to re duce the moral and cultural plurality of human life to some ultimate unity or ver the "natural law" of canonists, ity, be it the "true religion" of the Judaeo-Christian the human scientists, or the "perfect society" of the Marxists. Yet much as he ad mired the "originality" of Vico and his fellow protagonists of the "Counter-En saw Berlin well that of their lightenment," rejection rationality and all other norms and forms of universality rendered them prone to all sorts of misapprehensions and accusations. Berlin recalls one typical reaction to his own evaluation of Vico as "the most the Italians have produced"4: original philosopher
I remember and Vico's hero well Gaetano how, one Salvemini "Vico," evening at dinner turned some at Harvard friend ago, my years me and in denounced interest upon my a charlatan. "was a fraud. Vico was Croce [at this
writings.
he declared,
point Salvemini took a deep breath and then puffed it outwards] blew him up like that, like that! Vico has been translated into English. English is an honest language. 51
52
Now

will everyone of Croce either.5 see through this pretender, nothing will be left of him, nor, I hope,
on this incident some forty years later,6 Berlin could safely conclude Reflecting to be fulfilled." Berlin should have that Salvemini's "was not destined augury was own efforts that Vico has to it that due his of course, added, largely acquired as one of the greatest in modern his great reputation intellectual "past masters" at least among scholars outside of history, Italy. The latest Vico-bibliography from 1884 to 1994"7 attests to the fact that the current celebra "Works in English tion of Vico began around 1960, the year in which Berlin published his first major on to the of Vico.8 According essay promoter Giorgio Tagliacozzo, indefatigable on our in "The remarkable the times, Berlin's essay Nico-Rezeption Philosophical Vico" was the main catalyst behind this latest and grandest Ideas of Giambattista and innovative "No other similarly comprehensive stage in "Vico's Resurrection": context and relating it to setting it in its philosophical thought, study of Vico's existed before Berlin's essay or would modern social disciplines, appear anywhere so auspiciously it When Berlin the decade this republished during inaugurated."9 revisions, as the first chapter in his book Vico and Herder in 1976, essay, with minor and social Vico had already become a cultural hero for scholars in the humanities come to praise him as the main discoverer of almost sciences, who have commonly too modern?disciplines.10 Berlin not only initiated all of our modern?all this modern artists had already theorists?for among modern process of recognition it beyond academic cir he also propagated rediscovered Vico through Joyce?but a on in the York Times Vico New 1970 he published cles: in November essay long Magazine, in the History of Human the lively title ("One of the Boldest Innovators a large public became that familiar with of which and ensured Thought") style Vico's name and main ideas.11 The thriving Vico industry of the last three decades, in the annual New Vico Studies, and the recent republica is duly monitored which own Vico and Herder, tion of Berlin's Berlin's somber conclusion defy in that book that Vico "is constantly and as constantly laid aside. He rediscovered and unread."12 Yet, the enthusiastic of Vico as a remains unreadable reception some even to thinker" led oddities and "modern as, absurdities, inevitably great on those occasions when Vico has been associated with modern for example, never have understood and who, all too often, have he would thinkers whom never bothered to understand him. And then, of course, there have always been those who hated Vico. the dinner at Harvard, the incident with Gaetano Salvemini during Recalling further comment, that this great Italian scholar and anti Berlin remarks, without Fascist fighter came to hate Vico so intensely because he regarded him a "political this association was still very vivid. reactionary." At the time of that conversation commemora For just several years earlier, inMarch 1944, during the bicentennial the leading intellectual of tion of the death of Giambattista Vico, Giovanni Gentile, a in which he hailed Vico as the true delivered Italian Fascism, speech public in And the fact that Vico's founder of the Fascist movement yet, legacy in Italy.13 was acclaimed both by political and like Gentile revolutionar reactionaries Italy or by both de Maistre in France; that it inspired and Michelet ies like Gramsci, like Sorel and Pareto? Marxists like Labriola and Lafargue as well as Revisionists is the case with other enigmatic thinkers indicates that the reception of Vico?as or Nietzsche?has often been largely determined like Machiavelli, Rousseau, by
Berlin,
Vico,
and
the Principles
of Humanity
53
men on this ambivalent In his comments interpretations. legacy Berlin ideological as a "forerunner of Fascism," but also, and tions that Vico had been represented
more resoundingly, as a "proto-Marxist," as a "Catholic apologist," "pragmatist,"
of which means, for Berlin, that Vico faced and as much else?all that attends the fate of rich and but inexact and profound danger that their admirers tend to read too much into them, and obscure thinkers, namely turn insensibly in the direction of their own thoughts."14 Berlin goes on to cite some famous examples of modern thinkers who fashioned their own Vico in this we turn acute in to and his and observation Berlin himself may way, apply of his own thought into Vico, consider whether Berlin had not "read too much" a thinker, a too modern of of Vico much champion thereby perhaps making that Berlin's own ethical and political creeds of liberalism or pluralism?creeds "existentialist," the "particular could not possibly have held. Some critical reviewers of Berlin's Vico and Herder were alert to this apparent in Berlin's as, in fact, was Berlin himself. interpretation, fallacy methodological as he tried to dissociate to perceive Much himself from the Crocean tendency of Hegelianism, and similar Vico as the "forerunner" Marxism, historicism, as an or to of all Berlin often referred Vico "isms," "originator" "anticipator" over to kinds of later modern theories. He was particularly Vico eager promote cen in all the German schools the nineteenth of major Geisteswissenschaft against Vico the very notion of tury: not only did he claim that Vico had actually discovered but that had he also Vico Geisteswissenschaft, implied thought up, in all but names, of the conceptual categories Schelling's Mythologie, Hegel's Ph?nomenologie, Marx's It seems that Berlin was as much Ideologie, or Weber's Wissenssoziologie. and ap which he repeatedly observation, by Michelet's in his that last "these illustrious Germans (even essay), provingly might have are in All that had all lived Vico. the of criticism remembered formerly giants they room to in with the little of the New contained, spare, already pandemonium and perhaps not quite rational, Science."15 Berlin may have had some personal, but his basic association motivations of Vico with for this counter-German motion, the German of tradition and, above all, his persistent attempt Geisteswissenschaft, in the to portray Vico as the real creator of the new hermeneutic methodology humanities and social sciences, summed up in the assertion that "Vico virtually invented the concept of understanding?of what and others call Dilthey impressed cited
'verstehen,' "16?makes clear what, in his view, was Vico's most important intel
as amused
lectual achievement. Whatever Vico himself may have meant by the term "new itmerely to "philology," he in fact consigned science" (scienza nuova)?and the old art which in humanistic entailed the formal of words traditionally interpretation classical works and which he sought to improve by the new sciences of etymology and mythology?Berlin task rightly saw that in order to achieve that professional new in Vico had forged a whole of human past or theory understanding beings and cultures their literatures, gestures, foreign pictures, through by probing than philologists had hitherto done, beyond words into images, beyond deeper in this famous theories into stories, back to what James Joyce must have meant in Finnegans Wake: "The Vico road goes round and round tomeet where evocation
terms begin."17
Along with interpretation,
discoverers of Vico, Berlin drew his Joyce and many other modern and much from this famous oration in the New Science: inspiration,
54
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment But in the night of thick darkness enveloping the earliest antiquity, so remote from ourselves, there shines the eternal and never failing light of a truth beyond all
question: that are the world therefore reflects their energies of civil to be on principles mind. Whoever have bent has society within found cannot the study men but of been made certainly the modifications marvel the world that by men, of our and own that human should since God its
this to
all
the philosophers of nature, which,
made
it,He alone knows; and that they should have neglected

or civil world, which, since had made it, men
the study of theworld

could come to know.18
of nations,
latter part of this passage has often been quoted and discussed by theorists come to regard it as one of the most of the human sciences, who have commonly to the formation of their methodology.19 contributions Following significant and other Idealists, they commonly celebrate Vico as the first Croce, Collingwood, to that and all other Positivists. and foremost opponent of Descartes According of liberation already in his early metaphysical version, Vico began his campaign notion and theological treatises with his epistemological that verum et factum convertuntur sunt, namely is possible that perfect knowledge only per causas, and of what he or she has made. hence attainable only by the creator's own knowledge of the oration. He readily found in Berlin largely concurs with this interpretation the first and best confirmation its resounding conclusion of his own humanistic as a spontaneous autonomous and of process of human largely conception history on Vico's creation through self-assertion. Yet, whereas most other commentators its first part (and in any case failed famous oration have either ignored or misread to follow its syllogistic which would have required them to draw construction, from his historical Berlin conclusion Vico's philosophical pays as assumptions) to the to its opening declaration, with its much attention references starting cryptic to in times claims have made his monumental which Vico discovery. mythic in the the decisive moment testified and as Berlin reiterates, For, as Vico himself to decipher creation of his new science of humanity was when Vico managed the which the ancient had their "human made characters" up mythmakers "poetic by is the master key of this Science, has cost the institutions": "This discovery, which research of almost all our literary life, because with our civilized natures persistent we cannot at all imagine and can understand [moderns] only by great toil the more nature first of these Elsewhere Vico elaborates men."20 clearly how poetic all the first mythological of these "poetic characters"?above Jove?had figure on their own makers: "In their monstrous forced themselves savagery and unbri to tame the former or bridle the latter but dled bestial freedom there was no means The the fear of whom is the only powerful the frightful thought of some divinity, means to duty a liberty gone wild."21 As Berlin would have it, this re of reducing Vico which construction of the mental (as configuration by cunningly put it) "man them (homo non intelligendo fit omnia)"22? all things by not understanding becomes In Vico's words: and reification."23 is the first theory of "alienation
In such fashion the first men of the gentile nations, children of the nascent mankind,
created things according to their own ideas. But this creation was infinitely different from that of God. For God, in his purest intelligence, knows things, and, by knowing
them, corporeal marvelous very which creates them; imagination. sublimity; a but they, And sublimity in their because wholly it with corporeal, they such and so great that it excessively the perturbed were did the creating, for which called "poets," they ignorance, quite by it was did robust did it virtue of a
who persons by imagining is Greek for "creators."24
Berlin, What renders
Vico,
and
the Principles
of Humanity
55
so great, then, and so is not Vico's achievement truly modern, new and the notion old the of the of theological philosophical application merely men had to the realization that themselves simple verum/factum history, namely it: their history, but rather the more acute realization of how they had made made too all faculties of their human, human, imagination (fantasia), mythopoeic by invention In that way, Berlin (memoria), and creative memory (ingenium). it this notion and "Vico transformed elaborates, gave [verum/factum] immensely greater
its dangerously character) by scope and depth (and increased speculative or in to it time the the of social consciousness of collective extending growth at its to and semi-conscious the dreams mankind, level, particularly pre-rational and myths and images earliest beginnings."25 that have dominated man's thoughts and feelings from his
the many that Berlin ascribed to Vico's New Science he "new sciences" Among all above the invention of "historical Vico, he argued, was prized anthropology."26 is captured in the axiom, "Doctrines the "begetter" of this methodology which must of which take their beginning from the matters they treat."27 Berlin rightly saw that with turn in the historical this assertion Vico initiated a genealogical as for he thereby challenged the main naturalistic sciences of the Enlightenment, in nature the of human of the the belief age, namely sumption fixity beyond any of history like Voltaire or Hume culture. While could contemporary philosophers that "if the present be compared with the remote still maintain, with Machiavelli, there are the same desires past, it is easily seen that in all cities and in all peoples as there saw and the same passions Vico that our great classical always were,"28 ancestors were very different from us:
From these first men, stupid, should have insensate, and horrible beasts, all the philosophers
and philologists
gentiles it. For ... And
should have begun

they
their investigations
with metaphysics, made
of the wisdom
which seeks
of the ancient
its proofs not
begun has should
in the external world but within

since this world that of nations modifications its principles
themodifications
been certainly have been
of themind
sought.29
of him who meditates

it is within these
by men,
to Berlin, by "modifications" Vico "appears to mean what we should According mean by the stages of the growth, or of the range or direction, of human thought, man which with into (as any imagination, will, feeling, su?icier?fantasia equipped "30 can 'enter.' This rendition of well as knowledge acquired by rational methods) them to the "metaphysical" and other mythopoeic confines modificazioni, which more creations of "the mind" and all but creations the (mente) ignores physical in the "external world," is congenial to Berlin, who tended to that men had made in humanistic and rather idealistic terms. His objec the study of history perceive tion to the very notion of "scientific history" was mediated by his reading of Vico, as well as it his about the writings of his seems, Vico, primarily, reading by the one who him to Vico?R. G. Collingwood, teacher?and introduced who re a certain of (and identification quired from the historian capacity for empathetic an other human of and others that could both self with) agents, introspection lead to a "re-enactment" of their peculiar and In actions.31 intentions, situations, to Vico's the mental of the uomini "modifications" any case, injunction regain primi such men and their worlds is by implied, for Berlin, "that the way to understand are to out enter their what the rules at, by learning minds, trying they by finding of expression?their and significance of their methods their songs, their myths,
56
their marriage and funeral rites. To dances, the form and idioms of their language, one needs to understand understand their history, what they lived by, which can be discovered to who have those the what their key only by language, art, and was New to ritual mean?a which Vico's Science intended Vico key provide."32 a new in instated that consists what Berlin calls thereby interpretive methodology
"reconstructive imagination."
critical readers of Berlin's essays on Vico, notably Leon Pompa and Perez to Vico this hermeneutical, took him to task for having and, in imputed Zagorin, notion of "empathetic" their view, quite mystical, historical interpretation.33 a new scientific and practiced of Vico, as they read him, preached methodology was on that historical modeled the Baconian interpretation utterly positivistic, of empirical Newtonian conception inquiry into reality that was bound, and could be found, by physical rather than metaphysical to laws. Insofar as Vico claimed or the laws of an "ideal eternal have discovered the "order of human institutions" Some in its rise, development, in time by every nation traversed de history maturity, as New to not of and fall" his Science be anti-mechanistic and cline, history appears as Berlin presents anti-deterministic it.34 his New Science on the new mathematical-physical Vico indeed modeled sci ences. He may have borrowed the title scienza nuova from Galileo's Dialoghi delle inasmuch as his aim was to discover Nuove Scienze. More the origins importantly, use to in some fundamental terms he the of human history or, "institutions," set up a New Science had used in the title of the first edition of his major work?to the Principles to work may have owed even more of Humanity?his concerning as as term in in this For the well the title Newton.35 "Principles" key original title, of the last edition, clearly alludes to Newton's Principia. Like most of his contem in order to get its literal Principia poraries, Vico did not need to read Newton's were some "occult qualities" not Newton "These wrote, meaning: principles," cannot be observed which and tested, like metaphysical entities, but are those of and forces?like the cohesion bodies, inertia, or gravity? properties physical the movements of all natural and form and govern things in the world, In be therefore called the Laws of the New Sci Nature."36 "general might rightly as to out Vico establish these from the ence, sought principles accordingly. Setting nature that "the of institutions is but their into sumption nothing coming being at to discover "in the de certain times and in certain guises," Vico then sought of the nations and in the innumerable plorable obscurity of the beginnings variety the "principles of their customs" of humanity," those primal capacities of namely, like Newton's human beings which, much of nature," have formed "principles and govern their social life and history.37 What are these "principles of humanity" and how does Vico claim to have found them? seem that Vico de to Pompa and like-minded itwould positivists, According a systematic to the similar veloped analytical methodology hypothetico-deductive sciences. Accordingly, the "principles" model laws" in the natural of "covering were to in be found the permanent realities that determined he invoked physical and biological human life and history, either inman (physiological compulsions) even or outside him (geographical Berlin rejected this interpretation, conditions). new natural though he, too, noted the affinity between Vico's New Science and the the positivists, Berlin maintained that even if Vico sciences.38 Against however, had initially molded his work on Newton's scientific methodology, he eventually which
Berlin, inverted its premises: "certain" only more
Vico,
and
the Principles
of Humanity
57
he came to realize that his new science of humanity was not it relied on a more than the science of nature?because it pro intimate knowledge of its object?but that itwas also more "true" because one cessed a better kind of knowledge, that the made who namely possessed by In Berlin's words: the object of knowledge. "In history we are the actors; in the natural sciences mere This is the doctrine, above others, on which spectators. must rest. For upon it rests the crucial distinction be over and The battle this distinction Geisteswissenschaft Naturwissenschaft. has continued until well unabated into our own day."39 And in order to retrieve we must the actors' knowledge indeed "enter," as Berlin likes to paraphrase Vico, the "minds" of the historical actors whom we study, yet not by any mystical feats or speculative of intuitive "empathy" with identification "those quite wild and indeed "we cannot at all imagine," but rather by methodi savage" brutes, whom cal investigation of those mental which we "can comprehend if only expressions as or with modern do great effort," precisely psychologists anthropologists or when dreams As Berlin elaborates: they interpret myths.40 "Myths, according to Vico, are systematic ways of seeing, understanding, and reacting to the world, of intelligible fully perhaps only to their creators and users, the early generations same are at the also "for modern critics the richest of all men," but, time, they sources of of the physical and mental habits and the social ways of life knowledge Vico's tween claim
of their creators."41
to immortality
and quite uniquely on commentators among philosophical Consequently, Vico's New Science, Berlin paid due attention to Vico's own definition and actual execution of his New Science as a philological, and not only philosophical, investi on Vico's he wrote much affairs. Although gation of human "philosophical" of knowledge, Berlin rightly recognized that underlying his conception conception on human life and of verum/factum were some concrete "philological" observations is neatly worked out in his book Vico and Herder, which history. This dual vision contains two complementary and the philologi essays on both the philosophical of Vico's In cal-historical of the second aspects essay, "Vico's theory knowledge. its and of Berlin the studies of Sources," Theory Knowledge pursued important of legal scholarship John Pocock and Donald Kelley on the "historical revolution" was able to show how Vico could have derived many in early modern Europe and of his most insightful philosophical notions from this domain.42 In any case, Berlin move insists that "the truly revolutionary is the application of the verum/factum so as to make to the study of history," clear that even if it is true, as principle scholars from Croce to L?with have shown, that Vico could find some clues to that or in Thomas Aquinas, or (more probably) in Augustine in Hobbes, his principle was real achievement in terms how men in having shown practical and historical "earliest antiquity" had actually made their world by certain "modifications" in our world which still prevail of "modernity." For Vico indicates quite clearly that he had discovered the "truth" about the "civil world" is, (mondo civile)?that how men had made it and why, therefore, they (or other men) could come to know some archaic it?in "human creations" (cose umane) that have made up and still sustain this "civil world," and which, insofar as being thus "its principles," are to to our own veritable still "are be found within the modifications of us, they human mind." Vico, in other words, claims that in order to know what our world theirworld. And this really iswe must know how men in "earliest antiquity" made
58
to do because, and only insofar as, we share those same archaic mental is possible to know and to make which enabled ancient men this world. "modifications" These are none other than the myths which still persist in our minds and cultures in a variety of forms?in rites, linguistic metaphors, literary idioms, religious moral rules, political institutions, national traditions, and similar human creations. on these astute observations Berlin was thus able to realize that the Following of inquiry that Vico had inmind, and around which he constructed actual method own definition?"historical in fact?and his entire New Science, was by Vico's certain than he who that "history cannot be more Vico's assertion mythology." creates the things also narrates them"43 intimates what scholars in the humanities come to call "the narrative and social sciences have nowadays construction of means in to to it that order when historical reality"; applied history, explain events it is imperative to grasp the ultimate narratives in of the agents involved events?their myths: or the interpreta It follows that the first science to be learned should be mythology tion of fables; for, as we shall see, all the histories of the gentiles have their beginnings in fables, which were the first histories of the nations. By such a method the
beginnings of the sciences as well as of the nations are to be discovered, for they ...
in the public needs or utilities of the peoples had their beginnings as acute individuals applied their reflection to them.44 perfected
and were
later
or the interpretation of fables" was, then, the "first science" (la prima "Mythology, And New Science. he duly turned it into a new science by ground of Vico's scienza) norms and forms of life of the in in the actual the classical ing myths peoples in his view, utterly primitive ancient civilization, which were, and imaginative. of the various social sciences the emergence of the interpretive Long before nineteenth conceived inasmuch narrative had already anthropology, sociology?Vico century?psychology, of the mythopoeic construction of social reality, namely of the fact that as men have made up their history according to certain imaginative and ex not in which believe but the do live, patterns they merely actually even in must of human actions include?and history always perhaps planation take the form of?an of attempt to recover and interpret the subjective meanings these actions from the point of view of the agents performing them, even if, and are immemorial and largely impersonal. these meanings especially when, In brief, Berlin came to appraise Vico's discoverta of the creative mythopoeic as a "major achievement" in the history of historical studies, because imagination as well it was a virtual discovery of what we nowadays call "cultural history" to the "The door that he opened social sciences: other modern of the of cultural ceremonies, laws, myths, history by 'decoding' understanding the first "writer on social evolution," artistic images" rendered him, for Marx, or, Berlin celebrates this "the begetter of historical for Berlin, anthropology."45 in the most flamboyant achievement terms, and his appraisal warrants quoting at some length as it discloses the very the full force and range of his interpretation, a some would have critics argue, may gone beyond plausible qualities which, reconstruction of Vico's thoughts: logical, let alone historical, Vico
were
as of some
is the author of the idea that language, myths,

fashions in which social of our or economic so or refracted in the minds conflicts or ancestors; social taboos
antiquities,
directly
or as
reflect
realities
the various
theological
impassable
spiritual that what may are not what
problems appear
profound
mechanically-minded
Berlin,
thinkers psychological, "distorted" is the modern some author have taken economic, or primitive of the view them and ways that to
Vico,
and
the Principles
of material they may social facts be
of Humanity
processes, that too?but of
59
nationalism, social pressure, take
is most or joy
primarily, to them. He reacting a rite or or to of worship, from fetishism object symbol as an to of resistance expression interpreted correctly or admiration or in creation, for power, for unity craving and
be?by-products so on, although of recognizing
biological,
or security or victory over a rival group

which may diverse forms,
(what later theorists were

metaphysical,
to call ideologies)
mythological,
aesthetic?different
types of spectacles through which reality is apprehended and acted upon. He was the first to conceive the notion that in this fashion itwas possible to achieve a kind of
window cession or of into the the past?an men famous some fearful a formal not view?to reconstruct, pro simply clad in their stock attributes, the past, great deeds doing societies the style of entire which and fate, but struggled "inside" of and felt, deluded believed, themselves, created and wholly their put in a fashion faith which in magical may be
suffering
thought, devices strange
worshiped, and occult to us, and
rationalized, powers, yet not
unintelligible.46
in this passage, is the real "author This is vintage Berlin. But is it really Vico? Who, na tomodern from fetishism of the view that a rite or symbol or object of worship, as an expression of ... what later theorists ismost correctly interpreted tionalism, were to call ideologies"? to associate Vico so wholly with this tendency the against primarily and to imbue his original views, however tradition of Geisteswissenschaft to be for later generations, with so many modern seminal they may have proven wrote Peter that Burke his and meanings implications, study.47 As noted above, Berlin was very much aware of this apparent methodological fallacy in his inter in and of also the he of others whom Vico, interpretation pretation seemingly awareness was His deemed and seminal this thinkers. of original problematic in the history revision in the wake of the new methodological of heightened of the School and Dunn that became so-called ideas, Pocock, Skinner, Cambridge and reasserted dominant from the late 1960s onward, the primacy of contextual German in textual interpretations. to inflate the Whereas Berlin tended new of the of school deflated their actual rel ideas, potential thought significance to meant what their makers could have under the pre them evance, restricting rhetorical limitations, conditions, practical options, vailing political ideological institutions and all other historical of their times. In the introduction conventions, to this new historiographical to Vico and Herder Berlin responds policy indirectly considerations but very poignantly:
The ing, importance force and of accurate influence of historical ideas may knowledge be far greater to the of understanding than many unhistorical the mean thinkers,
It was
lands, have recognized, but it is not everything. If particularly in English-speaking the ideas and the basic terminology of Aristotle or the Stoics or Pascal or Newton or
Hume tion, into or Kant and, the did not possess a indeed, language transplantation, of very disparate for capacity independent not without, at times, cultures, long after life, some for change own worlds transla surviving of meaning, had passed
their
away, they would by now, at best, have found an honorable resting place beside the of Padua or Christian Wolff, major influences in their writings of the Aristotelians
day, in some museum of historical antiquities and Herder], or Weimar, ... The importance not vanished they were of past with philosophers the vanished
in the end resides in the fact that the issues which

again), societies and, as in this or case [of Vico have of Naples K?nigsberg
they raised are live issues still (or

conceived.48
in which
60 While much
for the historicity Berlin's general argument of ideas is clear, and has been to Berlin's own testimony, he it should be noted that, according discussed,49 of his peculiar ideas" of derived from Vico.50 The above conception "history in "live of ideas Berlin was more words make clear that as an historian interested issues" rather than in "ideas" about them. His professional transition from philo a to historical studies of "ideas" betrays intellectual transition sophical deeper to an historical of from a philosophical "ideas."51 conception in he rediscovered that crucial transition during Along with Vico, whom Berlin came to suspect, and eventually the the mid-1950s, idea and very reject, ideal of Descartes' "clara et distincta idea."52 His deep "sense of reality" taught norms in and absolutistic him that such rationalistic of truth are unrealistic the meanings and even of truths are usually social forms of life, where of words determined
to rather than by theoretical considerations, by practical according Vico had that "truth is rather than claimed sifted from logical categories. mythical in everything that has been preserved for us through long centuries by falsehood since they have been preserved for so long a time those vulgar traditions which, and by entire peoples, must have had a public ground of truth. The great frag to science because ments of antiquity, hitherto useless broken, they lay begrimed, and scattered, shed great light when cleaned, pieced together, and restored."53 informed Vico's new epistemological This perception of "common conception sense" is made choice, by its nature most uncertain, (senso comune): "Human sense of men with respect to human needs certain and determined by the common ... Common or utilities sense is judgment without shared by an entire reflection,
class, an entire people, an entire nation, or the entire human race."54 Vico con
trasted this practical knowledge of the certain," which he calls or scienza, and his main of the the theoretical true," coscienza, with "knowledge and rather emotional effort was to take the former traditional which knowledge
we derive from our own experience in common personal and communal affairs
or "consciousness
and turn it into a scienza nuova, literally his New Science of whole nations and civi Berlin thus concluded lizations. In his essay "Vico's Concept of Knowledge" that in this form of "knowing and imagination" founded on memory Vico overcame between the theoretical and the technical the classical distinction forms of that" and those which Gilbert Ryle redefined by the terms "knowing knowledge, social sciences of "knowing how," and thereby paved the way for the interpretive or own history much like Berlin's anthropology, sociology, which, psychology, are what Vico "certain" rather than "true" forms with called of ideas, concerned and ultimately of the practical, commonsensical, mythical for Berlin's political of social reality were important immensely of such atavistic for his rehabilitation and history of ideas, principally philosophy or "nationalism." as Berlin notions found Vico es "expressionism," "populism," are that all human associations of his basic because assumption pecially pertinent nat whose members "are communities," (to use amodern expression) "imagined to preserve the memories of the laws and institutions that urally impelled and other narrative bind them in their societies" by means of "fabulous histories" this was a very For all its apparent and festive commemorations.56 conservatism, construction realistic and pluralistic to the modern ducive theory of society, theory of liberalism con and as such proved much more than all the rationalistic and monistic of knowledge.55 Such notions
Berlin,
Vico,
and
the Principles
of Humanity
61
in the Enlightenment. "To a disciple theories of "perfect society" that proliferated the notion of even of Vico, the ideal of some of the thinkers of the Enlightenment, an attempt to weld to is necessarily the abstract possibility of perfect society, values attributes?characteristics, ideals, gifts, properties, gether incompatible to different patterns of thought, action, life, and therefore cannot be that belong to in one garment."57 Berlin's and sewn detached together deep antipathy and the "live the human condition for issues" of solutions simplistic explanations and to all kinds of abstract Utopian "visions of perfection," aligned him with Vico, man as he should be considers who likewise rejected such delusions: "Philosophy to live in the republic of and so can be of service to but very few, those who wish Plato and not to fall back into the dregs of Romulus."58 to explain how the primi Vico's new theory and history of society were designed were "in their of truth and of robust ignorance" uomini, who "incapable plainly some to to and unable deduce behave rational "law" reason" and thus according as Hobbes to create mondo civile by had assumed, nevertheless the managed own to law dint of their the natural capacities. Hence his objection mythopoeic theorists from Aristotle tual theorists of society to explain the evolution (or natural the gentes, to the contrac followers through his Stoic and Thomistic in his age, primarily Grotius and Hobbes: they all sought of human society by "the natural law of the philosophers [which] is that of reason," and not by "the natural law of political ideology
ideology an important
theologians) [which] is that of utility and force."59 Berlin disliked Vico's in that conservative of "utility and force," but he still detected innovative methodology:
A static model like the social contract omits sociological and psychological facts?the survival of the past into the present, the influence of tradition, of inherited habits
and shapes compounded and buried they assume; out of many memories, of it ignores interlaced, individual we roots speak of which or distorts the true view of of society and altering and collective strands conscious, as something semi-conscious of sentiments, a tribe, a nation, degree still
reactions of a lost,
of social life which patterns an historical the period, ination understand and
of as the character are all but
yet
family, to some
remain traceable in the opaque and tantalizing past. Only

knowledge its effects to trace in the present this process or assess
those who have the imag

it, can
to its origins, and so reconstruct its values and prospects.60
to themselves, thus leaving them to of ideas.62 Berlin turned and fully articulated only by later historians be elaborated to the history of ideas in order to liberate those thinkers who were in immersed like Vico, Hamann, counter-rationalists this predicament, above all passionate or Sorel, all of whom had, like Berlin himself, given up or gone Herder, de Maistre, in order to deal with and distinct the clear "ideas" of philosophy the beyond and darker "issues" of human life and deeper history. to Berlin, "issue" that these thinkers the single most important According was in human evoked that of plurality history. To Berlin's mind, all the commonly
of his New then, Vico's definition Ultimately ceeds by a severe analysis of human thoughts "a history of social life" and thus becomes redefine what he was aiming for in his own only of what men of ideas thought, but also in utterances which were not and expressed and all too often (as in the case of Vico) even
Science as an investigation that "pro or utilities about human necessities of human ideas"61 helped Berlin to of ideas"?the "history history not of what felt, they imagined, desired, to clear their contemporaries, always
62 other and
human of equity in society great issues?of identity, liberty, and dignity, on this basic of the polity?depend social condition of a plurality of norms was and and of aesthetical forms This also life. the ethical, political, single own most and political works.63 In important subject of Berlin's philosophical his various studies in the history of ideas he sought to trace the origin and trans and ultimately of this notion of "pluralism," formations concluded that, with the itmatured in of Machiavelli, sole exception the the century, with eighteenth only of Counter-Enlightenment that rejected the "monism" intellectual movement of were to its the Enlightenment. first Vico, Hamann, Berlin, According champions and Herder who dared the monistic and Aristotelian, Christian, challenge Cartesian of and countered the latest deterministic theories of truth, conceptions natural laws in all human actions and creations, be they in history or in poetry, with their novel observations and plurality.64 Leaving aside of cultural singularity in and historical this conception?classical the empirical inherent and problems biblical Renaissance in antiquity, argue for such cultural pluralism probably Vico with and scholars would Pico, surely predate Enlightenment au cite Swift's Gulliver's could simply scholars Travels, Diderot's Suppl?ment main problem iswhether voyage de Bougainville, or Lessing's Nathan der Weise?the was its distinct modern the very notion of "pluralism," with liberal connotations, scholars would
to any of the thinkers of the Counter-Enlightenment conceivable mentioned a our be considered above. While Herder might standards, "pluralist" by rightly of Vico as such seems odd. Vico was, after all, a supporter of the characterization a theoretician and monarchism, and guardian of "order" absolutist Catholicism in their and "authority," and a conservative scholar who sided with the "ancients" inNaples, traits which his fellow-citizen, the radical battle against the "moderns" social historian Pietro Giannone, all, he exposed already in Vico's lifetime. Above was the author of a New Science?a work that aspired to be a "rational civil theol the hegemony of the one and only ogy" of providential history and reasserted over all full other of The title this work?Princi of pictures holy scripture reality. are found the Prin a New the Nature Science the which Nations, ples of of concerning by Law in Another the Natural the that he believed ciples of System of of Gentes?implies some alternative yet equally universal "natural laws" that dictate the cyclical mo some critical commentators tions of man, society, and history. Again, have noted in Berlin's the apparent Arnaldo interpretation: ideological fallacy Momigliano confirmation and thus remarked that Berlin "must have found in Vico and Herder in cultural and for his for minorities," respect yet support pluralism life-long fight then wondered relativism" of which whether this "cultural pluralism" might not have entailed "moral a defender faith like Vico, at least, could not of the Catholic
possibly approve.65 In his reply to this criticism, Berlin carefully distinguishes "cultural between latter "moral relativism": the form of and epistemological skepticism, pluralism" to thinkers in the eighteenth he claims, was as yet inconceivable century, and in to thinkers like Vico (and Herder) who have been unacceptable any case would incommensu their various truths were cultures with did not think that different all but and but did, espouse rable; (in name) some kind of they certainly could, or is and that there "which denies one, only one, true morality merely pluralism, or theology, and allows equally objective alternative values or systems aesthetics as a "moral pluralist"? Berlin of value."66 Could Vico, then, be better defined
Berlin, seems
Vico,
and
the Principles
of Humanity
63
to Vico, we "are to support he argues that, according this option when a as to of life look values, upon affording plurality equally genuine, equally urged in a above all equally objective; therefore, of being ordered ultimate, incapable, or some one absolute standard."67 terms in of timeless hierarchy, judged of Vico has been strongly contested by Mark Lilla. In his This liberal assessment Lilla attacks Berlin's presentation G. B. Vico: The Making of an Anti-Modern, of Vico even as a moral pluralist, to that if Vico has contributed arguing inadvertently was an certain modern he tendencies old "anti-modern," pluralistic essentially in the guise of a new scientist, whose main aim was to reassert Catholic apologist and political the dogmatic theological ideology of order and authority, albeit by a Lilla shows, for example, that some of Berlin's most funda novel methodology.68 with first assertion that, for Vico, "the about the mental Vico, starting assumptions or even nature of man is not, as has long been supposed, static and unalterable so as even a or not it that does much contain central kernel essence, unaltered; re through change,"69 must be revised, and ultimately some to of Vico's doctrine basic truth versed, against propensity (vis veri) that has always impelled all human beings, pagans as well as Christians, to believe in God, however their routes and rites may have become. This variable assumes to divinity human aspiration the form of a common law, then, that has a certain unity and continuity to Universal and that guarantees History, imparted we can recognize its metaphysical motivation and destination. at least a "cultural pluralist"? This is certainly Should Vico, then, be considered to Berlin's definition con the case according of the term quoted above, and which a as some tinues follows: "There is finite variety of values and attitudes, of which which remains when identical checked one society, some another, have made their own, attitudes and values which mem or bers of other societies may admire condemn (in the light of their own value-sys can are if they and try hard enough, tems) but always, imaginative sufficiently contrive to understand?that is, see to be intelligible ends of life for human beings situated as these men were."70 This is a more plausible option, but it too is quite seem not to himself because Vico does of?let have conceived alone problematic, terms in his liberal of cultural New equivalency applied?those as Science. Vico, in other words, may have come to recognize "cultural pluralism" as we in itself. Even if inevitable but not valuable with Berlin, that acknowledge, in practical cultural explo Vico's pluralistic conception was tacit, better revealed rations than in any theoretical declarations, the prime example that Berlin cites, incom of some essential implicit recognition again and again, as proof of Vico's in cultural history?the and incommensurability of valuable options patibility so-called of the true Homer"?hardly sustains the argument that this "discovery of the Homeric and brutal (important as itwas poetry as primitive reinterpretation as for the historicist revision of the common anachronistic of Homer renditions a "sublime poet") intimates of multiculturalism.71 genuine pluralistic conception For all his acute perception of a certain "truth" in pagan mythology, and much as it as a "true narration" he hailed condition, (vera narratio) of the primal human its Vico ultimately however and efficient creations, poetic judged magnificent in to in of the the education uomini, be, themselves, primi they proved utterly "false" and "absurd," and in any case always insisted "barbarous," "primitive," on the priority and superiority of biblical history over against all the classical sto on "the essential our Christian ries. Vico's declarations between difference
64
are false"72 or on the ethical and is true, and all the others, which religion, which of Christian supremacy contemporary European political "perfect monarchies" over all other nations, do not reveal the kind of tolerance that one would expect from a "cultural pluralist;" indeed they reveal that Vico lagged far behind such as Locke or Voltaire. "monistic" thinkers of the Enlightenment is perhaps not altogether wrong to argue, Foucault On these premises, Michel on was claims all the Vico's that Vico behalf, very against Counter-Enlightenment insofar as he shared its basic temporal orienta much aman of the Enlightenment as a point of transition toward the dawn tion: "The present may also be analyzed a new world. in the last chapter of the scienza That is what Vico of describes ing ... sees 'a what is he nuova; complete humanity spread abroad through all 'today' a over for few monarchies rule world of peoples'; it is also 'Eu this nations, great ... radiant with it in that such humanity all the good things that abounds rope "73 at life.' make for the happiness Vico's more fundamental of human Moreover, a common to all the for assigning meanings "Mental Dictionary tempts to discover articulate them all to certain units of ideas in sub languages, reducing or to deduce the universal laws of genetic psychological and historical of all men and nations,75 development imply that he shared at least some of the of Enlightenment naturalistic thinkers, who believed, presumptions commonly in all na that "there is a great uniformity with Hume, among the actions of men, tions and ages, and that human nature remains still the same, in its principles and different stance,"74
operations."76
of Vico along these of Berlin's conception "pluralistic" some of his "modernistic" not of interpretations might modify only guidelines dichotomic the fundamental of Vico, but also the more conception "Enlighten in ment" and "Counter-Enlightenment" that Berlin had forged. As the virtual ventor of the term "Counter-Enlightenment"77 Berlin could rightly claim, in it to mean, fashion, that this word means Dumpty just what he wanted Humpty a a to the different yet equivalent reactionary opposition namely Enlightenment, to fanatical is apt when form of "counter-revolution." This definition applied or de Maistre. But if the "Counter-Enlightenment" is thinkers like Hamann more generally thinkers such as Vico, Herder, associated with Burke, and like minded who indeed countered the positivistic and antirationalists, ideology of the this is how Berlin the presents methodology Enlightenment?and actually we would in to his do better liken definitive essay?then Counter-Enlightenment or with what to the "Counter-Reformation" this wayward intellectual movement critical revision aim is not to de whose movements, culture?as but rather to offer Reformation, such, they oppose?the theories and practices for their realization. As Charles Taylor suggests, alternative we must come to see the "Counter-Enlightenment" as an immanent aspect of the a natural and to its reaction of rational itself, process "Enlightenment" integral as it opens and calls up more inasmuch archaic sources of maturation, which, to its reinvigoration is essential and permanent continuation.78 experience, or on the so-called forms of Enlightenment, Recent studies on the various national now have or, as John Pocock would it, on the "Religious Enlightenment," even to a were that viable author like also offer Gibbon, "Enlightenments" single a useful for a revision of Berlin's basis rather monolithic of the conception nowadays nounce what would call "counter-cultural" Enlightenment and the Counter-Enlightenment.79 we
Berlin,
Vico,
and
the Principles
of Humanity
65
not antithetical, is required, What of the then, is a dialectical, conception two movements, such as would show how both shared and pursued certain common to different ideas and ideals of human amelioration, yet did so according essential assumptions about human life and history. Whereas the thinkers of the assumed that all men were naturalistic and egotistic but ultimately Enlightenment an ever more reasonable to and thus rationalistic, concep edify society by sought tion and organization, Vico and his associates in the Counter-Enlightenment that all men were both "sociable" yet "weak and fallen,"80 more imagi native than cognitive, and thus sought to solidify the mythopoeic traditions by believed which where In order to see their communities. up and still sustain they have made Vico differs most the from in then, and where, radically Enlightenment, a "cultural in his to the establish fact, emerges quite clearly pluralism" attempt new science of man on the cultural creations of "the nations" rather than on the return to the passage natural reactions of "man," we must from Hume quoted
above. Would Hume's you reasoning know the continues sentiments, to the latter. as follows: and course of life of the Greeks and
inclinations,
Romans?
be mistaken made places, use is showing materials the with
Study well
in
the temper and actions of the French and English: You cannot
former most are of the observations the same, which in all Mankind so much you have times and ... Its chief nature, by us with with
transferring to the regard informs history to discover the in all varieties which
that only men
new or of in this strange nothing constant and universal principles of circumstances our and and observations behaviour.81 situations, and
particular of human and furnishing
from
regular
springs
we may form of human action
become
acquainted
Hume's
counts in the study of men are not transient and that what assertion different "cultural" creations but rather permanent "natural" reactions, was, on an "introduction" his own admission, of Newton's experimental methodology true to into human And his Newtonian convictions he rules out any reality.82 "hypothetical" qualities of human nature, that is, nonelemental, nonexperimental, and merely "accidental" manifestations of human actions and creations. As in
Principia, so too in Hume's "science of man" the critical and most cru
Newton's
cial motion is the reduction of all the phenomenal to eternal "princi appearances Hume identifies them and in certain as, with, ples." clearly "physical desires" even mere the that rule the slavish instinctual man, "reason," powerful "passions" to his mechanical set in motion the "springs of then, which, energies, reasoning, human action." A brief and final discussion of Vico's notion and demonstration of the "principles of humanity" will make clear how he really achieved his New Science against both the old and the new sciences of man. As we recall, Vico sought to discover the "principles of humanity" in those "hu man institutions" which have proven crucial for "the of the human preservation race."83 Here is his conclusion:
Now all men since this world and of nations always have has been made For let us by men, these institutions see in what will be institutions able to give
agree were
agreed. still
us the universal
all nations barbarous each gion, other all as well
and eternal principles

founded as and solemn and civilized, space, preserve though these keep all
(such as every science must have) on which

themselves. We observe that all nations, from reli founded remote because separately some customs: three human all have their dead. And in no nation,
in time contract
marriages,
bury
however
66

and crude, savage and more sacred the have from should human axiom that are any human than ideas, of actions the born with more performed of religion, marriage, unknown among peoples rites have been dictated elaborate and ceremonies burial. other, nations For, by must that
solemnity "uniform ground institutions
to each to all so be lest he
a common these three
truth,"
it must
not become again reason. And let him
began humanity a bestial wilderness who would transgress
them all, among ... These must them beware
that the
the world bounds of all
transgress
humanity.84
on has been?contested "principles" may be?and of Arnauld, Vico himself cites the counter-examples Bayle, empirical grounds. even better empirical readers could certainly produce and modern and Spinoza, For But such claims miss the essential refutations.85 argument. point of Vico's in his notion of the "principles is of humanity" is really novel and important what not the empirical, that any cross the hermeneutical, claim, namely his assertion assume at all, must to be possible and pursue certain cultural understanding, The validity of Vico's concrete
absolute norms, or?to use a modern phrase?"limiting notions" of morality,
the range within which various forms of life can be exercised and as human.86 Vico makes clear that he opted for these three "civil in be recognized or "natural customs" among all rather have stitutions" because are, become, they at which the certain customs become natural marks the peoples.87 The moment as well as the starting-point all human because of of sciences, humanity, beginning are of certain rule-governed the appearance routines, which manifestly morally in that way no longer creatures human who behave that the suggest principled, to their own rules. These obey their natural instincts but rather submit themselves customs can thus be followed by us, but this is feasible only insofar as we can re or "principled" to our own experience, behavior however late their rule-governed an alien in order to understand that may be. Thus, for example, different religious or knowledge. belief or rite we must have some kind of religious experience This, in which people live is a world of that since the world then, is Vico's contention: in to it themselves have order understand which cultural meaning created, they we must grasp this meaning for them and in ourselves. The fact that we can do so inwhich we the cultural plurality and usually do implies for Vico that underlying live there is a common basic and universal morality which we know because we which determine have made
There must
it:
in the nature of human institutions be a mental language to all notions,
which
presses aspects linguistic various
uniformly
itwith ... This
grasps the substance of things feasible in human

diverse mental be enabled living modifications as these same to our things Science, is proper language a mental to construct and dead.88
social life and ex

may have diverse by whose light common to all the
as many common will
scholars articulate
vocabulary
languages
as he accentuated, this conclusion. Much have agreed with Berlin, I think, would and incommensurability of valuable the essential and celebrated, incompatibility our if not uni insisted that "there in he multicultural are, predicament, options at any rate a minimum societies which without could scarcely versal values, this theory in three essays that he wrote he developed survive."89 Significantly, around 1960, that is, exactly at the time of his first major essay on Vico. His cardi and categories" that certain basic "concepts in these essays was nal assumption our knowledge human affairs to be must of for of human experience prevail
Berlin,
Vico,
and
the Principles
of Humanity
67
possible a priori lexicon,

actions.
at all.90What Berlin means by these "concepts and are not the categories" Kantian of time and space, but rather, much like in Vico's categories some common experiential notions that enable us tomake sense of human
He elaborates:
The basic
which we suffering, truth,
categories
define
(together with
notions as
their corresponding
concepts)
in terms of
change, effort, or hy of
men?such
happiness, productivity, illusion (to take them wholly so that to say of someone to him, would nothing not as a matter of verbal we think, and
sense of time and freedom, society, and and bad, choice, wrong, good right at random)?are not matters of induction that he be is a man, but that or
pothesis. To think of someone as a human being is ipso facto to bring all these notions
into truth, play: mean choice, with the notion we but cannot mean as in but eccentric: it would (which of clash is alterable fact) what
"man" by to the way trinsic to it, he remains
definition (as a matter case. But
at will), evidently it
"brute"
think ... Thus if I say of someone

human in either
that he is kind or cruel, loves truth or is indifferent

if I find a man to whom literally makes
no difference whether
antidote tribute to ennui to him or merely
he kicks a pebble or kills his family, since either would

I shall code not of be disposed, morality like from my consistent own or relativists, that of most
be an
to at men,
inactivity, a different
but shall begin to speak of humanity As we ponder
and inhumanity.91
on the these words, we recall Vico's final words of "principles "must be the of human bounds reason." Indeed "and humanity": they they must, let him who would them beware lest he transgress all humanity." transgress
Notes
The essay draws on some notions that I first raised inmy study The Rehabilita tion ofMyth: Vico's New Science, Cambridge: Press, Cambridge University Iwrote: 1992. In the Acknowledgements "Sir Isaiah Berlin read and discussed with me subsequent of this study in Oxford, versions and was always gener ous with his time and comments; to him I owe not only my greatest scholarly for his support during hard debt, but also my deepest personal gratitude times." Iwould like to dedicate this essay to Isaiah's memory, with the hope that in this critical engagement with his work I do what he taught me to do with works of great thinkers. 1. Peter Burke, Vico (Oxford: Oxford Press, 1985); Isaiah Berlin, "The University of Vico 17 New Studies Vico," (1999), pp. 1-5, with Peter Burke's Reputation to Berlin: Vico pp. 7-10. "Response Disparaged?," 2. Among Berlin's previous to see his defend Vico's attempts "originality" "On The 35 in Vico," (1985), pp. 281-90, disputations Philosophical Quarterly to Perez "Vico's of A The reply Zagorin, Theory Knowledge: Critique," Philosophical Quarterly 34 (1984), pp. 15-30; and his reply to Hans Aarsleff's critical "Vico and Berlin," London Review review-essay, of Books 5-18 same Nov. in an additional the issue with 1981, pp. 6-7, published pp. 7-8, comment in the issue of 3-16 June 1982, p. 5. 3. Berlin, "The Reputation of Vico," p. 3. Burke inveighs against the "myth of the in Vico, pp. 8-9, and subsequent forerunner" chapters. 4. Berlin's comment in Ramin with Isaiah Berlin. Conversations Jahanbegloo, Recollections of an Historian 1992), p. 96. of Ideas (London: Phoenix, 5. Berlin, "The Reputation of Vico," p. 4.
68
to assume that the conversation took place in 6. There are two good reasons Fisch and 1949: The English translation of Vico's New Science by Max Harold in and Berlin to which Salvemini Thomas 1948; refers, appeared Bergin, at were the at both worked where Harvard then Salvemini University, they on occasions. met Michael and social and Widener privately regularly Library Isaiah Berlin. A Life (New York: Metropolitan Holt, Books-Henry Ignatieff, Black in English from 1884 to 1994, ed. Molly of Works Documentation Va.: Philosophy Center, 1994). Verene, (Charlottesville, in Art and Ideas of Giambattista "The Philosophical 8. Isaiah Berlin, Vico," e Letteratura, di Storia Edizioni Ideas in Eighteenth-Century 1960), (Rome: Italy pp. 156-233. a History in of Recent Vico Scholarship "Toward 9. Giorgio Tagliacozzo, I 10. Vico Studies New (1983), p. English," 10. Isaiah Berlin, Vico and Herder. Two Studies in theHistory of Ideas (London: The some bibliographical in revisions Press, 1976). Now reprinted with Hogarth Three Critics of the Enlightenment: Vico, Hamann, Herder, ed. H. Hardy (London: in the anthologies Pimlico, 2000). The topicality of Vico at the time is evident and H. White Giambattista Vico: An International Symposium, ed. G. Tagliacozzo Press, 1969); Vico and Contemporary (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University D. P. Verene, and M. G. ed. special volumes Mooney, Tagliacozzo, Thought, Vico's Science of 3 & 4 (1976); Giambattista of Social Research 43, Numbers and D. P. Verne ed. G. Tagliacozzo (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Humanity, to and the first two publications, Berlin contributed Press, 1976). University on the third: "Corsi e Ricorsi," a long review-essay Modern wrote Journal of History 50 (1978), pp. 480-9. of Human in the History Innovators "One of the Boldest 11. Isaiah Berlin, 75-100. Re 23 November Times New York The 1970, pp. Magazine, Thought," in Isaiah Berlin, The Power of Ideas, ed. Henry Hardy (Princeton, N.J.: 53-67. Press, 2000), pp. University Berlin, Vico and Herder, p. 95. 111.: Gentile The Social Philosophy S. Harris, (Urbana, of Giovanni Henry 286-7. Illinois of Press, 1960), pp. University Berlin, Vico and Herder, p. 95. Preface to Histoire romaine, quoted by Berlin from the English Jules Michelet, to The Autobiography Fisch in his Introduction of Max Harold translation of Giambattista Vico, tr. M. H. Fisch and T. G. Bergin (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Press, 1963), p. 78, in Vico and Herder, p. 94; "One of the Boldest In University published Princeton Vico and Cultural History," The Power of Ideas, p. 66: "Giambattista novators," the in in The Crooked Timber of Humanity: History of Ideas, ed. Henry Chapters "The of Vico," p. 3. 62-3; 1990), pp. (London: John Murray, Reputation Hardy 107. and Vico Herder, p. Berlin, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake (London: Viking Press, 1939), p. 452. Giambattista Vico, The New Science, tr.M. H. Fisch and T. G. Bergin, (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1968), par. 331. see of this notion formulations of earlier reviews For comprehensive tr. R. G. The Giambattista Benedetto Vico, Croce, Collingwood Philosophy of II Rodolfo Mondolfo, Latimer, 1913), pp. 279-301; (London: Howard 1998), p. 191. 7. Vico: A Bibliography
12. 13. 14. 15.
16. 17. 18. 19.
Berlin,
Vico,
and
the Principles
of Humanity
69
Vicos 1969); Karl L?with, prima di Vico (Napoli: Guida, "verum-factum" Grundsatz: Verum et factum convertuntur: Seine theologische Pr?misse und deren s?kulare Konsequenzen 1968). For (Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universit?tsverlag, see Max H. Fisch, "Vico and a forceful attempt to reassert Vico's originality in Giambattista Vico: An International Symposium, pp. 401-24. Pragmatism," Science, par. Science, par. The New Science, par. 23. Berlin, Vico and Herder, p. 24. Vico, The New Science, par. The New 20. Vico, 21. Vico, 22. Vico, The New 34. 338. 405. 61. 376.
25. Berlin, Vico and Herder, p. 26. in "Vico and Cultural 26. Berlin, pp. 60-3. See also "Isaiah Berlin History," Conversation with Steven Lukes," Salmagundi 120 (1998), pp. 87-8. 27. Vico, The New Science, par. 314. on the First Ten Books Discourses 28. Niccol? Machiavelli, of Titus Livius, tr. L. J. Walker & 1.39.1. Paul, 1950), (London: Routledge Kegan 29. Vico, The New Science, par. 374. 30. Berlin, Vico and Herder, p. 27. 31. Berlin, of Scientific "The Concept History," ed. with Philosophical Essays, Henry Hardy,
in Concepts and Categories: an introduction by Bernard Williams "The Pursuit Oxford Press, 131-4; 1978), pp. (Oxford: University some 8. For criti of the Ideal," in The Crooked Timber ofHumanity, p. pertinent on the idealistic in (what might be called) the cal observations tendencies see Cecilia Miller, School of Vico studies, Giambattista Collingwood-Berlin Vico. and Historical (London: MacMillan, 1993), Imagination Knowledge
pp. 29-32,139-42. 32. Berlin, Vico and Herder, pp. xviii-xix. 33. Leon Pompa, Vico: A Study of theNew Science, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge Perez Zagorin, "Vico's Theory of Press, 1990), pp. 223-30; University A The 34 15-30. (1984), pp. Philosophical Quarterly Critique," Knowledge: 34. Vico, The New Science, par. 163, 238, 245. to The New Science, XIX-XX. 35. Max. H. Fisch, "Introduction" of 4th edition 36. Isaac Newton, (London: G. Bell & Sons, 1931), Opticks, repr. pp. 401-2. 37. Vico, The New Science, par. 147, 344. 38. Berlin, Vico and Herder, pp. xx-xxi. 39. Berlin, Vico and Herder, p. 67. 40. Vico, The New Science, par. 338. Berlin defends his notion of "reconstructive in Vico and Herder, to criticism footnotes imagination" Pompa's against in to in and critical The his "On 32-3, Vico," pp. response essay Zagorin's Philosophical Quarterly 35 (1985), pp. 281-90. 41. Berlin, Vico and Herder, pp. 52-3. 42. Isaiah Berlin, "Vico's Theory of Knowledge and its Sources," Vico and Herder, as "Sulla teor?a del Vico circa la conoscenza pp. 99-142; originally published storica," in Lettere italiane 43. Vico, The New Science, par. 44. Vico, The New Science, par. 45. Berlin, "Giambattista Vico 17 (1965), pp. 420-31. 349. 51. and Cultural History," p. 62.
70
46. Berlin, Vico and Herder, pp. 56-7. 47. Burke, "Vico Disparaged?," p. 7, referring to his Vico, pp. 78-80, 93-4. xvi. 48. Berlin, Vico and Herder, p. to Isaiah Berlin, Against 49. Roger Hausheer, "Introduction" the Current: Essays an in in theHistory of Ideas, ed. and with a bibliography by Henry Hardy, with troduction Press, (Oxford: Oxford 1981), University by Roger Hausheer Isaiah Berlin's Liberalism Claude J. Galipeau, (Oxford: Oxford pp. xvi-xxv; Press, 1994), pp. 26-34. University 50. Isaiah Berlin, "The Pursuit of the Ideal," pp. 8-10; Jahanbegloo, Conversations with Isaiah Berlin, pp. 72-82. 51. Berlin's essays signal the transition from the philosophical "history of ideas" or Koyr? that flourished in the of scholars like Lovejoy, Cassirer, Kristeller, and hermeneutical 1930s and 1940s, to the more historical trends that emerged in the 1960s. See the programmatic R. Kelley, "Horizons of essay of Donald Journal of theHistory Prospect," History: Retrospect, Circumspect, XLVIII Ideas 143-69. (1987), pp. of 52. Berlin, Vico and Herder, pp. 9-12. 53. Vico, The New Science, par. 356-7. 54. Vico, The New Science, par. 142. in Against the Current, pp. 111-19. 55. Berlin, "Vico's Concept of Knowledge," 56. Vico, The New Science, par. 201-2. in Against the Current, p. 129. 57. Berlin, "Vico and the Ideal of the Enlightenment," 58. Vico, The New Science, par. 131. 59. Vico, The New Science, par. 394,1084. 60. Berlin, Vico and Herder, pp. 40-1. 61. Vico, The New Science, par. 347. 62. Among many assertions of this view Isaiah Berlin, "The see, for example, of 132-3. Scientific See also Berlin's pp. 103-42, esp. pp. Concept History," on his transition and vocation in Jahanbegloo, reflections Conversations with Isaiah Berlin, pp. 23-31. 63. For a vibrant exposition of Berlin's political philosophy along these lines see Berlin Princeton Isaiah Press, 1996). John Gray, (Princeton, N.J.: University in Against 64. Isaiah Berlin, "The Counter-Enlightenment," the Current, pp. 4-13. 65. Arnaldo Momigliano, "On the Pioneer Trail" (Review of Berlin's Vico and New York Review 1976, p. 33-8. Herder), of Books, 11 Nov. in Relativism 66. Isaiah Berlin, European "Alleged Eighteenth-Century in The Crooked Timber ofHumanity, p. 87. Thought," in Eighteenth-Century 67. Berlin, "Alleged Relativism European Thought" p. 79. an Anti-Modern 68. Mark Lilla, G. ?. Vico: The Making Mass.: of (Cambridge, 1-6. Harvard University Press, 1993), pp. 69. Berlin, Vico and Herder, p. xvi. in Eighteenth-Century 70. Berlin, "Alleged Relativism 71. Berlin, "Vico and the Ideal of the Enlightenment," Vico and Cultural History," pp. 63-8; "Alleged pp. 78-9. Century European Thought," 72. Vico, The New Science, par. 1092,1110. p. 79. European Thought," pp. 120-29; "Giambattista in Eighteenth Relativism Intellectual
Berlin, 73. Michel
Vico,
and
the Principles
of Humanity
71
tr. C. Porter, in The Foucault "What is Enlightenment?", Foucault, P. ed. Rabinow Reader, (London: Penguin, 1984), p. 34, citing Vico, The New Science, par. 1089,1094. 74. Vico, The New Science, par. 445. 75. Vico, The New Science, par. 241-2. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, ed. L. A. Selby Oxford 83. Press, 1902), p. University Bigge (Oxford: 77. See Berlin's remark in Jahanbegloo, Conversations with Isaiah Berlin, pp. 69-70. 78. Charles Taylor, "The Immanent Counter-Enlightenment," in Canadian Political R. ed. Beiner and W. Norman (Oxford: Philosophy: Contemporary Reflections, Hume, Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 386-400. 79. See, for example, The Enlightenment in National Context, ed. R. Porter and M. Teich Press, Sorkin, 1981); David University (Cambridge: Cambridge and the Religious Moses Mendelssohn (London: Peter Halban, Enlightenment Barbarism and Religion, vol. I: The Enlightenments 1996); J. G. A. Pocock, of Edward Gibbon 1737-1764 Press, (Cambridge: Cambridge University 80. Vico, The New Science, par. 2,129. 81. Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, p. 84. A Treatise 82. David Human ed. Hume, Nature, of Selby-Bigge Oxford University Press, 1888), pp. xxii-xxiii. 83. Vico, The New Science, par. 347. 2000). 76. David
(Oxford:
84. Vico, The New Science, par. 332-3, 360. 85. Vico, The New Science, par. 334-7. a Primitive 86. Peter Winch, "Understanding Society," The American Philosophical 1 322. (1964), p. Quarterly 87. Vico, The New Science, par. 309. For a lucid elaboration of this notion, see James "Vico's Doctrine C. Morrison, of the Natural Law of the Gentes," Journal of the History of Philosophy 16 (1978), pp. 47-60. 88. Vico, The New Science, par. 161-2. 89. Berlin, "The Pursuit of the Ideal," in The Crooked Timber ofHumanity, p. 18. 90. See the discussions in Berlin's and "The of Concepts Categories: Purpose "The of Scientific "Does 7-8; 129-30; pp. pp. Concept History," Philosophy," Political Theory Still Exist?," pp. 162-6. 91. Berlin, "Does Political Theory Still Exist?," p. 166.
The Case for Enlightenment: Comparative
the A Approach
JoHkiRobertson
i.
To the historical scholar of the Enlightenment, Isaiah Berlin's legacy has been, at the least, double-edged. That he was more interested in a Counter-Enlightenment does not mean that he discounted the Enlightenment itself. On the contrary, his of the of idea exploration Counter-Enlightenment presupposed Enlightenment's existence and significance. He had a clear view of the nature of the Enlightenment: a movement it was if not exclusively of ideas, defined emphatically by its content. In its time, this was a view closest to what intellectual I shall call the of the Enlightenment. But Berlin did not subscribe to the philosophers' conception most as a move Kantian version of the rigorous, philosophers' Enlightenment: of ideas which he associated principally with the French philosophes, Berlin's an Enlightenment remained which could recognize. ordinary historians Beyond that of the historians, moreover, Berlin's was an Enlightenment to the accessible re educated to better the interested audience his reader?or, still, lay hearing in person or over the wireless. markable Even though his own lectures, whether to his desire to explore the Counter-En interest in itwas increasingly incidental was more it from Berlin than anyone else that the postwar lightenment, probably British derived their understanding of the Enlightenment, and learned to appreci ate its ideals as vital bequests tomodernity. Yet there is no doubt that Berlin's presentation of its ideas was in the long run to the reiteration deeply damaging Enlightenment's reputation. Repeatedly?for was crucial to the rhetorical force of his lectures?Berlin identified the Enlighten ment with a small number of simple doctrines: the uniformity of human nature, the timeless universality of natural law as a code of human moral behaviour, the conviction that a single perfect end for human could be discovered and society should be sought. Against these doctrines he played off the objections of the were more that the nature varieties of human obvious Counter-Enlightenment: and valuable; that human moral customs across time and and codes differed space; and above all, that the attempt to identify, and then dictate, a single perfect ment
73
74
outcome and profoundly for human society was both mistaken Berlin dangerous.1 was careful not to "take sides"; he did not hide the darker aspect of leading pro in of de Maistre Nevertheless, ponents Counter-Enlightenment, Joseph particular. to the Counter-Enlightenment cast a shadow over the attention which he devoted so the Enlightenment whose he summarized ideas, by contrast, ruthlessly. or not he intended the Enlightenment offered Whether it, Berlin's way with to to its those who wished believe that ideals of universalism and encouragement some of the modern world's human perfectibility behind evils. greatest lay to trace a line from Berlin's account As a result, it is not impossible of the to the conclusion that if this iswhere Enlightenment has led us, it Enlightenment is time to repudiate intellectual foundations for it, and establish new, postmodern our In it to what of takes be the conviction that the thinking. place Enlightenment can be bettered reason and the adoption of certain lot of humanity by the power of universal values, postmodernity leave different cultures to determine would their own ends, refusing to discriminate or between them. morally politically of the Enlightenment Historians have tended not to engage directly with this unease not could the but about the escape critique; they prevailing significance to the the volume and value of their subject. While of scholarship devoted to continued the of became grow, subject study Enlightenment increasingly in English-language The last This was especially marked scholarship. fragmented. was Peter in The An two-volume major synthesis English Gay's Enlightenment: a at its to the end of the 1960s. Despite attempt Interpretation, published develop as was as im the the work well of intellectual history almost social Enlightenment, soon Gay's insistence on judged inadequate by Robert Darnton.2 Very mediately the unities of the Enlightenment had come to seem either irrelevant or untenable on its in the face of a new emphasis studies on parts of the diversity. As specialist to to it was helpful scholars whether many question began subject proliferated, to think in terms of a single Enlightenment. If the tendency was to divide continue the Enlightenment into as many parts as scholars could study, without regard to it became easier to think of there having been "Enlighten their compatibility, in the plural. Even when to satisfy ments" the definite article remained, the it was used to characterize demands of textbook publishing, the Enlightenment
in a loose and inclusive way, as a series of debates and concerns, rather than as a
re Such characterization be an effective intellectual movement.3 might were to the historians?who sponse those?they rarely equated Enlightenment success itwas a negative with a single doctrinaire response, whose "project."4 But a mono on the Enlightenment coherent historical depended denying identity. The was as historical for modernity lithic edifice held responsible simply abandoned, in the pluralist scholars refashioned image of postmodernity. Enlightenment it was conceded, was dead; but "Enlightenments" "The" Enlightenment, might flourish. a case for the Enlightenment in the Certainly, we can do better, and still make a definite so doing, we could restore to the Enlightenment In intellectual singular. in the face of content (though not that ascribed to it by Berlin). This is necessary, and the claims of the social or "cultural" both the doubts of intellectual historians for whom ideas are the arbitrary of constructed historians, "representations" on the we content if insist intellectual of the social relations. Only original we be able to do justice to the question to the its will of relation Enlightenment unified
The Case
A Comparative
Approach
75
it has In what social contexts within which developed.5 own "case for the in three stages. First, Enlightenment" after 1970, studies which by Enlightenment fragmented to have been the three principal to this effect. tendencies
follows I shall make my Iwill review the process seem and identify what
Iwill outline how Next, the Enlightenment to its intellectual be reconstituted, might primacy according a comparative I shall illustrate my argument originality. Finally, by sketching to in two the far-removed Scotland of approach Enlightenment parts Europe, and Naples, with two very different social and intellectual but one settings, in both. Enlightenment
II. its reputation, if not its existence, primarily and literary philosophical. Though others are much still alive. The very approaches or historians identified the les almost lumi?res, literary Enlightenment, exclusively with a small circle of philosophes and those who associated with or visited them in France, which usually meant Paris. The philosophes defined both publications content of the Enlightenment the intellectual and its chronology: it began with the in the 1720s and 1730s, and ended with works and Voltaire of Montesquieu and the death of Condorcet.6 Without the centrality of the denying a the historians of added dimension. The best second philosophes, philosophy known and most compelling version of this approach was that of Ernst Cassirer, a systematic who believed that Kant's philosophy summation of the in provided of the entire Enlightenment, tellectual and could thus be used as a project inwhich to place and assess the contributions framework of other thinkers across a range of fields, and politics.7 To aesthetics, morals, including metaphysics, the literary and philosophical offered gether, and indeed separately, approaches as an what most historians accounts of the Enlightenment accepted were plausible a men of intellectual movement, small number of of letters, composed relatively to certain leading ideas.8 committed After studies moved in several new 1970, however, Enlightenment rapidly are directions. Although the divisions between them not hard and fast, the new di can rections be grouped under three headings: and social. intellectual, national, our understanding Each of these has enormously of the Enlightenment; deepened but they have also been taken to lengths which make it very difficult to maintain a coherent view of the as a whole. Enlightenment The first new direction was towards a much more of appreciation complex was the "Age that the Enlightenment Enlightenment thought. The old shibboleth of Reason" has long since been abandoned of philosophy. It is the by historians as the strongest with and the preoccupation the passions strength of skepticism force in human nature which now command attention. The shift is especially clear in moral where "the passions and the interests," in Albert philosophy, Hirschman's in this and the the starting-point for enquiries phrase, have become related fields of political and historical More how economy generally, theory.9 definition of the Enlightenment created an ever, the loosening of the philosophical over what should count as Enlightenment unprecedented uncertainty thinking. on behalf of Claims began to be advanced subjects hitherto regarded as marginal the Revolution Before 1970 the Enlightenment owed to two types of historical scholarship, have now joined them, both these
76
to its interests, notably by historians of science. If no single philosophy character was it ized the Enlightenment, asked, why should any area of intellectual activity at the time be excluded from it?As a result, it has come to seem difficult to exclude form of thought from the Enlightenment's liberal any not obviously reactionary so inclusive embrace. But there is a price to pay: an Enlightenment is in danger of intellectual losing any coherent, distinctive identity. in Enlightenment studies has been towards writing The second new direction in national contexts. The assumption that the Enlightenment its history belonged was to France and exclusively Germany originally questioned by the great Italian account of the historian Franco Venturi. Venturi's point was that the established as Galiani and Beccaria as such which treated Italians Enlightenment, effectively in in virtue of Paris members" their and had the salons, stays "visiting reception by in their own country. In the extent of their activities and connections overlooked as indeed in Piedmont, the Milan of Beccaria and the Naples of Galiani, Tuscany, and even Venice and the Papal States, there existed of self-conscious groups illuministi, who did indeed look to Paris for inspiration, but who were also keen to ideas to the problems of their own societies.10 A comparable apply Enlightenment in Germany. view In a similarly could be taken of the situation fragmented the had in the of service context, opportunities political Aufkl?rer exploited even to to and advance if administrations discuss their tended ideas, princely they be less actively critical of the existing order than their Italian counterparts. in their adoption to But the most whole-hearted of the national approach scholars. American, and Scottish, English-speaking as in have of this perspec emerged Enlightenments subjects study tive. In the 1970s scholars began to take an interest in the Enlightenment in North it to but obvious reasons, proved difficult America; has, for keep this subject dis tinct from the development of the Revolution and the making of the constitution.11 in the interest the Scottish since 1960, when of By contrast, growth Enlightenment at it was been has the emphasis all, scarcely recognized spectacular. Initially, was on the the of renewal Scottish with connections explaining Enlightenment in the Continental But 1980s Nicholas led the way European Phillipson thinking.12 a social in setting it in national context, the better to facilitate writing history of its even a "nationalist," axe to ideas.13 By 1990, Scottish historians with a national, were in to the distinctive Scottish grind giving priority explicit supposedly origins Enlightenment even English been of the Enlightenment.14 in some danger of being eclipsed by a surge the Scots were By 2000, however, in England. The case for an English Enlighten of interest in the Enlightenment ment is not quite as new as recent publicity might suggest. For some time the most to be the association for with the wider candidates seemed Enlightenment likely case has But over the past fifteen years a powerful rational Dissenters. alternative now reinforced been mounted for the existence by John Pocock, by Brian Young, a as the English treat This would Pocock of distinctively Anglican Enlightenment. in with Enlightenments variant of the Protestant comparable Enlightenment, in most recent in and Switzerland; his Scotland, North Germany, formulation, a The Enlightenments Socinian Enlight of Edward Gibbon, it has become specifically a statement of the case he enment.15 The late Roy Porter also provided full-length was in its final form in the title of his in 1981, which first announced reflected last book: Enlightenment. Britain and the Creation Modern World. The argument of the have
The Case
A Comparative
Approach
77
and by extension Britain, created the modern appears to be that since England, On the strength of this conviction, it must have had an Enlightenment. world, Porter was able to include in a British Enlightenment virtually anything which took his fancy.16 turn in Enlightenment fruitful is studies has been enormously That the national our extent of the doubt. It has of Enlightenment beyond understanding enlarged a across Europe, that it was forever the assumption simply activity burying to movement visitor Paris of French philosophes, afforced by the occasional foreign of the approach under the and by the distant genius of Kant. But the consolidation in national context" has also clarified its dangers. rubric of "the Enlightenment Its into a series of more or natural tendency has been to fragment the Enlightenment as best suits national historiography. each defined less distinct Enlightenments, area as of intellectual almost Just any activity may be associated with Enlighten so it has come to seem equally reasonable to suppose that any nation (even ment, must have had its Enlightenment. England) in Enlightenment The third new direction scholarship has been the study of the and dissemination of its ideas. movement's social settings, and of the publishing to in of back Mornet's the 1930s; Daniel these work goes Exploration pioneering since the 1960s it has been taken much further by Daniel Roche, Roger Char tier, to be marked, and Robert Darnton. The work of Chartier and Darnton continues a with the the relation to of however, question preoccupation by Enlightenment's as a result, study of the former tends to be subordinated to expla the Revolution; American critics of Darnton have nation of the latter.17 In reaction, younger to that Habermas be of the the ideas characterized suggest adapted Enlightenment new culture of by association with the "sociability." seem Two phenomena often associated with the Enlightenment particularly to explanation in terms of a culture of sociability. One is Freemasonry, amenable in France, which had many adherents among those identified with Enlightenment a and such the German-speaking ritualistic lands, secretive, Quite why Naples. a men to were few women) creed should have appealed who otherwise (and to the free, public discussion of ideas remains a puzzle; but it is at committed was in accord with to suggest that its internal egalitarianism the least plausible new The second phenomenon is the salon. On Dena ideals of sociability.18 but rather Goodman's the salonni?res of Paris were not mere hostesses account, also the directors and arbiters of a distinctive the culture, enforcing Enlightenment and mediating rules of polite conversation Here epistolary exchange. sociability as feminine. So arguing, Good was female-centered, the Enlightenment gendered man can distinguish from the Revolutionary the "culture of the Enlightenment" culture which of the lat followed: association characteristic the forms of political ter were with those of Enlightenment incompatible sociability.19 But a defense of the Enlightenment's identity on these terms comes at a price. a "cultural" In setting out to write of the rather than an "intellectual" history as attention to from Goodman directs ideas the "dis such, away Enlightenment, course" of society at large. Again the effect (if not necessarily is the intention) If ideas are no longer the focus of attention, it is much harder to deconstructive. a the Enlightenment's distinctive define and defend identity. Itwas as movement its historical of ideas that the Enlightenment for good and acquired significance, its intellectual tend content, as the social and cultural historians ill; tomarginalize
78
into a label of convenience, to do, is to make with little or no "Enlightenment" substantive significance. on the The volume and richness of new scholarship plainly Enlightenment return to account it But if the implications the traditional of make any impossible. the Enlightenment of an intellectual of such work are to deprive identity, to frag a ment it into separate national units, and to render it primarily social and cultural can any new, uniform account the be put in its of Enlightenment phenomenon, place?
III.
at all, itmust begin with is to be made If a case for the Enlightenment ideas. It is contents with of the of clear that the traditional equation Enlightenment thought Kantian reinforcement from the philosophes' books?with optional philosophy?is But the intellectual coherence still be unsustainable. of the Enlightenment may to understanding, to advancing, in the commitment and hence the found in this world. and conditions The first part of this of human betterment was committed to un is as important as the second. The Enlightenment on the basis of to to that is reasoned analysis good arguments leading derstanding, itwas not There was a core of original thinking to the Enlightenment: conclusions. a matter common core and Within that under of the values. aspirations simply was pursued across a number of of human betterment standing interdependent lines of enquiry. was human nature itself?the the starting-point connected For many, study of and the process of moral which David the understanding, the passions, judgment In their systematic of the under Hume "the science of man." christened study in their skeptical subordination of reason as, still more, standing and the passions, course were to the passions, of sev of the heirs philosophers eighteenth-century were eral seventeenth-century The Enlightenment philosophers predecessors.20 in to and moral the deliberate mental attempt join philosophy original, however, in which in a single science, for the investigation the framework of individual behavior was provided society rather than divine authority. by human A second line of enquiry was into the conditions of material better specifically on economic the subject matter of political economy. ment, Sophisticated writing from the Enlightenment, affairs of course predated being increasingly widespread a can seen But from the 1740s there be conscious the later seventeenth century. and Scottish thinkers to render attempt on the part of French, Italian, German, a of field No distinct, economy investigation. systematic longer con political at each other's expense, this was of governments cerned with the aggrandizement were a nations the wealth of the the of which (in economy plural) goals political in of all of society's members. Understood of the condition and the improvement was to what the the these terms, political economy key Enlightenment explicitly thought of as "the progress of society." But the progress of society was not simply a matter of material improvement. was a third, more into political the economy general Accompanying enquiry concern to investigate of societies at the various the structure and manners stages to trace and explain the historical process from "barbarism" of their development, or "civilization." to "refinement" The scope of this line of enquiry was potentially formula causes
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in all their variety, the rise and refinement of the wide, ranging across manners arts and sciences, moral relations, including those between the sexes, and forms of in turn the last of these was closely related to the question of the property-holding; forms of government associated with different Given the stages of development. to "polish" or even (as many in suppos followed Rousseau capacity of humanity it was widely believed its nature, that the progress of society ing) to "perfect" in the achievement But given the of a new state of civilization. should culminate few thought they had good reason to suppose the progress instability of history, to be troubled by doubt as to end in a state of perfection; many continued would secure against "corruption." civilization whether could ever be made fully case intellectual the needs for My Enlightenment's originality obviously To science of and the the man, economy, progress political identify qualification. to un threads of the Enlightenment's of society as the connecting commitment a not to is that human betterment constituted suggest they derstanding single, seamless intellectual adherents. project, pursued by all the Enlightenment's in each of the fields of Few thinkers were equally interested, let alone competent, same to the few confined their At interests these fields. Many time, enquiry. were thinkers also students the natural others were pas of world; Enlightenment inmusic. Itwas amatter of priorities, and what characterized interested sionately was the new primacy to human betterment, to the the Enlightenment accorded in the the world. Even then progress present inevitability?of possibility?not over means to there remained wide for the achieve scope progress, disagreement as over the definition as well and compatibility of its ends. Enlightenment in response to fresh stimuli: the de enquiries, moreover, adapted and developed bates of the 1770s and 1780s were often markedly different from those of the 1750s. to emphasize It is also important that the intellectual coherence of the Enlight an enment was not predicated denial of the of revealed upon explicit possibility I Here differ from The boldness with which Israel.21 Jonathan Spinoza, religion. had criticized the authority of Scripture continued to be an Toland, and Giannone to not But well 1750. did exhaust after materialism the many inspiration Spinoza's resources to available the notorious while thinkers, philosophical Enlightenment and suffering confiscation fate of Giannone, of his writ kidnapped, imprisoned, a was not in Catholic that be clear would tolerated open irreligion ings, warning as an was in the of Church world Criticism institution this Europe. permissible, and indeed stronger in Catholic than in Protestant countries. But revelation itself a focus on betterment was not automatically in this world threatened: carried no about the existence of the next. What the Enlightenment did necessary implication was out the indeed of the doctrine which held proclaim inadequacy, inhumanity, as consolation the pleasures of the next world for the hardships of the present. in the world to come, improvement Whatever the redeemed of might be awaiting in this world, here and now. the human lot was possible did not entail a uniformly This conviction of human benevolent conception nature. If anything, the contrary was true. In a striking observation, Berlin once that "what the entire Enlightenment has in common is a denial of the cen declared tral Christian doctrine of original sin, believing that man is born either innocent or and malleable neutral and environment, or, at good, or morally by education ra and defective but of radical indefinite worst, deeply capable improvement by or a in favourable tional education circumstances, by reorganisation revolutionary
80
But the Enlightenment of society as demanded, for example, by Rousseau."22 a group of thinkers to whom was to sin had mattered indebted original deeply thinkers and Pascal, Malebranche, very much?the Bayle; more Augustinian was indebted to the encounter between it rigorism and the Augustinian precisely, and Christianized revived, Epicureanism championed by Gassendi supposedly that there developed his followers. For itwas from this encounter the realization that a society of purely self-interested rather than men, driven by their passions survive and meet its needs, with little or even no their reason, could nevertheless and only limited intervention external assistance from Divine Providence by gov ernment. The possibilities of such thinking were particularly displayed by two in Fable the Mandeville's the Bees and works Vico's 1720s, (1723) of published did not Scienza nuova (1725). If the second of these was the book the Enlightenment be among the books most read and discussed the first would read, by its demonstration that a society for thinkers, precisely alarming Enlightenment driven by men's and women's "vices" could work for the general benefit.23 The two inNaples of these works the and Scotland will for Enlightenment significance in the last part of this paper. be discussed a case for the to re-establishing In addition its intellectual coherence, Enlight must also show that ideas, books, and men enment as one intellectual movement and did not simply stop in Paris. able to travel across Europe, of letters were to its national if itwas to transcend needed (and other) contexts, Enlightenment In fact, as a growing body of scholar Kant proclaimed?"cosmopolitan." be?as were of literary and epistolary the channels communication ship confirms, the European "Republic of Letters." Well before Paris and its already open within in Enlightenment their leading position the salons had established exchanges, cities of the Netherlands had become the fulcrum of literary Europe: the periodi and the translation were all aids to the international cal press, the encyclopaedia, in the United Provinces circulation of ideas whose viability had been established in the later seventeenth None of these aids could override all differences century.24 was in particular of translation of inherited intellectual culture. The process En sometimes liable to modify Nevertheless, meaning, always substantially.25 were men to letters able and refine instruments of these of adapt lightenment in a single, con and participating for their own use, generating communication the better to redirect the intellectual nected discussion, agenda towards the new issues of human betterment. on the intellectual and international character of the A renewed emphasis can mean not that raised its social does the historians questions by Enlightenment as well as think about it, to in set had live the Its world be adherents aside. simply careers and recognition, Outside and needed along with outlets for their writings. to be learned about the material and cultural infrastruc France there is still much cannot ture of the Enlightenment.26 But the social history of the Enlightenment case to A the historians." which left its "social for Enlightenment simply be also needs to reconsider contribution the primacy of its intellectual reemphasizes I have already suggested iswritten. inwhich its social history that the perspective or to ideas. cultural tends devalue the vogue for social Enlightenment history to their careers and institu thinkers themselves were not automatically hostage and their ideas should not be reduced to cultural discourses. tional backgrounds, On the contrary, it may be argued, their distinguishing social characteristic
The Case was their claim
for the Enlightenment: status
A Comparative in society, by virtue
Approach
81
to an independent
of their intellectual
in Was Kant ist the claim which formulated, very precisely, as or in In 1784. their "private" capacities, clergymen professors, men Aufkl?rung? on their freedom to speak, which to accept the restrictions of letters were bound impose. But in their "public" capac they worked might at large, they should expect and actively seek to advance were to do this, it was generally the goals of Enlightenment.27 They agreed, by what "public opinion" was may not have been shaping "public opinion." Exactly since. In some contexts it clear at the time, and has been disputed by historians even was perhaps in than a figment of writers' But such little more imaginations. men of letters deliber cases a point was made by appealing to it. Enlightenment as the private with traditional humanist model the broke the of philosopher ately advice was a secret. By choosing counsellor of kings, whose instead to address an the intellectual educated initiative, setting "public," they retained for themselves with their readers. the terms on which they engaged the Enlightenment This was not simply self-promotion: thinkers had good in reason to value public opinion above direct political For tellectual influence. the institutions ity, as members for which of society to the study of the laws of political and of economy implicit in their commitment set of the limits which the progress of society was a recognition upon politics. they commerce was becoming ever more widespread In a world in which and impor were the lives and of which decisions affected tant, many being taken well-being a out motive individual of of with economic self-interest, agents prevailing by to happen.28 When rulers wished little or no regard for what the Enlightenment com to identify the regularities in the patterns of men's thinkers set themselves in and the observable relations between forms of mercial activities, historically were and social of stages organization, they property-holding explaining why over society were effectively and statesmen the powers of politicians limited. In the politicians were farmore likely to obstruct this, moreover, failing to appreciate than to facilitate the workings of society. These conclusions did not lead to I the of do not thinkers discount reform; suggest that Enlightenment possibility was most Even the of Enlightenment philoso apolitical. skeptical Enlightenment action. But the purpose of reform phers left room at least for remedial political to the optimal course of development, not the should be the removal of obstacles own of the of ambitious schemes politician's devising. imposition Enlightenment ran counter to the traditional doctrine of "reason of state," by which thinking thus rulers had claimed to know what was good for their subjects, and had presumed to "public their affairs accordingly; instead, the point of appealing on to exert an external, influence governments. constraining By "the public" as their tribunal, the Enlightenment thinkers could hope invoking as an source of in to establish their own credentials simultaneously independent and to educate government and society at large in the forces tellectual authority, in several parts of which were shaping the modern world.29 By the 1780s, writers now itwas the continent were once again addressing governments directly; but with the confidence that they spoke for "the public." on the terms Ihave An Enlightenment reconstituted does not include suggested recent to which have wished associate with it. The scholars many everything was both and The focus of exclusive, Enlightenment intellectually geographically. to manipulate opinion" was
leadership. This was
82
was human society and the subject of itsmost original contributions, its enquiries, in and the physical and moral well-being individuals It was also of this world. to the European world If historians colonial America). find it confined (including in other civilizations, to speak of "Enlightenments" convenient they were not Even within the European the reach of the Europe, original. was uneven. were areas in There which individuals Enlightenment bravely pur but were too isolated to be active participants in sued its intellectual commitments was exclusive in being a the wider movement.30 Above all, the Enlightenment movement to the of an intellectual elite. Its adherents were indeed committed to wider dissemination of their ideas (and as authors were of course delighted were also keen to engage a larger public benefit from sales of their works). They in discussion. and they looked to public But their priorities remained intellectual, an to in intellectual As intellectual confirm their movement, opinion authority. was not equivalent to a general culture of sociability, short, the Enlightenment one to develop. itmay have encouraged however was not all-inclusive To insist that the Enlightenment is to set aside much that extensions of recent scholarship has suggested is of great interest. (It is not, of course, to suggest that what is set aside should not be studied in its own right.) But it is equally the or its alternative, case that the unrestricted the definition of Enlightenment, has rendered the admission that there were multiple subject so Enlightenments, to reach any assessment that it is impossible of its his blurred and indeterminate a case here is one, I have made for which torical significance. The Enlightenment I suggest, which rather than as an artificial existed as an historical phenomenon an Enlightenment can be held directly It not construct. is which philosophical cen more the the twentieth than for of the for advances, horrors, any responsible as a movement in too intellectual between. But far much lies tury: specific history can be matched which of the eighteenth century, it is an Enlightenment against the faced it in its own time. Its significance may then be assessed ac conditions which in society which it it understood the developments cording to the extent to which as it found it. to improve the human condition and identified ways observed IV. can be enhanced not as an historical phenomenon The case for the Enlightenment a its but of its develop traditional further of heartlands, comparison by study by as well ment in two of itsmost distant settings: Scotland and Naples (the kingdom as the city). Any historical and similar both differences presupposes comparison of its argument, ities, and focuses, for the purposes upon one or the other. In this case, Scotland and Naples contexts, which may well be present two very different as "national contexts"; nevertheless, Iwant to argue that they shared understood a common is a sketch of this What follows the Enlightenment. with engagement in at to future. I which intend greater length develop argument, and of context between is no denying that the differences Scotland were in were there obvious differences and Not many important. only Naples but and terms of geography and respective economic, political, religious histories, resources to in the intellectual available there was also a marked discrepancy as to the with be from the bases which each engage Naples might Enlightenment. second city of the Counter-Reformation; yet it had also fostered strong dissident There
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within its Catholic culture. By the end of the seventeenth intellectual the the of Cartesianism, French of century, exponents writings Augustinianism, were more or less freely available to and Epicureanism Neapolitan philosophers.31 in favor of an irenic but The Scots, by contrast, ignored the new French philosophy not very profound At the beginning of the eighteenth Stoicism.32 century academics such as Gershom Carmichael did engage with the leading Scottish ideas of Malebranche; but Carmichael made no effort to introduce his students to the sceptical, Augustinian-Epicurean thinking of the Protestant Pierre Bayle.33 were to emerge, and from these Yet by 1700 common preoccupations beginning were to become it is possible to see how the Scots and the Neapolitans participants was the re in the same movement The first such preoccupation of Enlightenment. were sult of the two countries' of situation. Both similarity dependent kingdoms within greater composite monarchies, the Spanish, Scotland within Naples within the Stewart monarchy of Britain and Ireland. And in 1700 both found that what remained of their ancient autonomy was threatened by political circumstance: that of Naples by the Spanish Succession the crisis, Scotland's by the British equivalent, to of these Jacobitism. Responding continuing problem predicaments, publicists in the two countries debated in strikingly sim their causes and possible outcomes as that of a "regno ilar terms. Paolo Mattia Doria analyzed the condition of Naples was sinking to in Andrew Fletcher warned that Scotland governato provincia"; same time, Doria and Fletcher both At the status of a "conquered the province."34 to chart a way forward for their countries by adapting Machiavellian attempted a commerce to in world which and great capital cities were making it concepts to difficult for small nations their very preserve autonomy. was more A second common preoccupation the chal intellectual: immediately account of the of man's In self-interested Augustinian-Epicurean lenge sociability. was to Vico had been this from the it in but the that 1720s 1680s, exposed Naples to reckon with the challenge, making his response central to the Scienza he decided nuova. Vico's "rational"?or was reasoned?"civil theology of divine providence" men to constructed who of their "because explicitly explain why corrupted nature, are under the tyranny of amor proprio, which them to make private utilit? compels their chief guide," nevertheless settle in societies.35 Vico's account of his isolation as well as the apparent eccentricity in his autobiography, of his interests in early Greek and Roman history and mythology, have encouraged his readers, Berlin at to regard him as an original their head, born before his time, and genius, to hostile associated with the What presciently principles Enlightenment.36 should be emphasized, is the of Vico's with nevertheless, engagement modernity and of his that human and its Augustinian-Epicurean insight thinking, sociability a a not be the "new to should This of science." is of make Vico par history subject a movement of which he knew virtually nothing. ticipant in the Enlightenment, to vindicating His commitment in human history, the role of Divine Providence in of the of and Hobbes, arguments repeated, explicit rejection Spinoza, Bayle was, I course account and his of "the in of nations" think, genuine; history discounted was in no doubt the idea of a progressive in human But he affairs. improvement that the Augustinian-Epicurean account of the human condition was where the
new science must begin.
In Scotland, by contrast, the challenge of the Augustinian-Epicurean philoso in arrived late and the form of the 1723 edition of Mandeville's phy abruptly,
84
in Glasgow, under Carmichael Fable of the Bees. Fresh from studying Francis to it the and meet Hutcheson danger, immediately recognized attempted came of the But this late: when the Shaftesbury. philosophy by strengthening to work out the "new scene of thought" he young David Hume was struggling in 1729, he got no help from Shaftesbury and Stoic morals, had discovered but in reading Bayle.37 The outcome and improvement" did find "diversion of his ten years later (three of them spent in France) was of course A Treatise of struggle, Human Nature the Treatise was, (1739-40). Rigorously among other skeptical, a or account the Mandevillian of so of Epicurean philosophical rendering things, as no outcome of the the left selfish Unlike Hume Vico, however, ciety passions.38 room for the workings and he agreed with Mandeville of Providence, that man's included the desire to "meliorate" or improve his condition. Through self-interest in the door to Enlightenment. Hume, short, Epicureanism opened lamented at the end of his life, "dead The Treatise may have fallen, as Hume as the Scienza nuova. Within born from the press," but itwas never as inaccessible five years its notoriety had cost Hume his chance of a university chair in Scotland; a was as in in his further six he established yet country's Edinburgh leading man and economic, of letters, whose Essays, philosophical, political, shortly set the agenda for others' enquiries. Hume's followed by his History, skepticism, of this world is amatter of de his insistence that the greater part of our knowledge we no to have claim knowledge of the divine, grees of probability, while grounds led him to be suspected, rightly, of irreligion. But until his death, and the posthu mous publication in of the Dialogues ofNatural Religion (1779), he seldom indulged and put of his views on religion; rather, he avoided open expression controversy his fellow Scots men of letters to assume his efforts into encouraging the respon as as well intellectual sibilities of intellectual By personal leadership. example, in the Enlightenment. full participation Hume thus made possible Scotland's A similar individual initiative brought to Naples. In 1753 the Enlightenment Genovesi issued his Discorso sopra ? vero fine delle lettere e d?lie scienze, a Antonio to commit themselves to its enlighten call to the studiosa giovent? of the kingdom ment and economic As Hume had done in his Political Discourses of improvement. In this his avowed focused upon political 1752, Genovesi economy. inspiration was the French economic writer Jean-Fran?ois Melon, who had been one of the If Vico had opened, first outside Britain to recognize Mandeville's significance. to the door and then blocked, Genovesi found another Epicurean Enlightenment, in his anguished way through it.Over the next twelve years, culminating response was in his endeavors to translate, to the famine of 1764, Genovesi tireless and assess the works of the best French and British economic writers.39 publicize, came Hume was followed by Sir James Steuart and Adam Smith; after Genovesi assess to to who made the relevance Palmieri, attempts Giuseppe repeated Naples of physiocratic doctrines. As the interest in physiocracy implies, the Neapolitan on important from their Scottish economists differed counterparts political issues. But they shared the underlying conviction, which made political economy of the Enlightenment, that the?central intellectual discipline namely, a?perhaps in this world was possible the of material betterment agri through development to the benefit of all society's members, culture and commerce, poor as well as rich. into the interest in political economy was the broader enquiry Accompanying of the historical progress of society. The same enquiry of the historical narratives
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and William of the conjectural Robertson?and histories of Adam Millar?was in Adam and Smith, Genovesi, John Ferguson, pursued Naples by by and by Francesco Mario Pagano Giuseppe Maria Galanti, by Gaetano Filangieri, his debts to, as well as differences from, "il nostro (who freely acknowledged we find optimism about the prospects both sets of philosophers Vico"). Among and Smith clearly did not for human betterment tempered by skepticism. Hume or in a perfect outcome to the progress of society, but nor did Filangieri believe were near whom the of both of The exercised corruption. Pagano, inevitability by are not limited to their common similarities between the Scots and the Neapolitans the very different contexts provided interests. Despite intellectual by eighteenth as in the positions and there are further similarities Scotland century Naples, sumed
to their societies, and in their attitudes by the two sets of thinkers within to It that is the Scottish often observed thinkers have appear "public opinion." into the established been comfortably institutions of the universities, integrated the Church and the law. But many of them also chafed at the restrictions which career as an and such institutions sought to imitate Hume's imposed independent man of letters. In did hold Genovesi chairs, but the one from university Naples, to the Enlightenment, and himself the chair of Commerce which he committed to it to for and he free of had be used himself created him, Mechanics, specially and ecclesiastical the constraints which the university successors were his Most of self-consciously imposed. means to give and independent careers, publishing, in with other the and each write, associating voluntary, had previously using independent, legal to themselves the freedom authorities
if only semipublic, society of the masonic lodges. a In both countries, moreover, the men of letters consciously sought to address was not to the which restricted elite. Within Scotland governing "public" they to generate debate toWestminster took advantage of the removal of government over specific issues of "improvement," relevance such as the continued of a same militia. At the the lead national of Hume, time, following they used their dis tance from the partisan world to try to moderate of London journalism English it to recognize its insularity, and to set party-political preju opinion, encouraging In Naples, Genovesi had made his dices in amore accurate historical perspective. of 1753. Though it is doubtful whether educational clear in his manifesto purpose idea of how large a "public" his teaching and publishing he had a very definite should no longer confine themselves reach, he was clear that philosophers might as to counselling in the traditional ministers ministers manner, especially as Tanucci. The Bernardo ambitions of the leader of the second narrowly legalistic of Neapolitan illuministi, Gaetano generation Filangieri, were even more radical. was to be brought "to the aid of soccorso If philosophy governments"?la filosof?a in must be by subordinating de' governi?it the latter to the "invisible tribunal" of The only legitimate Filangieri government, "public opinion." argued, was one in this way was "representative" which of "the will of the people."40 in which the Enlighten When this, in the 1780s, the settings Filangieri wrote ment was being pursued in the two countries were Under rapidly diverging. and despite its independent Bourbon monarchy, the reforming of initiatives several ministers in the 1770s and 1780s, the kingdom remained very of Naples an ancien r?gime society. Scotland, by contrast, was fast amod definitely becoming ern one, on to and assimilating the modern society of its southern catching up
86
it is what to the Neapolitan thinkers continued neighbor, England. Nevertheless, share with the Scots, even as their countries to made which began diverge, them both participants in the enterprise of Enlightenment. What they shared was the intellectual commitment to understanding how the progress of society in the past and in the present?and their occurred, how, therefore, to modernize
own societies.
It can be shown, that the same Enlightenment in both existed therefore, and Naples, Scotland the of the contexts difference and their notwithstanding as a distance from Paris. Thus, a case for the Enlightenment coherent intel single, can be made. no lectual movement Itmay be objected that I have demonstrated more than its existence as a historical no new and assessment have offered of fact, answer its enduring The must be historian's that the significance. significance of the Enlightenment is a subject for further historical investigation, through of the impact of its ideas and example on later European exploration thought and the public role of intellectuals. Assessment of its significance, will be however, on a surer we are once if was a common confident that there footing again Enlightenment. The case of Scotland and Naples may even make to go a little further. it possible in the fortunes of the two societies For the divergence after 1790 raises a final Should the comparison of Scotland and Naples end in a judgment of the question. success or failure of in two the countries? More precisely, should Enlightenment we conclude that the ideas which apparently worked in Scotland were inadequate in the face of the obstacles in the kingdom of Naples? It is not a they encountered am a answer a I in to question position yet; it is probably not question which a his torian can ever expect to answer at all definitely. But if the Enlightenment is to be it set itself, not by events two judged, it should be on the basis of the challenges
centuries later.
Notes
the Tel Aviv conference to which this paper was first contributed, Following versions of it have been given to the History of Political Thought Seminar, Institute of Historical the Seminar at the University Research, London; History of Leicester; the Trinity College, Dublin History and the Central Society; am I to the and participants European University, Budapest. grateful organizers at all these occasions for stimulating discussion. "The Counter-Enlightenment," in Against the Current: Essays of Ideas, ed. and with a bibliography by Henry Hardy, with an introduction Press, 1981). (Oxford: Oxford University by Roger Hausheer 2. Peter Gay, The Enlightenment: An Interpretation (New York: Knopf, 1966-1969); R. Darnton, "In search of the Enlightenment: recent attempts to create a social history of ideas," Journal ofModern History, 43 (1971), pp. 113-32. 3. Dorinda Outram, The Enlightenment (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University The Enlightenment. A Comparative Social 1995), p. 3; cf. Thomas Munck, 1721-1794 York: Oxford the Press, 2000), p. 7, where (New History University as "an attitude of mind, rather than a coherent system is defined Enlightenment an account of of beliefs." But as his subtitle indicates, Munck is not attempting as awhole; in its comparative to the Enlightenment the social basis of approach Press, 1. Isaiah Berlin, in the History
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a welcome his book represents attempt to restore a recogniz Enlightenment, able unity to the movement. 4. An example is James Schmidt, "What Enlightenment of such a response 28 Political Outram with approval (2000), pp. 734-57, quoting Theory project?", on p. 737; with the ensuing exchange between Christian Delacampagne and in Political Theory 29 (2001), pp. 80-90. Schmidt 5. An even more defiant, and substantially longer, "case for the Enlightenment" terms has recently been argued by Jonathan in predominantly intellectual and the Making Israel, in Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy of Modernity 1650-1750 Press, 2001). Israel identifies "Enlight (Oxford: Oxford University the philosophy of Benedict Spinoza and his radical enment," however, with and many followers, others, thinkers of the John Toland, Pietro Giannone, and early eighteenth centuries. As his dates indicate, this over was 1750: after whatever occurred Enlightenment by by implication, at all, was an epilogue. By contrast, Iwould like 1750, if itwas Enlightenment in the period with which it is usually to make the case for the Enlightenment to the 1790s. This is not to from the mid-eighteenth associated, century an of the "early" or "pre"-Enlightenment, the interest or importance discount as to of which the is essential Enlightenment understanding understanding a whole. ir itwas explicitly But the two were not simply continuous: because was never to "radical able the Israel's be Enlightenment" religious, public which the Enlightenment intellectual movement became after 1750. as les lumi?res continues to have propo This account of the Enlightenment on some 40 years nents: for a late instance based lectures given (though les lumi?res? Gallimard, Qu'est que earlier), Alphonse (Paris: 1996). Dupront, in The Philosophy Ernst Cassirer, of the Enlightenment (originally published in 1932), trans. Ralph Manheim, German Princeton (Princeton, N.J.: University Press, 1951). of Gay's The Enlightenment: An Interpretation can be regarded as a summation the traditional understanding with an acknowledged of the Enlightenment, even as it also anticipated debt to Cassirer, several of the lines of enquiry were which of the Enlightenment the social historians later to champion. and the Interests: Political Arguments for The Passions Albert O. Hirschman, Press, 1977). Capitalism Before its Triumph (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University as "La circolazione Venturi first made the point in 1953, in a paper published 41 (1954), pp. 203-22. delle storica del Risorgimento There idee," Rassegna three edited volumes of Illuministi followed lombardi, italiani, iii, Riformatori e toscani (Milan & R. Ricciardi, 1958), v, Riformatori piemontesi Naples: late seventeenth Giarrizzo 1962), and (with Giuseppe napoletani (Milan & Naples: R. Ricciardi, and Gianfranco antiche delle vii, Torcellan), Riformatori repubbliche, dei ducati, e delle isole (Milan & R. dello Stato Pontificio Ricciardi, 1965). The Naples; in individual threads were then woven the volumes of Settecento five together the work was still unfinished when 1963-1990); riformatore (Turin: G. Einaudi, Venturi died in 1994. For a general review, John Robertson, "Franco Venturi's was a friend Past and Present 137 Venturi (1992), pp.183-206. Enlightenment," of Berlin, who arranged for the translation into English of his book on Russian But their conceptions of the Enlightenment remained very Populism. different.
6.
7.
8.
9. 10.
88 11. Henry Press,
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment F. May, The Enlightenment H. Meyer, in America (New York: Oxford University The Democratic (New York: Enlightenment
1976); Donald
Putnam, 1976). 12. Hugh Trevor-Roper, Studies on Voltaire and the "The Scottish Enlightenment," lxviii 1635-58. (1967), pp. Eighteenth Century in Roy Porter and "The Scottish 13. Nicholas Enlightenment," Phillipson, in The Context U.K.: Mikulas National Teich, eds., Enlightenment (Cambridge, Press, 1981). Cambridge University 14. Alexander Broadie, The Tradition of Scottish Philosophy (Edinburgh: Polygon, 1990); David Allan, Virtue, Learning and the Scottish Enlightenment (Edinburgh: Press, 1993). Edinburgh University is approached from various points of view in 15. The Dissenting Enlightenment Knud and Religion: Rational Dissent in Enlightenment U.K.: Press, Eighteenth-century (Cambridge, Cambridge University alternative, J. G. A. Pocock, 1996). For the Anglican "Clergy and commerce. in England," in R. Ajello, ed., L'et? dei lumi. The conservative Enlightenment Studi storici sul settecento europeo in onore di Franco Venturi, 2 vols., (Naples: Jovene, 1985), I, pp. 523-62; and now The Enlightenments of Edward Gibbon Haakonssen, ed., Britain 1737-1764, Volume I of Barbarism Brian
and Religion (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge and Enlightenment in Press, 1999). Also, Young, Religion University Press, 1997). England (Oxford: Oxford University Eighteenth-century Modern World (London: 16. Roy Porter, Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the See pp. xvii-xviii for his endorse Allan Lane, 2000). The title is the argument. ment that we shrewd should the of Pocock's suggestion drop typically of agreement with definite article and capital letter; this and other professions that Porter's case for reader into thinking the unwary Pocock might mislead as same an Pocock's. is the English Enlightenment 17. Daniel Mornet, Les origines intellectuelles de la R?volution fran?aise (Paris: A. and the low-life of "The High Enlightenment Colin, 1933); Robert Darnton, literature in pre-Revolutionary France," Past and Present 51 (1971), pp. 81-115; France (New York: Norton, and The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary and Part III "Do books 1996), esp. ch 3 "Philosophical pornography," cause Revolutions?"; The Cultural of the French Origins Roger Chartier, Duke and London: Revolution Press, 1991), chs 4: (Durham University 8: and "Do revolutions have Cultural Books Make "Do Revolutions?," to his from this has distance work sought Origins?" Daniel Roche, by contrast,
preoccupation.
18. Margaret Jacob, Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth Press, 1991); Giuseppe Giarrizzo, century Europe (Oxford: Oxford University e illuminismo nell'Europa del Settecento (Venice: Marsilio, Massoneria 1994). The Republic 19. Dena Goodman, of Letters. A Cultural History of the French Press, 1994). (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Enlightenment 20. Susan James, Passion and Action: The Emotions in Seventeenth-century Philosophy Press, 1997). (Oxford: Oxford University see note 6, above. 21. Israel, Radical Enlightenment; 22. Berlin, "The Counter-Enlightenment," p. 20. Fable: Bernard Mandeville and the Discovery of The Enlightenment's 23. E. J.Hundert, Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
The Case 24. Lorraine Daston,
A Comparative
Approach
89
in the of the Republic "The Ideal and Reality of Letters 4 in Context Science Anne (1991), pp. 367-86; Enlightenment," Goldgar, in the Republic of Letters, 1680-1750 Impolite Learning: Conduct and Community and London: Yale University Press, 1995). (New Haven 25. Fania Oz-Salzberger, in the Enlightenment: Scottish Civic Discourse Translating Oxford L?szl? Press, 1995); (Oxford: Germany University Eighteenth-century on "William Robertson and his German Audience Kontler, European LXXX (2001), and non-European Scottish Review Historical Civilisations," a more less manipulative understand pp. 63-89. Both develop sympathetic, than that offered by Isaiah Berlin in "Hume ing of the process of translation in Against the Current; see and the sources of German anti-rationalism,"
the Enlightenment, p. 80. Translating an A Comparative Social History The Enlightenment: provides for of what is northern known, conspectus Europe. especially up-to-date Is Enlightenment? 27. James Schmidt, Answers ed., What Eighteenth-Century of and and Twentieth-Century Los Questions Angeles: University (Berkeley to the "An answer Immanuel California Kant, Press, 1996), pp. 58-64: on is Enlightenment?" (1784), with an excellent commentary question: What Kant: Christian "The Subversive The 253-69 Laursen, John pp. Vocabulary by and Apublicity." of Apublic "Free Trade and the Economic 28. On this fundamental theme, Istvan Hont, Politics: Neo-Machiavellian Political Economy Limits to National Reconsid Oz-Salzberger, 26. But Munck's Modern Politics (Cambridge, ered," in John Dunn, ed., The Economic Limits to 41-120. U.K.: Cambridge Press, 1990), pp. University 29. See Daniel Gordon, Citizens without Sovereignty: in Equality and Sociability Princeton French Thought 1670-1789 Press, (Princeton, N.J.: 1994), University on the relation between as sociabilit? and public opinion esp. pp. 199-208, on absolute monarchy in the thought of the philosophes, and of constraints in particular. Morellet Greece and the Balkans, 30. For example, studied by Paschalis Kitromilides, as Social Criticism: Iosipos Moisiodax The Enlightenment and Greek Culture in the Press, 1992). Eighteenth Century (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Valletta. intellettuale napoletano Un 31. On which see Vittor Ivo Comparato, Giuseppe delta fine del seicento (Naples, 1970); this aspect of Neapolitan intellectual culture in H. S. Stone, Vico's Cultural History: is overlooked The Publication and E. to detri Transmission of Ideas inNaples 1685-1750 the Brill, J. (Leiden: 1997), ment of its understanding of its principal subject. and Ideas in Restoration Scotland 32. J. C. L. Jackson, Royalist Politics, Religion Ph.D. David "In the thesis 1660-1689, Allan, (1998); University Cambridge Grove: Sir George Mackenzie and the Consolations of Bosome of a Shaddowie 33. History of European Ideas 25 (1999), pp. 251-73. and Michael Silverthorne, eds., Natural Rights on the Threshold of the Scottish Enlightenment: The Writings of Gershom Carmichael (Indianapolis: Fund, 2002). Liberty del governo spagnolo a Napoli 34. Paolo Mattia eds. Doria, Massime (1709-10), G. Galasso and V. Conti (Naples: Guida, ed., 1973), pp. 21-43; John Robertson, Andrew Fletcher: Political Works U.K.: Cambridge (Cambridge, University Press, 1997), specifically (1703), p. 133. "Speeches" Retirement," James Moore
90
35. Giambattista Vico, La Scienza nuova (1744), paragraph 341, in the translation T. M. H. New and G. The Science Giambattista Fisch, Vico, revised by Bergin of N.Y.: edition Cornell Press, (Ithaca, 1984). University in Vico 36. Isaiah Berlin, "The Philosophical Ideas of Giambattista Vico," in the History of Ideas (London: Hogarth Press, 1976), in the History Innovators of pp. 1-142, preceded by "One of the Boldest in Human The Power ed. (1969), reprinted of Ideas, Thought" Henry Hardy, Press, 2000), pp. 53-67. (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University 37 The Letters of David Hume, ?d. J. Y. T. Greig Press, (Oxford: The Clarendon to 12: Hume vol. March Michael I, p. 1732; and p. 13: "Letter to 1969), Ramsay, a Physician," [March 1734]. and Herder: Two Studies inM. A. Stewart and John P. Wright "Hume and Hutcheson," James Moore, Hume and Hume's Connexions Press, (eds), (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University 1994), pp. 23-57. 39. John Robertson, "The Enlightenment above National Context: Political in and The Scotland Historical Journal Economy Eighteenth-Century Naples," 40 (1997), pp. 667-697. Discorso dopra il vero fine delle letter e e delle scienze (Naples 40. Antonio Genovesi, Jovene, 1753), in Scritti economici, ed M.L. Perna, 2 vols, 1984), (Naples: La scienza delta legislazione (Naples 1780-1791), pp. 47-50. Gaetano Filangieri, Bk. IV, Part iii, ch. 43. 38.
The Keal
Counter The Case
Enlightenment: of prance
Damn M. McMakon
To pose the question "What is Counter-Enlightenment?" to ask is necessarily "What is Enlightenment?" The question is an old one, debated famously by Kant, and others in the pages of the Berlinische Monatsschrift in the 1780s, Mendelssohn, but in fact also posed repeatedly by a great number of educated men and women as well as a charac the century.1 Both as a process and a movement, throughout terization of an age, enlightenment?the from the start Enlightenment?generated a tremendous on the meaning of reflection of the term and the time. variety the gaze of contemporaries, thus has the century of lights captivated the Arresting attention of posterity, until the present day as a set piece for rumination serving on the meaning a field upon which of modernity, to project the fears and hopes of a Little surprise, to generate continues then, that the Enlightenment humanity. and interpretations. Si?cle des lumi?res, Aufkl?rung, array of definitions perplexing low and high, radical and conservative, illuminismo, illustraci?n, Enlightenments Scottish and Jewish, Protestant and Catholic?the of terms begs very number as to whether as a the question it is even possible to speak of the Enlightenment as a a unified movement, reified whole. single entity, over this question, Scholars of the eighteenth and probably century disagree a a to it is extent for of definition?one, always will, large problem clearly, that to to itself understand the "What is anyone seeking presents corollary question, Sir Isaiah Berlin constructed his definition of the Indeed, Counter-Enlightenment?" on the what to basis be of he took the doctrines Counter-Enlightenment principal of the Enlightenment in slightly different that he formulated itself?doctrines the case times, but that can be reduced (and this is simplifying ways at different to was the following that human nature funda somewhat) general propositions: the same in all times and all places; that local and historical variations in mentally human culture and society were of relative unimportance; and that there existed universal human goals and universal human ends, on the basis of which?and the scientific methods of Newtonian could following physics?one structure of laws and generalizations that would logically connected dark chaos of ignorance, prejudice, fanaticism and "interested dogma, establish a replace the error" that
91
92
the cultivation for so long had prevented of virtue, truth, and human happiness. In turn, it was over and against these common Enlightenment that propositions Berlin looked for competing, currents, Counter-Enlightenment finding them, of and in the strains present historicist course, irrational, vitalist, relativist, organic, a and of others. in the thought of Vico, Hamann, handful Herder, Jacobi, Moser, a movement of in the ideas the of (in history history philosophy), Primarily was also a German con Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment primarily phenomenon, to a largely French si?cle des lumi?res (although structed in opposition it is true that in the definitional two Berlin does mention essay, "The Counter-Enlightenment," and French writers, Bonald Maistre). post-Revolutionary Itwould be redundant here to emphasize the importance of Berlin's definition both in terms of its explanatory power, and in terms of the influence it has exerted on subsequent discussions of the Counter-Enlightenment. This being said, and with all due respect to the memory of a great thinker and a great man, it should be of that Berlin's definition has its drawbacks. First, it tends to limit discussion to a relative handful of great thinkers?a le the Counter-Enlightenment perfectly fails to do justice to the con gitimate exercise, to be sure, but one that, nonetheless, texts in which and Enlightenment the Enlightenment Sec thought were opposed. to limit research and discussion of the has tended definition ond, Berlin's to Germany. It is true that his Counter-Enlightenment overwhelmingly idealist definition of, if you will, Gegen-Aufkl?rung, scope for certainly provides course Vico here is the obvious ex thinkers of non-German other, (and discussing case in practice, that Berlin's set of criteria for defining ception), but it remains the was overwhelmingly suited to the German example? the Counter-Enlightenment a fact that may well have something to do with the shadow under which Berlin's own thought was formed?in and other words, the experience of Nazi Germany noted the Second World War. Third, and somewhat paradoxically given what Ihave said so far, Berlin's definition seems potentially to broaden the Counter-Enlightenment In other words, if boundaries. demarcated historical any clearly beyond in contrast to a set of philosophi is primarily defined the Counter-Enlightenment to locate counter-enlightenment then it becomes possible cal principles, principles and indeed, well before the eighteenth it well beyond, century. Berlin himself, is true, for the most part avoids this trap, confining his discussion of the Counter century (thereby giving it a firm by and large to the long eighteenth Enlightenment in general it seems clear that there is a teleological historical context), although on Counter-Enlightenment thrust to much of his writing figures. In contrast, a in this vein have been less the Counter-Enlightenment number of those studying edited volume, Aufkl?rung und cautious. To cite but one example, Jochen Schmidt's in der Literatur, europ?ischen Philosophie und Politik von der Antike bis Gegenaufkl?rung as zur Gegenwart the title indicates, articles spanning contains, (Darmstadt, 1989), to from the Weimar of Western the whole history, Epicurus Republic, with forays into the Middle the Italian Renaissance, literature, the thought of Ages, Baroque and the painting of Hieronymus Bosch, to name only a Freud, Hegel, Hamann, of these essays, the collective interest of a number few. Whatever the individual and the historicity of the concepts Enlightenment result is to obliterate completely Counter-Enlightenment. A more fruitful approach to adopt a less philosophical, to the question of Counter-Enlightenment would be on movement and more historical, the perspective,
The Real
Counter-Enlightenment:
The Case
of France
93
and tools that have been used over the last and to apply to it some of the methods as Robert Darnton, cultural and such intellectual historians years by twenty-five In and Keith Baker. this Skinner, John Pocock, Quentin regard, the case of France was inmany ways For itwas here, after all, that the Enlightenment is suggestive. centered and based, itwas here that itwas born, and so it should not surprise us had enemies: militant that in France, no less than in Germany, the Enlightenment of the traditionalist members aristocrats, parti d?vot, unenlightened clergy, conservative recalcitrant Sorbonne censors, bourgeois, parlementaires, journalists, "fanatics" of the and sundry others, the so-called salon hostesses, unfashionable an I call anti-philosophes?not catechism, men and women arbitrary Enlightenment a as to it the host of far it for used did term, themselves, philosophes, adding they terms. less flattering The term anti-philosophe appeared at roughly the same time that the Encyclope One finds it in such dists began to claim the mantle "philosophe" for themselves. Pens?es anti Pens?es philosophiques of 1747, the abb? Allamand's works as Diderot's of 1764, and Louis Dictionnaire of 1751, Voltaire's philosophique philosophiques Dictionnaire of 1767. Chaudon's Indeed, the very same anti-philosophique Mayeul in the form of of the Enlightenment the first major onslaught years that witnessed of the Encyclop?die, also witnessed the first of the initial volumes the publication As early as 1755, in fact, the General opposition. stirrings of a self-conscious the crown of the "contagion" of the Clergy was warning being spread Assembly the of "so-called realm" the poisonous writings philosophes"?men "throughout by and vice, established who disdained opinions, rejected spread immorality of and the truths fostered mocked power, religion, sovereign saintly everywhere a spirit of "independence at each of and revolt."2 They repeated these accusations as in down the assemblies their national well, century, stressing, through and pulpit sermons that the spirit of "blas countless pastoral letters, mandements, of the new learning would phemy" and "sedition" fostered by the "coryphaeuses" lead to "bloodied thrones" and the "horrors of anarchy" if not contained.3 In the secular republic of letters, too, anti-philosophe journalists and Grub-Street on own terrain. The abb? to hacks combat the forces their philosophes joined thousands of pages of his monthly Gabriel Gauchat, for example, devoted journal, the Lettres critiques, ou Analyse et refutation de divers ?crits modernes contre la religion to refuting the works of men who "combined (1755-1763) against truth explicitly ... the salt of of the of the bitterness criticism, equivocations sophism, and irony, and both the scale the of the the blackness of calumny."4 intensity Decrying in the history of "the religion of Jesus attacks as unprecedented philosophes' and the eagerness lashed out at their "fanaticism," "intolerance," Christ," Gauchat their productions of malice and error."5 Like with which the public "devoured the avocat Jean Soret and the p?re Jean-Nicolas-Hubert wise, Hay er sought early on to refute impious philosophes in the pages of their twenty-one volume periodical, La Religion veng?e, ou R?futation des auteurs impies (1757-1763).6 Their efforts were in a lively anti-philosophe press.7 sustained by many in courts of law, and the French court itself, devout magistrates French Finally, and ministers such as Antoine-Louis S?guier and Jean-Omer Joly de Fleury made war on what these men saw as a concerted effort to destroy France.8 As early as in detail of a "conceived plan" to "sustain his colleagues 1759, Fleury was warning more evident and destroy materialism religion."9 Eleven years later, this seemed
94
to cover up the fact," S?guier admonished still. "It is no longer possible in an arr?t of 1770, that a "criminal league," an "impious and audacious sect... decorat with the name of Philosophie" has risen up. "With one hand, ing its false wisdom to seeks the shake altars." And unless throne, and with the other, to overthrow [it] took proper measures, authorities the "civil order as well as S?guier emphasized, be destroyed.10 these apocalyptic their invocation of blood warnings?with thrones and altars?were the grossly overstated. Moreover, even revolutionary of an incendiary, philosophie is radically at have come to think of as the sober, if mildly progressive, to account for this disjuncture? In part it stems from How "High Enlightenment." of many the firm conviction eighteenth-century figures (and in particular, many that their age was one of unparalleled Catholics) eighteenth-century religious as Gauchat commented decline, precipitated, above, by the single most concerted an isolated attack on the faith in the history of Christianity. His was by no means was as It in that credence the one, furthermore, grew viewpoint. only leading in the 1760s and 1770s as an important themselves force, philosophes established rooms and the salons the and sinecures of academies, conquering literary drawing their into the beau monde, while anticlerical invective the mainstream insinuating of men like Gauchat, of French culture. From the perspective then, philosophie was a potent like a poison, outward and downward from force, one that flowed all those who claimed to carry the pens of a few leading philosophes to encompass the torch of lumi?res, and from there, to French society as awhole. As the esteemed in his noted court preacher, the abb? de Cambac?r?s observed Sermon sur les incr?dules of the late 1760s:
Without doubt, we? What rank, nor unbelief a revolution, to and produced speak only in the morals of the nation. and character changes we has affected since become? all classes, Incredulity has nor sex.... Crime itself has ceased to be a crime, and of France, ... What respecting in the mid
the spiritual" would to say, Needless and anarchy, toppled picture they painted odds with what we
it has made were neither
enormous have age,
dle of this general decadence

consternation, threatened,
and the shock of all the passions, Religion

on a precipice.11
is filled with
tottering
in short, was a force ravaging society from top to bottom. Neither sim Incredulity, nor in the the result of shifts social "secularization" mores, gradual long-term ply of society, itwas, rather, the outcome of conscious, willful manipulation.12 As the a in in of circulated National the observed letter every pastoral Assembly Clergy centuries there were impious persons here parish in France in 1775, "In previous results. There were books that taught and there, but without party and without obscure little read. but and impiety, Today, by contrast, the unbeliev [they were] as it should be, over the objects of its belief; but united ers form a sect, divided in the revolt against the authority of divine revelation."13 A united front with common ends, if uncommon means, modern incredulity? on a scale and with an intensity unprece modern religion philosophy?attacked in human history. In these respects, its assault was without dented parallel. Yet, in of the Enlightenment, there were, nonetheless, the opinion of enemies bases for Above of the Reformation historical and the all, the cultural memory comparison. of the sixteenth French Catholics with what century provided Religious Wars a terrible test case of the Amos Hofman has called a "paradigm of civil disorder,"
The Real
The Case of France
95
a systematic that could be wrought attack on the Church.14 For consequences by here was a graphic illustration of how religious heresy led to political upheaval, of into the tangled web of how dissent from the one truth faith could unravel internecine conflict and bloody civil war. By unleashing the tight rein of Catholic the Reformation and ecclesiastical had turned men tradition, dogma, authority, women over to the frenzy of the unbridled human and them to intellect, seducing that they could arrive at truth independently?through private study of to the exclusion of one's heart and mind of all scripture and the private sounding extreme all too else. This was pride of the most sort, and the results were continual conflict over scripture, the limitless, subjective speculation, predictable: sects and of the original protestants into an endless babble of conflicting dissolution the long series of religious wars that had bathed heretical factions, and ultimately Europe in blood. in the eighteenth This memory, then, provided many century with a specter of It likewise offered a ready-made the perils of religious dissent. that vocabulary to the philosophes and their fellow travelers. From the could be easily transferred in fact, there was enemies of the philosophes, vantage point of many Catholic a whole.15 Did not as Protestant about the something Enlightenment dangerously the philosophes adopt as their spiritual heirs a range of Protestant thinkers, from to Locke and Newton? Tindal and Collins Was not the Protestant demand of the central battle cry of the philosophes, for whom the heretic Calas was "tolerance" a Voltairean and saint? And like their Protestant did the forefathers, martyr believe philosophes not continually the subjective prompting skewed to be sure?it was viations attack the authority of the Church, placing their trust in reason alone? From this of individual perspective? to view fairly easy philosophie as yet another of the de
another aberration spawned by the original by the Reformation, wrought with Catholic of the eighteenth Indeed, Catholic rupture orthodoxy. apologists same much the to combat of very century employed philosophes as their language had Lutherans Counter-Reformation used and Calvinists.16 against predecessors The term pr?tendu philosophe, for example, mirrored that of the pr?tendu r?form? favored by French Counter-Reformation the continual references writers, while to the philosophes as a "sect" or "cabal" of "fanatics" also recalled earlier writings. towards the end of the century, Louis XVI relented to long-standing When, pres sure to grant limited civil status to French Huguenots in the 1787 Edict of saw this as the direct result of the machina Toleration, many orthodox Catholics tions of a joint Protestant-philosophe and two?protestantisme plot.17 The one in their minds. philosophisme?were Future fears of religious upheaval, and worries of the Protestant past?these were to and the forces giving the rhetoric of the Catholic shape, consistency, in the second half of the eighteenth Counter-Enlightenment century. There were, themes that surfaced and in the other central resurfaced however, continually of the Catholic militants. language Linking together disparate religious apologists and journalists, and civil magistrates to above, alluded this pulpit preachers a in final the decades of the ancien into crystallized language r?gime clearly de a marcated reified of the des si?cle lumi?res consistent, strand, linguistic portrait I call an "anti-philosophe dis and of the bright lights who gave it its name?what a construction it became course."18 In other words, the Enlightenment of what was. And here a number of the most warrant mention. important points
96
of the ancien r?gime reduced the of the last decades First, the anti-philosophes a or to varied and variegated the French of whole, opinions Enlightenment single in with atheism. which For their philosophie, engendering they charged collectively countless anticlerical of the authenticity of scripture, and tirades, their questioning in the power of the human mind, their arrogant confidence the philosophes, so their to doubt all," bidding men and women enemies charged, "made pretensions to set to disbelief.19 Releasing foot on the slippery slope that led ultimately the individ ual from the mitigating and the tradition certainty?revelation yolk of Catholic him and authority of the Church?the turned over, naked and un philosophes to the the human intellect. Error and aberration of unchained bound, speculation a As of every sort was the necessary consequence. journalist of the anti-philosophe in 1783, "I defy you to cite for me an error, however Ann?e litt?raire challenged ... that the absurd philosophes have not adopted," guided solely "by the torch of as in his widely of Or the Barruel affirmed Abb? reason, Augustin philosophie."20 to "It is always necessary selling anti-philosophe novel of the 1780s, Les Helviennes, come back to this truth ... that the philosophie of my century is true but the nothing Rather than question of seeing chaos of all possible the wisdom contradictions."21 as part of a single movement, the diversity of the philosophes' religious opinions as evidence their enemies insisted instead on depicting this very heterogeneity of common common perversity and intent. As the abb? Lamourette observed typi atheists, materialists, theists, and cally, "the unity of the end brings together them all in equal all manner of unbelievers into a single class of men, rendering measure the plague of virtue and the destroyers of society."22 thus portrayed While enemies of the Enlightenment atheism as the necessary outcome that French society was achiev of eighteenth-century philosophy?one on an as at once the cause and effect this viewed result ing alarming scale?they moral For the men and of another of philosophie's pernicious qualities, depravity. women in question were moved conviction that the without by morality religion was a contradiction in terms; that secular ethics, practically speaking, was an that the "modern paganism" of the philosophes was a sham. By impossibility; an the fear of God and the ramparts of Christian afterlife, breaching eliminating and destroying the philosophes had re respect for religious authority, morality, to Bereft of the restraining all impediments man's basest tendencies. moved men and women bourne of religion and the self-controlling impulse of conscience, manner in all of depravity. would engage new about this emphasis on the There was, of course, nothing particularly a man. of Itwas, after all, Christian inherent depravity straightforward reading a in and with of Augustine, tradition of the Fall, central to the teaching long remove the Christian more did Yet than Catholic philosophie simply yoke thought. over to their naturally It actively and turn men and women appetites. depraved for the delights of this The philosophes' them as well. apologies encouraged a in their enemies' them sex?became, among reading, being world?principal summons to most "Under the the pretext passions. lusty indulge frightful a false and human penchants, that there are natural and necessary dangerous the abb? G?rard, the most unbridled emphasized philosophie eulogizes passions," a The and read philosophes "flatter anti-philosophe leading widely polemicist."23 in arms, the abb? de Crillon, and urge their the passions," asserted his comrade in their gratification to seek happiness followers alone.24 The general utilitarian
The Real
The Case
of France
97
in evident calculus of so much Enlightenment thought, moreover?particularly to enjoin men and women to base their actions the writings of Helv?tius?seemed on calculations and pain, equating of pleasure the good with what entirely was pleasurable in the here and now, and the bad with what denied it. The result, an was ethics of that sanctioned horrible maintained, anti-philosophes utility interest the and made criterion of As the egotism overriding morality. personal in a typical refrain, "All the duties of men are reduced to abb? Liger commented to the philosophes," the Grub-Street interest and pleasure."25 "According personal Bernard Cl?ment is arbitrary and echoed, "everything Jean-Marie anti-philosophe so personal for our actions."26 the sole motive interest becomes in turn, was the severing of all the ties The natural effect of this indulgence, men in and women and that bound of obligation, together duty, responsibility son to led against father, and wife society, which subject turning against king, a "universal for ... domestic disgust against husband. The philosophes encouraged duties," pointed out the abb? Lamourette.27 They "eroded, at once, all the ties that to fathers, husbands, wives, and children."28 bound together and gave happiness the "horrible monster" created by the philosophes, "Oh discord of families!," the ease with which husbands and lamented another typical observer, bemoaning own to cast wives alike their oaths of their aside pursue fidelity and the facility with which their parents' children disavowed pleasure, the family was now a germi strictures. Once a refuge from the evils of the world, For inasmuch as "society as a whole" was nothing nating source of its corruption. but an "imitation" of the order of families, the horrors within spread abundantly without. "It is the domestic the author continued, "that prepare the virtues," a father, a son, a social virtues. And he who does not know how to be a husband, selfish friend, or a neighbor, will not know how to be a citizen."29 Itwas but a small step from this latter charge to the assertion that the philosophes were foundations France. For again, despite the of political rapidly undermining in the range of political views they espoused, the collective effect of their doctrine, their enemies' minds, was to cut the restraints that for centuries had kept subjects monar in check. By killing God, they removed the spiritual basis for divine-right on nexus human dissolved the relations social self-interest, chy; by founding they and that underlay the deference, respect; by weakening duty, hierarchy, family, license and revolt into the very heart of civil society; and finally, they introduced the wisdom of history, and tradition?what custom, mocking by continually Burke would later call the collected reason of the ages?the philosophes unchained man from all that made him decent. Just as the end result of the philosophes' attack on religion was atheism, so would It their assault on society end in anarchy. was a point that enemies of the were ex to with make Enlightenment prepared ceptional clarity. As the prolific religious apologist, in a small primer intended Richard, emphasized women of the dangers of philosophie: Everywhere
sharpens
the Dominican Charles-Louis to warn and ordinary men and of war, prepares
and carnage, sacrifices
philosophie lights the torch of discord

lays fires, orders murder, massacre,
poisons,
fathers
swords,
by the hands of sons, and sons by the hands of fathers. It directs lances and swords at the heads and the breasts of sovereigns, placing them on scaffolds, which it yearns to see flowing with sovereign's blood?blood that itwill drink in deep draughts as it
feasts its eyes on the horrible specter of their torn, mutilated, and bloody members.30
98
text was singular in its graphic imagery but not in its general point. For Richard's in final decade of the Old Regime, to flood all lev the when, philosophie appeared a sort of fashionable els of society in what became kitsch or "modish lifestyle," could only recoil in horror, decrying what they saw as the coming anti-philosophes As the provincial and anti-philosophe academician, litt?rateur, apocalypse.31 in to de bemoaned "the destructive 1787, Juvigny, spirit that dominates Rigoley no to it. has has stop anything Philosophisme day longer penetrated everywhere, has corrupted The future, to these observers, looked dark indeed. everything."32 One result of this apocalyptic and apocalyptic rhetoric?at least in expectation France?was that many of these very same figures greeted 1789 as the horrible fulfillment of their worst has important fears, a fact that, as I elaborate elsewhere, us to teach about the of the French Revolution. Here, things early dynamics I want to emphasize another point?one made though, explicit by the title of Richard's work cited above: La Doctrine des philosophes modernes. Here, we note the in fact, a single philosophical the reification, that there was, occlusion, implying was a a unified whole. And indeed, neither Richard that philosophie doctrine, thing, nor his colleagues had any doubts about this. Philosophie, philosophisme, the so a was common called si?cle des lumi?res coherent entity comprising assumptions,
common aspirations, and most importantly, common consequences.
to stress this point, because what one clearly discerns It is important in this is first discourse the the first construction of the creation, collective, anti-philosophe or the doctrine of The philosophie, philosophique. reigning argument, Enlightenment, and Hans-Dietrich made by Roger Chartier, Thomas Schleich, Rolf Reichhardt, was is that the others, Gumbrecht, among Enlightenment only constructed an attempt to confer paternity the Revolution?in and le after the fact?during on we with comments: not break the As Chartier the "Should past. gitimation ... that it was that invented the Enlightenment consider the Revolution by at a in to root texts its and of authors, corpus tempting legitimacy founding and united, beyond their extreme differences, reconciled of a by their preparation a with the When old world. without (not debate) rupture together they brought ancestors and when of Rousseau, Voltaire, pantheon including Mably, Raynal, a radically to philosophy critical function (if not to all the they assigned a continuity a constructed that was primarily the revolutionaries Philosophes), I do not disagree and search for paternity."33 that this of justification process the fact that this same process process took place, but I believe Chartier overlooks the Enlightenment's Well before Kant had first among occurred opponents. even posed its enemies had answered, the question, "What is Enlightenment?," as light." Philosophie, in their view, was an abomination, "Darkness masquerading a an infectious virus that spread in epidemic proportion, eating away at plague, in its path. everything sense and is useful to consider these men It is in this respect, then, that itmakes as part of a Counter-Enlightenment movement. For it was not over and women a retro of and against some retrospective assemblage philosophical principles, that these authors the Enlightenment entailed of what spective interpretation own own construction of their but rather their combated, against understanding, was. And by tendentiously and then what the Enlightenment answering, posing, of course of Lights?" these polemicists "What was the Century the question, were at the same time making Their both implicit and explicit counter-claims.
The Real
Counter-Enlightenment: was
The Case a foil against
of France which to work
99 out
Enlightenment,
in other words,
largely
competing counter-positions. this side of things, the more positive of what I am Now program ideological a as a dis here of course, is, French, Catholic, Counter-Enlightenment presenting some of the more salient points?which cussion unto itself. I shall just highlight in effect, was follow naturally from what has been said so far. The mechanism, if based effective, Thus, upon simple, oppositions. rhetorically straightforward, whereas the philosophes allegedly undermined religion, tilling the soil of atheism, to human happiness and social the anti-philosophes put forth religion's necessity the philosophes urged the satisfaction the of personal pleasures, security. Whereas
stressed the incumbency of duty, sanctity of individual rights, the anti-philosophes the philosophes spoke in ungrounded the priority of the social whole. Whereas the speculations of custom, and prejudice with abstractions, opposing history, con the rootedness the the of of reason, anti-philosophes past, primacy emphasized the philosophes deemed stancy over change, of tradition over innovation. Whereas element of society, the anti-philosophes the basic constituent the individual gave it as both the model to and the guardian the of all prominence family, regarding the philosophes advocated the free circulation of Whereas organization. the ideas, the tolerance of opinion and belief, the anti-philosophes alleged hypocrisy the philosophes of these claims, the danger of giving free rein to error. And whereas the anti-philosophes of men and women, spoke of the natural goodness emphasized their capacity for evil. one should not overemphasize the coherence of these countervailing Certainly, a was not out This worked positions. political platform or slate, but rather clearly a loose, though set of articulated with identifiable, propositions ideological this rather broad of En cross-section enemies the of consistency increasing by as I I to in As have book Enemies refer my anti-philosophes. lightenment argued of it was before this common, the Enlightenment, negative symbol of the si?cle des and in certain respects otherwise lumi?res took shape that diverse, conflicting, in the pro forces began to come together in the final years of the Old Regime?and was an what but nonetheless cess, shaped inchoate, fairly consistent, ideological of French historians who trace the of the right. Unlike the great majority position I right in France (or a spectrum of right-wing positions) solely to the Revolution, was to it that before the first and foremost that the argue try Enlightenment right in France took shape?a held by other scholars such as Klaus Epstein, position social in Germany, James Sack, and Javier Herrero who have traced similar phenomena and Spain. England, From the perspective of the above, however, the most aspect of interesting on the meanings the discussion and implications of the Counter-Enlightenment is or the negative one?the construction of the negative portrait Enlightenment Itwas, to be sure, a far cry from the much spread by this anti-philosophe discourse. more critiques of the Enlightenment sophisticated presented by Isaiah Berlin's, a all militant defense of above German, Gegen-Aufkl?rer. principally Shaped by the orthodox Catholic French this if few faith, Counter-Enlightenment produced or who be in considered thinkers could the that timeless, any way great, today or Herder. Moreover, con Hamann Berlin surely considered the anti-philosophe struction of the Enlightenment and grossly unfair?a superficial, to say the least, overstated, itself was, reductive, that has led the great majority fact of students of
100
over the past two hundred to dismiss it as so the eighteenth years century men as much off and it such the who made fanaticism, writing polemic unworthy I should add, even among of serious attention?a evident scholars tendency, more or less sympathetic to the study of religion. The great French scholar of Catholic of the eighteenth for ex century, Albert Monod, theological apologetics more in of the virulent of the commented opponents ample, speaking philosophes, more to be forgotten."34 Even the undoubtedly sensitive simply, "they deserve in his admirable and groundbreaking Robert Palmer, Catholics and Unbe study, set aside what he called "the lievers in Eighteenth-Century France, purposefully more absurd productions of the orthodox," that were only "writings excluding cries of horror, wild assertions and promiscuous calling of names." He acknowl that this process "may well give a false view of the real ideas of edged, however,
the time."35
this assertion, for in the literally hundreds and agree with of books, pamphlets, and journals from the end of the Old sermons, I have consulted, the philosophes, and more generally the Enlightenment, Regime are treated in precisely the terms spelled out above. In short, ifwe are to get at the "real ideas" of the time, we need to take these "wild assertions" for seriously?if no other reason than that they were disseminated in such volume. was by that this Catholic One must add, moreover, Counter-Enlightenment hundreds Western to France, but rather had parallel movements confined throughout in the New World and Eastern and even (Brazil, Mexico, Europe, one has to be careful inmaking such global claims?sensitive Montr?al). Clearly, as well as to the to regional variations, and circumstances, national inflections, an whole. itself was by no means fact, of course, that Catholicism uncomplicated within the complex web of tense, and even discordant, Nevertheless, traditions, one can identify closely gathered strands spun of the same intellectual fiber, mak a to it of Catholic international, ing Counter-Enlightenment possible speak given not just by the universal church but by the tremendous consistency prestige in the eighteenth and currency of French religious apologists century. Ironically, a a moment in that is dark the considered century usually history of the Christian a amount nonetheless of religious apology religion produced startlingly large in the eyes of eighteenth and defense. And whatever the judgment of posterity, was the state of the art?the most French religious apologetics century Catholics, on the very field most the and battle-hardened, sophisticated forged as it was, a consequence, were the first attacks on the Enlightenment As and where waged. in of the French the due in part also to the international currency language eigh were teenth century, cited by their French religious apologists continually in other countries who repeated, borrowed Catholic brethren from, and recycled were often translated in and the these arguments fact, they against Enlightenment, to read through, for example, in their entirety. In fact, when one begins Italian or or to look at such international as the publications religious apologists, Spanish a et in of litt?raire, published Jesuit exiles Journal historique group by Luxembourg are their portrayals in the 1770s and 1780s, it is striking, how consistent of the En were ene after considered the of the all, philosophes who, principal lightenment, mies both within France and without. With the advent and radical turn of the French Revolution, the anti moreover, in of the discourse Old power and philosophe Regime grew immensely persuasive no means
Iwholeheartedly
The Real
The Case
of France
101
this is tremendously cultural resonance. And important. For as the Revolution radical took on an increasingly priests, character?persecuting assailing in international and consuming monarchies, Europe conflagration?yesterday's fanatics began to look more and more prescient.36 No longer could one dismiss out who had warned, of of hand the men and women prior to 1789, of the dangers apostasy they not predicted the terrible anarchy and religious ideas? Had they not issue from Europe's obsession with "enlightened" in the of straying from the path of God? Particularly foretold the consequences and of the Terror?when New tales circulated the aftermath through Europe violence that had placed carried out in a country World of the blood-curdling in the Panth?on, the philosophes as their Voltaire and Rousseau openly proclaiming was logic compelling. spiritual forefathers?such was it remained so. The right, from this perspective, For many men and women would be?its of the had been, analysis dangerous always right, always not simply created, by the Revolu of Enlightenment confirmed, consequences of what the The Revolution corroboration provided tionary experience. bloody so it the Enlightenment would do?and followed could do?what Enlightenment in great need be fought at all cost?a that its resurgence conclusion spread philosophic that would Had abundance and European heads of state in the first third by Catholic polemicists of the nineteenth further confirmed (or at least so it seemed) century; a conclusion and and the of 1830 the Revolutions of what was 1848, gradual progress by by a conclusion bastard deemed child, liberalism; philosophie's lurking in the back a conclusion, of the of and restated in and stated Errors, finally, ground Syllabus and pul of thousands histories, articles, newspaper political engravings, literally in and conservative Catholics Western which sermons, pit spread throughout the image of the philosophes the Catholic world Eastern Europe, and throughout the first created in the eighteenth Canada, century. In Latin America, francophone one finds these same anti-philosophe West and the Indies, elsewhere, Philippines, constructions trotted out again and again well into the twentieth century. When one comes to terms with this fact, it becomes I think, why so easier to understand, a so seen in have could the for constellation of values many Enlightenment long a reason not and malignant of insidious of and source, power, light, but of and despair. At of broadening portance Counter-Enlightenments?to darkness
profound.
the very least, such prodigious the im output suggests our conceptions of the Counter-Enlightenment?or as well as the philosophically include the pedestrian
Notes
1. On istAufkl?rung? Wissenschaftliche and commentary translations 1973), and the fine English Buchgesellschaft, in is What An ed., Schmidt, James Enlightenment? provided Eighteenth-Century swers and Twentieth-Century and Los Questions Angeles: University (Berkeley and Michael Albrecht, this debate, see Norbert Hinske aus Berlinischen der (Darmstadt: Beitr?ge Monatsschrift Was
of California Press, 1996). 2. "M?moire au roi," Proc?s-verbal de l'assembl?e g?n?rale du clerg? de France, tenue en l'ann?e mil sept cent cinquante-cinq ? Paris, au couvent des grands-augustins, 327-9. (Paris, 1764), pp.
102
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment de l'assembl?e g?n?rale du clerg? de France, tenue ? Paris, au couvent en l'ann?e mil sept cent soixante-cinq et continu?e en l'ann?e des grands-augustins, mil sept cent soixante-six (Paris, 1773), pp. 200-2, and Proc?s-verbal de l'assembl?e au couvent des en g?n?rale du clerg? de France, tenue ? Paris, grands-augustins, l'ann?e mil sept cent soixante-dix (Paris, 1776), p. 124. et r?futation de divers ?crits Lettres critiques, ou Analyse [Gabriel Gauchat], modernes contre la religion, 19 vols. (Paris, 1755-1763), i, "Preface," p. 7. Ibid. La Religion [Jean G. Soret and Jean-Nicolas-Hubert veng?e, ou Hayer], ... une auteurs 21 des Soci?t? de Gens de vols. Lettres, (Paris, par impies R?futation 1757-1763). on this anti-philosophe world of letters, see Darrin M. For further reflections in "The and the of Literature Low-Life McMahon, Counter-Enlightenment Past Present 159 77-112. A & somewhat France," (1998), pp. Pre-Revolutionary account in Kurt Wais, is also provided Das still useful, dated, though
3. Proc?s-verbal
4. 5. 6.
7.
Sturm und Drang 1760-1789 (Berlin: antiphilosophische Weltbild desfranz?sischen Junker und D?nnhaupt, 1934). a scion of a 8. Fleury, served as avocat distinguished parliamentary family, in 1746, premier avocat g?n?ral in 1756, g?n?ral at the Paris Parlement beginning and pr?sident ? mortier from 1774-1790. He took an instrumental role in pursu of many of the philosophes in the 1750s and 1760s. S?guier, ing the persecutions likewise an avocat g?n?ral, was also a member of the Acad?mie fran?aise (1757), and an equally dogged opponent of the philosophes. 9. Biblioth?que nationale. MS Nouv. acq (Collection Joly de Fleury), Vol. 352, folio 6. Arrests de la cour de Parlement, portant condamnation de plusieurs 3807-19, livres et autres ouvrages imprim?s ... Extrait des registres de parlement du 23 Janvier 1759 (Paris, 1759), pp. 2-4. [Antoine-Louis S?guier], R?quisitoire sur lequel est intervenu l'arr?t du Parlement du 18 ao?t 1770, qui condamne ? ?tre br?l?es diff?rents livres ou Brochures, intitul?s, etc., etc., imprim? par ordre expr?s du Roi (Paris, 1770), pp. 1-4. 11. J. P. Migne, des orateurs sacr?s, 99 vols. Collection int?grale et universelle 10. (Paris, 1844-46), Vol. 65, Oeuvres compl?tes de Cambac?r?s, Sermon III, "Sur les incr?dules," pp. 1047-8. 12. This critique frequently led to charges of a formal philosophe conspiracy. On see Amos of such conspiratorial the ancien-r?gime accusations, prevalence French His "The Origins of the Theory of the Philosophe Conspiracy," Hofman, Enemies of the Enlightenment: tory 2 (1988), pp. 152-72, and Darrin McMahon, and theMaking The French Counter-Enlightenment (New York: ofModernity 56-65. Press, 2001), pp. esp. University de l'assembl?e-g?n?rale du Avertissement 13. [Jean-George Le Franc de Pompignan], aux ce royaume sur les avantages de la religion chr?tienne France de de Clerg? fid?les et les effets pernicieux de l'incr?dulit? (Paris, 1775), p. 5. 14. Hofman, "The Origins of the Theory of the Philosophe Conspiracy," p. 168. later prove a central assertion of Hegel, who argued at 15. This, of course, would was merely of Sprit that the French Enlightenment length in the Phenomenology in a different the "Lutheran Reformation form." It is noteworthy that this had been put forth in considerable assertion detail by orthodox Catholics in the eighteenth of the Enlightenment, century. On Hegel's understanding Oxford
The Real see Lewis
The Case
of France
103
Fla.: Hinchman, (Gainesville, Hegel's Critique of the Enlightenment Presses of Florida, 1984). University 16. See Hofman's analysis in "Origins of the Theory of the Philosophe Conspiracy," in his "The reflections of J.M. Roberts pp. 163-9, as well as the insightful Protestants and The French Revolution," Freemasons, Historical No. 109 (1971), pp. 80-93. Research, xliv, of 17. On the significant anti-philosophe and anti-Protestant reaction generated by the Enemies of the Enlightenment, Ch. 1. Edict, see McMahon, Origins Bulletin 18. See ibid. de Saint-Aubin de Genlis], La Religion consid?r?e Ducrest [St?phanie-F?licit? comme la du & de v?ritable base bonheur philosophie (Paris, 1787), p. 222. l'unique 20. Ann?e litt?raire, 1783, vi, p. 5. ou Lettres provinciales philosophiques, 5 vols. 21. [Augustin Barruel], Les Helviennes, 156-7. of later conspiracy iv, pp. Barruel, (Paris, 1781-88), theory fame, on the Ann?e litt?raire in the late 1770s and early 1780s, and from worked 1788-1792 served as editor of the Journal eccl?siastique, the leading professional 19. went at least five Les Helviennes, through and 1781 1788. editions augmented sur la ou 22. Antoine-Adrien Pens?es de l'incr?dulit?, Lamourette, philosophie sur ce si?cle (Paris, R?flexions l'esprit et le dessein des philosophes irr?ligieux de are 1785), p. 59. ?lie Harel noted similarly that "the [the philosophes'] principles publication of the clergy. between so inconsistent to atheism." that they lead directly Harel, [Maximilien-Marie le P. ?lie], La Vraie philosophie (Strasbourg and Paris, 1783), p. 13. Le Comte de Valmont, ou Les ?garements de la G?rard], [Abb? Philippe-Louis in 1774, the Comte de raison, 6 vols. (Paris, 1826), i, p. 212. First published in at least seven edi Valmont was considerably and augmented republished it one of the anti-philosophe tions by 1784, making "best-sellers" of the end of the Old R?gime. des Balbes de Berton de Crillon], M?moires philosophiques du [Louis Athanase Baron De***, 2nd ed., 2 vols. (1779), i, p. 135. Ren? Liger, Triomphe de la religion chr?tienne, sur toutes les sectes philosophiques (Paris, 1785), p. ix. See also pp. 187 ff. Satires, parM. C*** (Amsterdam, Cl?ment], [Jean-Marie-Bernard 1786), p. 165. and his career, see McMahon, "The Counter-Enlightenment and On Cl?ment of Literature," pp. 94-8. the Low-Life Pens?es sur la philosophie, p. 191. Lamourette, iv, pp. 173-4. Barruel, Les Helviennes, 1785, p. 163. Journal eccl?siastique, xcviii, Part 2, February, de la doctrine des philosophes modernes Charles-Louis Richard, Exposition called that the philosophes modernes, to (Maines, 1785), pp. 52-3. It isworth stressing whom Richard refers here, included the standard figures of the High Enlight enment pantheon: Voltaire, d'Alembert, Diderot, Raynal, Helv?tius, Holbach, Robinet, and others. 31. Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht and Rolf Reichardt, in Rolf "Philosophe, Philosophie," and Eberhard Schmitt, eds., Handbuch politisch-sozialer Grundbegriffe Reichardt in Frankreich 1680-1820,10 vols. (Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1985-), pp. 59-61. De et la d?cadence 32. Jean-Antoine de des lettres des moeurs, depuis Juvigny, Rigoley les grecs et les romains jusqu'? nos jours (Paris, 1787), p. 452-3. Rigoley was a of aMythology: of the Institute
23.
24. 25. 26.
27. 28. 29. 30.
104
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment conseiller honoraire of the Parlement of Metz Sciences, Arts & Belles-Lettres de Dijon. and a member of the Acad?mie des
trans. Lydia The Cultural Origins 33. Roger Chartier, of the French Revolution, and Duke London: G. Cochrane Press, 1991), p. 5. (Durham University De Pascal ? Chateaubriand: Les d?fenseurs fran?ais du Christianisme 34. Albert Monod, de 1670 ? 1802 (Paris: n.p., 1916), p. 472. in Eighteenth-Century 35. Robert Palmer, Catholics and Unbelievers 21. Princeton University Press, 1939), p. in which 36. On French the way Counter-Enlightenment Revolutionary o? philosophie, realization observers interpreted see McMahon, France (Princeton:
and Counter the Revolution, from its onset, as the Enemies of the Enlightenment, ch. 2.
Ser
lin and
the Qerman
Frederick ?eiser
I. The Basic Equation

in Germany, the beginning there has been one of the nineteenth century for the of of issues formula social and political many very popular interpretation can be found among those on both the left and the formula This authority. right, center. According to this formula, liberal equals ratio and even in the moderate as freedom of conscience, liberal values?such fundamental nal; in other words, Since toleration, upon the authority of liberty of press, and equality before the law?rest or criticize reason. Hence in it is often thought that to question this authority manner to is these liberal whatsoever values themselves. Whether any impugn by it is to support such nonliberal values as the sanctity of intention or implication, tradition and the unity of state and Church. The source of this equation goes back to the 1790s and the advent of the French to defend the French philosophes attempted those heady days when Revolution, their grand ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity in the name of reason. Some critics of the Revolution, conservative such as Justus Moser, A. W. Rehberg, and the authority of reason it Friedrich Gentz, criticized these ideals by questioning in self. The disputes between left and right in Germany then became enmired reason. reason issues the of Can determine the powers concerning epistemological fundamental of the state? And, if so, does it have the power tomotivate principles on these principles? to act The battle lines between left and right were people answers to these questions. to their conflicting drawn according The left defended its liberal principles the powers of reason, while the right criticized by stressing reason. the limits of these principles by emphasizing The debates of the 1790s set a powerful and lasting precedent. For in the 1830s was couched in essentially the dispute between the liberals and the conservatives to defend the same terms. While the liberals continued their ideals in the name of reason, their romantic opponents would appeal to the authority of tradition to jus a to return of the unity of Church and state, and the preservation tify monarchy, the old class-distinctions (St?nde). The equation persisted well into the 1930s, and
105
106
saw themselves as the heirs of the and have at beyond. Marxists Enlightenment, some tacked the right for its relapse into irrationalism. Nazi Ironically, ideologues the charge, but only to insist that reason is not the solution but the prob accepted lem. In order to uphold the German values of community, nation, and tradition, rationalism. they attacked the legacy of Enlightenment But is it necessarily the case that the "liberal" is the "rational"? Is there some connection is between these Or this concepts? equation logical simply accidental some historical debates as if and historical, the result of generalizing they held for at least that all epochs? That there is no necessary connection between them?or is much more complex than many would the connection admit?becomes clear from the Counter-Enlightenment, that group of late eighteenth-century thinkers to the Aufkl?rung, is best represented which J. G. opposed by J. G. Hamann, were reason F. H. and thinkers of the These critics claims of Herder, Jacobi.1 sharp made by the Aufkl?rung; yet they also made to defend liberal val these criticisms ues. They argued that the excessive claims of reason made by the Aufkl?rer not toleration and religious freedom, but that they also supported only undermined the oppression of ethnic identities and cultural traditions. Of course, the Aufkl?rer in kind: they were to these criticisms the true protectors of freedom, responded was and it was the irrationalism the Schw?rmer that of liberal undermining fact that there is debate here should forewarn us that the values.2 Yet the mere it without is problematic. We cannot make equation abstracting contexts and begging philosophical questions. status of the liberal-rational While the problematic has been little equation in discussions of the Counter-Enlightenment, itself has the equation recognized not been without its critics. One of the most persuasive and powerful of these has liberal-rational from historical and the Counter-Enlightenment, Influenced by Romanticism that has been the traditional the Enlightenment rationalism questioned he rejected the Enlightenment doctrine support of liberalism.3 More specifically, to which of natural there is a single universal law, according system of values a liberal, as such. Nevertheless, for mankind Berlin remained holding insisting an to that fundamental be liberal principles have based upon of a va acceptance For incommensurable and values. the of fundamental Berlin, riety competing in the postmodern for liberalism world was how to justify its central problem been Isaiah Berlin. Berlin of Enlightenment rationalism. assumptions I believe, not only that he questioned the dogma of but that the liberal-rational he also recognized the challenge posed by the equation, to the Enlightenment faith in reason. For Berlin, thinkers Counter-Enlightenment and Jacobi were not simple relics from that old curiosity like Hamann, Herder, as the history of philosophy: innovative and powerful crit they were shop known so common in all its forms who have questioned ics of rationalism the belief?still are resolvable to philosophers the basic social and political problems today?that reason. is indeed still with us The German much very Counter-Enlightenment by in The criticisms the of of rational form today "postmodernism." Enlightenment ism in the work in almost all of Richard Rorty and Alasdair Maclntyre were, and Jacobi. While their Herder, respects, anticipated by Hamann, a now reason their criticism of resonates. is relic still faith of pietistic history, all his sympathy with Hamann, and Jacobi, and despite Herder, Yet, despite his being so deeply influenced by them, Berlin still remained a harsh critic of the fundamental values without the problematic It is to Berlin's great credit,
Berlin German Counter-Enlightenment. as its extreme anti-intellectualism,
and
the German
107
of what he regarded He especially disapproved it for its "obscurantism," its de thus censuring and myth, and its hatred of science. Though Hamann, fense of prejudice Jacobi, to the label, Berlin did not hesitate and Herder themselves against protested as "anti-rationalism" and "irrationalism."4 characterize their philosophy More
of the political intentions and conse Berlin was suspicious however, importantly, reason. of Time and again in behind the quences critique Counter-Enlightenment "a reactionary" for his opposition his TheMagus of theNorth, Berlin labels Hamann was a to the reforms of Friedrich and maintains that Hamann II, persistently Berlin himself had bitter opponent of liberal culture.5 The irony is that while to thanks the doubts about the liberal-rational equation Counter-Enlightenment, and Jacobi as if their thought was still of Hamann, he sometimes wrote Herder, in this formula. It is as if their critique of reason were still antiliberal, both by intention and by implication. is not to examine the liberal-rational here itself? equation My purpose a gargantuan to Berlin's the task?and still less tackle about question obviously, one: Iwish to of liberalism. My task is amuch more modest historical foundations stuck of the German Counter-Enlightenment, and more interpretation as to accurate it is it and describe "irrational." whether "reactionary" specifically it is tempting to dismiss these terms as mere "slurs" or Schimpfw?rter, Although to be behind there are complex need them, which interpretive assumptions to and exposed. Unfortunately, these labels have stuck, contributing examined some very widespread about the misunderstandings Counter-Enlightenment. as here is that, in regarding the Counter-Enlightenment argument My main not Berlin's and is anachronistic but also irrational, reactionary interpretation only as "reactionary" is to ignore Hamann's, tendentious. Herder's, Simply to label it to basic liberal values. And to brand it as "irra and Jacobi's deep commitment over their own strident or "antirationalism" is to ride roughshod tionalism" examine Berlin's it is to beg the question about the limits protests against these labels. Even worse, of reason and the nature of freedom, and involves the taking of sides in some com to see that, for all their criticisms of the thereon. It is important plicated disputes never and the value and necessity Hamann, Herder, Jacobi questioned Aufkl?rung, in dispute its limits. But, of concerned of reason itself; for them the only question and delicate dialectical course, just how we draw these limits is a very difficult even incompatible, task. Since there are different, of defining these limits, ways
one person's rationalism becomes another's irrationalism.
is that the fundamental of Berlin's interpre weakness My argument, however, tation is that it fails to see the liberal inspiration behind the Counter-Enlightenment and Jacobi's criticism of the Herder's, critique of reason.6 Ifwe place Hamann's, we can see in its historical that its purpose was not to context, proper Aufkl?rung toleration and but rather to support basic liberal values, undermine, especially and Jacobi believed that the Aufkl?rer freedom of conscience. Hamann, Herder, had betrayed their own liberal values of toleration and of freedom of speech and their religious and political beliefs with the standards of rea press by identifying son itself. The Aufkl?rer saw their own form of rationalized as the Protestantism saw as and modern the form of values faith, European only legitimate they as such. Worst of all, however, au the universal values of mankind sanctioned they that oppressed traditional tocratic policies of absolutist governments liberties and
108 ethnic
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment identities.
In short, the Aufkl?rer were guilty of "the tyranny of reason" of der different (Alleinherrschaft Vernunft), oppressing religions and cultures in the name of reason. That summarizes the cri phrase perfectly Counter-Enlightenment same at of and the the time the captures tique Aufkl?rung Counter-Enlightenment's essentially liberal spirit.
II. The Politics
of the Counter-Enlightenment
I proceed to examine To clarify this contention, the first of Berlin's labels, his claim was that the Counter-Enlightenment There are two senses inwhich "reactionary." accurate. that are perfectly Berlin uses this phrase First, Berlin refers to the as reactionary "in strict the sense" because Hamann, Counter-Enlightenment to return to and "wished tradition the older of the ages of Herder, Jacobi a over in which consisted of that faith," way thinking emphasized quality over over concrete the the and the the abstract.7 There quantity, simple analyzable, is some truth to this point; but it has no political In another significance. sense Berlin states that the was because Counter-Enlightenment reactionary Herder and Jacobi were II of of the reforms of Friedrich Hamann, opponents Prussia and of Joseph II of Austria.8 This point too is indisputable. It iswell known that Hamann, and Jacobi despised the increasing centralization and Herder, bureaucratization and Josephine of the Frederician reforms, which put more in the hands of the central government at the expense of ancient liberties, power traditions, and identities. so often Neither of these points entail, however, what the term "reactionary" a in belief the for need of au traditional forms antiliberalism, suggests: namely, a new forms of human and all to of Berlin freedom. attempts thority suspicion secure this added conclusion, that the and Frederician however, by implying
Josephine reforms were liberal, modernizing, and progressive, in a way that
it seem as if all opposition to them had to be reactionary.9 makes But it is simply to assume bad history that these reforms were liberal in spirit. Their purpose was not to guarantee the rights of man, or liberty, equality, and fraternity, but to consolidate the control and power of the central monarchy. To understand and Jacobi's critique of the Aufkl?rung, it Hamann's, Herder's, is of the first importance that we place it in the context of their opposition to ab of the Aufkl?rung solutism. They were such sharp critics of the rationalism chiefly it with Friedrich's and associated because, they justifiably, Joseph's perfectly of Friedrich's absolutism. The Aufkl?rer were indeed in the vanguard and Joseph's name reason. in the of defended Such reforms, which they Aufkl?rer as Carl G. in Prussia, and Josef von Sonnenfels, Svarez, E. F. Klein, and J.A. Eberhard J.H. Justi, and C. A. Beck in Austria, would appeal time and again to the prin to to be the reforms. These natural of law defend principles were supposed ciples as so true and of mankind that who those valid, self-evident, such, universally to their private dared to protest against them had to be acting according interests and Jacobi, the imposition rather than the public good. But, to Hamann, Herder, of these laws was leading to increasing uniformity, and centraliza bureaucracy, a to a brutally state where citizen became efficient tion, and ultimately every a in in machine. these their reforms view, because, cog against They protested they were leading to the loss of local liberties, ethnic identities, and cultural traditions. G. von
Berlin To be sure,
and
the German
109
of the rights of man theirs was not a defense against tyrannical was it the conservative but rationalism neither critique of enlightened oppression; found among the "Hannoverian Whigs" (writers like Justus Moser, Ernst Brandes, interest was to defend the old St?ndesstaat; and and A. W. Rehberg), whose main of the 1790s, the still less was it a critique like that of those reactionary writers
reforms in the name of the traditional pre Eudemonisten, who attacked absolutist and the the of church Rather, Hamann's, rights of the aristocracy.10 rogatives
Herder's, and Jacobi's main concern was much more "postmodern," namely, to
and bureaucratic against pluralism the and Saxons tomain of advocated the Latvians, Poles, They rights uniformity. own and the and tain their old ways values of their of life, unique languages cultural traditions. Itwas because of the Aufkl?rer alliance with absolutism that Hamann, Herder, and Jacobi accused them of "the tyranny of reason." This phrase was given a very reason arose, he explained, definite meaning from the by Jacobi.11 The tyranny of or party alone represents one sect of that the which claims principles Sektengeist, error because reason. This was a dangerous if the views of only one party or sect were be no point in listening to, or tolerating anyone else, rational, there would views would irrational and so beneath discussion. whose be by definition Jacobi was not that but this view undesirable contended, very plausibly, only politically he contended, is only a formal power, fallacious. also philosophically Reason, than the inferential which relations between determines proposi nothing more or in specific consists which tions; it is not a substantive power principles standards. As just such a formal power, reason is neutral with regard to all parties, and is a tool to which it everyone has a claim simply as a partner in a discussion; to mention to absurd?for that their is therefore claim intolerant?not anyone to Jacobi, it was Lessing who alone is rational. According first de standpoint fended this broad formal concept of reason, which permitted toleration between views. This explains how Jacobi, despite his critique of the Aufkl?rung, opposing could still identify so strongly with that most radical of Aufkl?rer. for the Counter That the critique of absolutism was an important motivation reason not least of from becomes clear several sources, critique Enlightenment from Hamann's diatribes against Friedrich II, and from Herder's tirade against the state in his Auch eine Philosophie der Geschichte derMenschheit. Nowhere is machine itmore evident, however, than from a neglected his 1780 early essay by Jacobi, since it marks the "Etwas, da? Lessing gesagt hat."12 This essay is important a start of Jacobi's campaign the Berlin that against Aufkl?rung, eventually struggle in his famous controversy in 1786, the so-called with Mendelssohn culminated over the The impetus behind Jacobi's essay was his indignation Pantheismusstreit. had which traditional of Catholic institu reforms II, swept away Joseph religious new not engaged in education were tions in Austria. Monasteries closed, posts were filled with candidates in rationalist and the many schooled rituals theology, and holidays reduced or abolished. In Joseph's Austria, the of the Church were Church had a merely secular and social function: its sole purpose was to educate to teach them the basic precepts and the rewards of good conduct. the people, was a a theocrat, he felt that these re not still less While himself Catholic, Jacobi a threat to religious to the very existence and forms were indeed of freedom, defend cultural religion itself.
absolutist
centralization
HO
Isaiah Berlins
an exten Jacobi's later attack upon the Berlin Aufkl?rer in 1786 was essentially sion of his critique of the Josephine reforms in 1782. Jacobi was suspicious of the Berliners?Friedrich and J. E. Biester?not Gedike, J. J. Engel, Friedrich Nicolai, in league with Friedrich II and all too happy to enlist his least because they were own narrow in their version of rationalized Protestantism. support enforcing His suspicions were especially reinforced by the so-called "Crypto-Catholicism" two leading Aufkl?rer, Biester and Gedike, in 1784 when which controversy, began wrote articles in the Berlinische Monatsschrift the Protestant practice of criticizing to in Protestant Biester and Catholics Gedike feared churches.13 allowing worship that this practice was the product of "false tolerance," for the Catholics were only a foothold for their reconquest of lost Protestant lands. They using the churches as the public had never renounced warned that the Catholics their claim to be the their ideal of reuniting only saving faith, and that they had never abandoned in their view, Protestants who Christendom under one banner. Hence, tolerated were naive, to be reconquered in the name of Catholics themselves allowing to profess their be Biester and Gedike continued freedom of conscience. Although so it lief in toleration, that has clear that force should be limits, very they argued and conspire for Catholicism. used against those who proselytize There followed a very in the pages of the Berlinische Monatsschrift lively debate about the meaning of toleration itself. arose from this earlier debate. Accord Jacobi's later dispute with Mendelssohn their cardinal sin of the tyranny ing to Jacobi, the Aufkl?rer had again committed the views of their own party for those of reason in general. of reason, mistaking see that reason could not lie in the principles of any particular party They failed to common to all parties. They also had a false view about but only in the reasoning the basis of toleration: its foundation lies not in the mistaken belief that all people are the same, sharing in some universal human nature, but in the recognition that are and that itself valuable. different difference is inherently people
III. The Religion

Of course, the hatred
of the Counter-Enlightenment
was not the of absolutism for the Counter only motive that played critique of the Aufkl?rung. There was another motive Enlightenment an even more role: the defense of faith and religious It is values. important here to discuss briefly Hamann's, and Jacobi's religious be Herder's, necessary an understanding liefs because of their liberalism, and for their they are crucial for are pinned down, absolutism. Once of their there critique religious sympathies
cannot be any doubt about their liberal intentions. of Counter-Enlightenment The common interpretation piety, which Berlin fol as "one of the in pietism. its origins Berlin characterizes lows, stresses pietism austere most and all the inner currents self-absorbed of of introspective, ... laid stress on the as "that wing of German Lutheranism which Lutheranism," faith and direct union with God, achieved depth and sincerity of personal by self-examination, passionate, intensely introspective scrupulous religious feeling, and prayer."14 This is a fine general description self-absorbtion and concentrated to explain of pietism, but it does not really help the religious of origins is that pietism, The problem like so many the Counter-Enlightenment. "isms," is an umbrella term that covers all kinds of groups. One still needs to know the
Berlin specific form of pietism to understand possible
and
the German
111
of the Counter-Enlightenment. characteristic Only then is it the depth of its liberalism. all influenced strand of and Jacobi were Hamann, Herder, by one extreme in the Radical Reformation of the sixteenth whose pietism, origins lay well into the the its ideas Radical century, persisted eighteenth century.15 Though to back the of the Reforma Reformation antedates pietism itself, going early days were Sebastian tion. Some of its chief exponents Franck, Caspar Schwenkfeld, Valentin Weigel, and, last Jakob Boehme, Gottfried Arnold, Christian Edelmann, stream of from the main but not least, Lessing. The radical reformers differed in at least one fundamental founded respect: pietism by Spener and Francke so that it could a was not to the Church their aim from within, reform play simply to cut state the bond between better role in the state, but rather and Church. As radical champions the very idea of a state of religious liberty, they opposed Church and advocated instead the idea of toleration. The radical reformers clung to Luther's grand ideals?the of all believ the priesthood liberty of the Christian, that Luther had his ideals the princes. ers?but believed before compromised they of Peace the eius The fundamental of religio? principle Augsburg?cuis regio, in all religious matters; meant this destroyed that the prince was sovereign any state true and and for for the Church of thus free any prospect separation hope to these radical reformers, dom of conscience. According the essential spirit of the the heart of the believer, from Reformation entails that all true faith must spring to enforce faith destroys it. Any kind of state that any attempt and that means in matters faith is therefore not only counterproductive interference of religious but also impious. Now it was this spirit of the Radical Reformation that was so central to the and political values of the Counter-Enlightenment. and Herder, Hamann, so to not want to reform the and did the Church, Jacobi accept unity of merely were state and Church of orthodox Lutheranism; also they perfectly happy with and ready to recognize and freethinkers the idea of toleration, Jews, Catholics, too of within the state. Like the radical reformers, insisted that freedom they is sacrosanct, and that no official religion should ever impinge on its conscience to absolutism. domain. This was indeed the chief source of their opposition They not must stem from the that but also all and virtue only piety argued happiness to compel a person to be inner heart of the individual. It was no more possible or was to to it than force them be virtuous pious. happy to the radical form of and Jacobi's adherence Given Hamann's, Herder's, not to it is find them endorsing Luther's principle of Christian liberty, surprising one of the fundamental the what Kant of called "the right principles Aufkl?rung: to the of the individual examine of self-thought" all beliefs ac (Selbstdenken), right own reason and conscience. was to in his their it the Aufkl?rer view, But, cording is this critique of the Aufkl?rung this principle. who had betrayed Nowhere more apparent than in Hamann's letter to C. J.Kraus of December 18,1784, where he attacks Kant's famous essay "Was ist Aufkl?rung?"16 Kant's distinction be means one tween the private and public use of reason, Hamann that complains, social an article for the Berlinische really has freedom only when writing Monatsschrift, in one's vocation and daily life one remains a hypocrite and a slave. In the while amounts to nothing more ideal of the Aufkl?rung than a paraphrase end, Kant's of Friedrich's itwas all too dictum: "Say what you want but obey!" To Hamann,
112 obvious himself:
to think for in Prussia the common man does not have the power why Friedrich had a huge disciplined his command. every army enforcing Hamann, Herder, and Jacobi all endorse the principle of self-thought, Although as that of the it is important to see that they do not give it the same meaning not with do criticism rational alone, that is, the equate self-thought Aufkl?rer. They to the evidence. beliefs of Rather, they see it in terms power assessing according It is not that of the individual's need to test all beliefs through inner experience. we must have sufficient reasons for our beliefs, but that they inter that they deny terms from those of the rationalists. Their terms are pret these reasons in different in propositions, not only discursive, and so can be formulated but they are also in or In sensations. either case, no matter tuitive, resting upon inarticulable feelings we it should be clear that Hamann, how of self-thought, interpret the principle and Jacobi embrace it as much as the Aufkl?rer did. For this reason alone, Herder, we have to recognize their profound commitment to liberal values.
IV. The
There
Issue of Irrationalism
of the accuracy of Berlin's other epithet: "irrational reasons for applying this term to Hamann, plausible and Jacobi, and each of them deserves careful consideration. Herder, because First, one might they limit the charge these thinkers with irrationalism one of their favorite It the realm of faith. and extend is of rational criticism sphere or refute even the most that reason cannot demonstrate arguments ordinary be in the existence of other of tables and chairs, in the existence liefs?one's beliefs that all such beliefs ulti and even in the existence of one's own self?and minds, rest upon faith alone. What makes these beliefs true is simply some special mately no more or sensation, to criticize such feelings or sensa it and is possible feeling tions than it is to question tastes, sounds, colors. Either one has had the experience or one has not, in the same way that one cannot know whether oranges have a or I taste taste is than blue unless red whether oranges and see red tangy brighter and blue. In thus limiting the powers of rational criticism, and in thus conflating and Jacobi seem to be beliefs with ordinary ones, Hamann, Herder, religious to all beliefs, no matter the dear the Enlightenment?that violating principle?so how sacred, must submit to criticism. is that itwould be irrational behind this argument The underlying assumption to limit the rights of reason in any manner, or that the right of criticism has to be But that this assumption is deeply unrestricted if reason is not to be undermined. ism." There remains the question are three very problematic Immanuel was one of the central insights of the greatest Aufkl?rer of them all, It was one of the basic teachings of the first Kritik that the Kant. own reason and that reason must re its of self-constraint, depends upon authority unreason. If reason transcends strict itself if it is not to turn into its very opposite, unreason it naturally and necessarily because its own limits, then it becomes
as the paralogisms, and anti amphiboles, lapses into all kinds of fallacies, such reason with Kant's of and nomies. Hamann's, Herder's, Jacobi's critique begins of reason?hence their critique is entirely immanent? for the sd/-critique demand it into the meta-critique of reason. They but they take it a step further and make for radical criticism, then itmust insist that if reason is to follow its own demand criticize criticism itself, for the practice of criticism too has its presuppositions.
Berlin
and
the German
113
Another problem with this argument is that it plays fast and loose with the term it "irrationalism." applies only to that doctrine which enjoins us Strictly speaking, case of In this precise sense, the paradigm to hold beliefs contrary to the evidence. is irrationalism would be Tertullian's "Credo absurdam." This how not, adage quia and Jacobi. They contend that those beliefs of Hamann, Herder, ever, the position we hold as a matter of faith have no evidence against them at all, so that reason the old medieval distinction of be support nor refute them. Applying to reason, those contrary to reason and those above reason, they are liefs according in effect arguing that most of our beliefs are above reason and not contrary to it. This might be called "supra-rationalism" but hardly "anti-rationalism." and Jacobi are irrationalist is The second reason for thinking Hamann, Herder, of knowledge that they elevate the intuitive component and denigrate its discur sive or rational component. They elevate the intuitive component when they claim is the senses. It is only our senses that that the main source of all our knowledge of reality itself, they argue, because (a) reality is par give us a direct knowledge a particular and (b) only the senses perceive ticular and existence is determinate, as a particular. They denigrate source of our the discursive when knowledge they are abstract and hence removed maintain that all concepts from particular and Hamann determinate On these and would often dismiss Jacobi grounds, reality. as artificial and arbitrary, as resting upon a mere manipu discursive knowledge us insight into lation of signs. To think that discursive knowledge gives reality itself, they claim, is to lapse into the oldest and worst of all fallacies: hypostasis. It is this belief in the reality of abstractions, that characterizes the they contend, reason. in faith Aufkl?rung's to beg the question, To call this doctrine "irrationalist" and at the is, however, its sources. True to their Protestant roots, very least it is to fail to appreciate and Jacobi were all the heirs of the nominalism of Ockham and Hamann, Herder, the via moderna, a tradition that forms the cornerstone of Protestant spiritualism to the nominalist and of Luther's and Calvin's tradition, theology.17 According an eternal terms do not designate universal any special kind of entity?whether in a Platonic heaven or a substantial form inherent in things?but rather archetype to any of a class of particulars. refer indifferently Since the general terms give us no insight reason is limited to the sphere of sense into an intelligible world, It is nominalism that alone. this the basis of so much of the experience provides as Berlin rightly appreciates. of The no reason, critique Counter-Enlightenment tion that reason suffers the illusion of hypostasis, that it grasps only the inferential between from its linguistic signs, that a concept is indistinguishable relationships that only the senses grasp reality itself, and that reasoning is only a embodiment, of symbols?all manipulation out of the nominalist tradition. And these themes of the Counter-Enlightenment it imposes upon Because of the limitations grew reason, the ages. can neither
the nominalist tradition has been accused of irrationalism down through to meet the validity of this charge, it is necessary the chal yet to establish one of the most subtle and of the Middle lenges posed by sophisticated logicians in It to is Venerabilist Ockham himself. other words, necessary, Ages?the inceptor, reason. restricts the show that nominalism of less powers unduly Nothing justifies the use of the irrationalist label. The third and final reason for thinking and Jacobi are guilty of that Hamann reason and is that they seem to think that there is a conflict between irrationalism
114
so, faith, and that one should choose one's faith contrary to reason. If this were in the strict sense because then they would indeed be irrationalists would they faith even if itwere contrary to the evidence of reason. In this respect, champion and Jacobi did not hold the classical Protestant doc Berlin points out that Hamann as if reason is valid for the trine that reason and faith are valid in distinct domains, earthly natural and natural realm whereas faith is legitimate and super for the heavenly and balancing the claims of reason and realm.18 Rather than separating us with a dramatic them insofar as they present faith, they seem to oppose either we accept a rational atheism and fatalism or we take an irrational dilemma:
to argue during the Jacobi appears leap of faith. Indeed, this is precisely what us to when all he tells that rationalism leads the atheism controversy pantheism to escape and fatalism of Spinozism, and that the only way such an abyss is a salto mortale. through some of Hamann's is that it confuses and The problem with this objection as write if with final While do sometimes rhetoric their Jacobi's position. they reason and faith, ameans think there were a conflict between also that there is they to the satisfaction of resolving that conflict of both sides in the dispute. They maintain that if reason does lead to atheism and fatalism, then it has gone beyond rela the inferential reason that Their leads to a in to it atheism and fatalism but that of all ends suspension complete skepticism, In this case, any leap of faith will claims pro and con about any claims to existence. not be contrary to reason because either for or against it; there will be no evidence reason. it is perhaps true that While rather, it will simply be above and beyond and Jacobi do not accept the classic Protestant Hamann, Herder, theory of two a kind of or Zweiweltentheorie, it is noteworthy that they also establish worlds, reason and faith to their respective all of their own, which dualism assigns domains. Thus they maintain that all faith deals with existence, and that it alone reason determines reveals facts?whether natural or supernatural?while only the inferential between about these facts. For them, the propositions relationship discloses all facts, when great fallacy is to think that reason reveals, or somehow Inmore that it really can do is determine the relationships between propositions. is hypothetical: it determines modern terms, they are saying that all reasoning never P. that that but if P, then Q only in applying to the Counter the term "irrationalism" The difficulties are we when that Hamann and consider Enlightenment compounded are if this label. Even ulti Jacobi themselves against protested vigorously they as charged, into alone show that we have entered their protests guilty mately reason one is that stated explicitly of treacherous waters. Hamann philosophically it by extending it beyond but that we misuse the greatest gifts of humanity, the tree of our is the source of all truth and illusion, its proper limits.19 Reason curse it of good and evil, he told Jacobi, so that both those who knowledge that For his part, Jacobi protested and those who praise it are right and wrong.20 to examine beliefs that "blind faith"?that he was not advocating is, refusing we can evaluate according to reason?but out that we hold many simply pointing In to beliefs we cannot evaluate reason.21 "Etwas, da? Lessing gesagt according in he had the the Pantheismusstreit, hat," before his campaign against Aufkl?rung reason. As if to forestall toward the his attitude charges of already explained which its legitimate boundary, propositions. tionships between consists only in determining final position is not
Berlin
and
the German be raised
Counter-Enlightenment him, Jacobi wrote
115 in some
irrationalism that he knew would remarkable lines:

Obviously, of all our reason we reason powers, cannot
against
an
true life of our nature, is the proper, the eternal of image unchangeable but act against do possibly anything
the soul cause
of
of all
the bond the spirit, ...Without truth ... With it we are
ourselves
immovably
more than
at one with
the conviction
ourselves
that
... The desire

found
for happiness
the path
is based on nothing
alone.. .22
it can be
along
of reason
We might conclude with irrationalist interpretation.
these
lines:
for they
serve
as a
fitting
epitaph
for the
Notes
1. There is some debate, of course, as to whether Herder should be considered an opponent of the Aufkl?rung, given that so much of his thinking is indebted to the Enlightenment to it. Some scholars have stressed Herder's allegiance tradition; see, for example, Robert Norton, Herder's Aesthetics and the European have Press, (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University 1991). Others the distance from the during emphasized Enlightenment, especially His and for Robert see, Clark, Herder, period; example, Life B?ckeberg of California Press, 1969), pp. Thought (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University 179-214. In his "Herder and the Enlightenment," Three Critics of the Enlighten Enlightenment his ment, ed. Henry Hardy, (London: Pimlico, 2000), pp. 168-242, Berlin brilliantly to the Enlightenment. Herder's ambivalent While very captures relationship on in Herder's this this ambivalence issue, essay I have fully recognizing I him within the tradition. have done so be placed Counter-Enlightenment cause (a) there can be no doubt that Herder was also a passionate critic of the (b) his criticisms are very Enlightenment, is not accidental cobi, and (c) the similarity
to Hamann.
similar because
to those of Hamann and Ja of Herder's debt profound
2. This argument was made most notably by Kant. See the close of his essay in Kant, Gesammelte Schriften, ed. "Was hei?t: Sich im Denken orientiren?", et. Wilhelm al. de (Berlin: 1902-), VIII, p. 144. Gruyter, Dilthey see John Gray, Isaiah Berlin 3. On Berlin's criticism of traditional rationalism, Princeton Press, (Princeton, N.J.: 1993), pp. 5-10. University 4. Isaiah Berlin, The Magus the North: and the Origins J. G. Hamann of of Modern Irrationalism 121. See also his 4, 23, (London: Murray, 1993), pp. in the Fine Arts, 1965, The Roots of Romanticism, the A. W. Mellon Lectures ed. Henry Hardy Press, (Princeton: Princeton 1999), pp. 48, 55, University 61, 67. 5. Berlin, The Roots of Romanticism, pp. 4,30,46,52,56, 68,108. to say, the term "liberal" here is anachronistic. 6. Needless In its modern sense it did not come into common use in until the 1820s. political Germany see Fritz On the early use of the term in Germany, Die Valjavec, Entstehung der in Deutschland (Munich: Oldenbourg, 1952), pp. 426-9. politischen Str?mungen sense see the article On the formation of the word "Liberalismus" in a political and H. Dr?ger in the Historisches "Liberalismus" by U. Dierse, R. K. Hoevar, W?rterbuch der Philosophie, ed. K. Gr?nder et. al. (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1980), V, 256-71.
116
7. Isaiah Berlin, "Hume and German Anti-Rationalism," in Against the Current: a in the ed. and with Essays History of Ideas, bibliography by Henry Hardy, with an introduction York: Hausheer (New 1980), p. 170. by Roger Viking, the 125-6. "Hume 8. Isaiah Berlin, The Magus and German Cf. North, pp. of 165. Anti-Rationalism," p. TheMagus of theNorth, p. 125. Berlin writes of the ideals of the Prussian regime as "reason, progress, liberty or equality." see my Enlightenment, and the Eudemonists, 10. On the Hannoverian Whigs Revolution and Romanticism Press, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University 1992), pp. 288-309, 326-34. on this theme, see Jacobi to La Harpe, May 5,1790, 11. For Jacobi's reflections in Jacobi, Werke (Leipzig: Fleischer, 1812), II, 516-9, 529-30, and his "?ber den frommen Betrug," Werke II, 485,486,488-90,491-3. 12. Jacobi, Werke, II, 327-88. are collected in Was ist Aufkl?rung?, 13. Some of the main articles of this dispute Hinske ed. Norbert 1981), (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, pp. 139-369. 14. Cf. "Hume and German
p. 5.
9. Berlin,
Anti-Rationalism,"
p. 165 and The Magus
of theNorth,
see accounts of the Radical 15. For some good Reformation, introductory A. Koyr?, Mystiques, alchimistes du XVIe Si?cle Allemand (Saint spirituels, The Radical Reformation Amand: Gallimard, 1971); G. H. Williams, (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1962); and R. M. Jones, Spiritual Reformers in the 16th and 17th Centuries (London: Macmillan, 1914). 16. Hamann, ed. Arthur Henkel Insel, 1955-79), V, (Frankfurt: Briefwechsel, inWhat is Enlightenment?, 289-92. The letter has been translated and reprinted of California ed. James Schmidt Press, 1996), pp. 145-53. (Berkeley: University 17. On the significance of the via moderna for the Protestant tradition, see my The Reason Princeton Press, (Princeton: 1996), pp. 33^5. Sovereignty of University 68. 18. Berlin, The Magus the North, p. of to J. F. Hartknoch, 19. Hamann 25, 1786. Cf. Wolken, Briefwechsel, September in Hamann, Werke, ed. Josef Nadler Herder, 1949-57) II, 108. (Vienna: to Jacobi, April 29-30 toMay 1,1787. 20. Hamann 21. Jacobi, David Hume, inWerke II, 147ff. 22. Jacobi, Werke, II, 343-4.
Berlin's SSsaiah Maistre
Joseph
de
Qraeme
Qarmrd
I. Introduction
The publication of Isaiah Berlin's essay "Joseph de Maistre and the Origins of in 1990 was one of the most most controver Fascism" important?and certainly in the normally of Maistre sial?events Berlin may have quiet world scholarship. toMaistre with this one essay than did everything to attract attention done more else written about him in the last 100 years put together, for better or worse. This a somewhat version of part of a BBC radio series on "Freedom and modified essay, first broadcast amount of Its Betrayal" four decades earlier, sparked a surprising in print in three successive it appeared interest inMaistre when issues of the New York Review of Books and as a chapter of Berlin's The Crooked Timber ofHumanity.1 In Italy amajor newspaper (supposedly inspired by Berlin's essay) printed a piece and Hitler side by side. which was illustrated by pictures of Joseph de Maistre that Maistre has been an unjustly neglected Those who believe figure in the his now must if bad is to no of ideas be tory wondering publicity really preferable at all. publicity is that something The principal claim of Berlin's dark and sinister essay the classical, conservative of lurks beneath Maistre's fa?ade writings, something of the German ultra-nationalists, the worlds of the enemies of the "approaching of Nietzsche, Sorel and Pareto, D. H. Lawrence and Knut Enlightenment, of Blut und Boden ...Maistre's Hamsun, Maurras, d'Annunzio, deeply pessimistic of both left and right, of our terrible cen vision is the heart of the totalitarianisms, the thought of an ultramontane claim?that Catholic tury."2 It is this provocative has "an affinity with the paranoic world of modern Fascism"?that has stirred up attention and controversy.3 about the views and actions (and Recent revelations some the Vatican the Second World War may have played of inactions) during in in interest Berlin's Maistre's ultramontanism.4 thesis, given part stimulating an even But this bold claim and the debate that it has aroused have eclipsed more a of Berlin's that Jewish liberal essay: striking aspect twentieth-century would credit a notorious Catholic like Maistre eighteenth-century reactionary
117
118 with a
re "genius" for "the depth and accuracy of his insight into the darker, less an in and but Nor is this decisive factors social behaviour."5 political garded, on Maistre are with words isolated remark. Berlin's comments liberally spiced such as "bold," "uncannily "brilliant," penetrating," "original," "sharp-eyed," "deep,"
"in "lucid," "exceedingly realistic," "effective," pungent," "sharp[ly] This "acute." of Berlin's view Maistre has and dimension of positive sightful," over his assertion amid the controversy of Maistre's link with been obscured is hardly interest in Maistre Fascism. Yet Berlin's surprising given his general fascination with the Panth?on inconnu of marginal like Hamann and Fichte, figures in the dark corners of the history of ideas. lurk largely unnoticed who It is true that Berlin thought that Maistre was playing with very dangerous in and traditional conservatism ideas that took him beyond orthodox Catholicism a with But sinister "ultra-modernism" Fascist "affinities."6 he also the direction of some important, were if unpalatable, what he believed truths in perceived in with a great deal that is hyperbolic, and Maistre's thought, mixed polemical true of Maistre's This is particularly frequently repulsive. political psychology, as very often "astute" and if at times which Berlin described "penetrating," overblown. The "realist" liberalism that Berlin pro pessimistic, grotesquely some of the dark of shares Maistre's some) assumptions reactionary pounded (only most forms of outlook while utterly rejecting its illiberal prescriptions.7 Although trace their origins back to the Enlightenment, Berlin's has roots in soil liberalism that nurtured many of the Enlightenment, such as Maistre.8 of the opponents to reactionary led Maistre Whereas these pessimistic for conclusions, assumptions in the opposite towards a liberal politics of plural Berlin they pointed direction, to secure as tolerable a life as possible in ism, tolerance and self-restraint designed in which human beings unavoidably find themselves. the tragic circumstances Berlin's controversial of Joseph de The present essay assesses depiction on as one as not the it is its title suggests Maistre, that, hand, concluding negative tendencies and, on the other, that it fails to do justice to some of the conflicting most of the within Maistre's One of is features Maistre's work intriguing thought. its mixture of traditionalism and modernism, and realism scandal, orthodoxy account understates and extremism. Berlin's and mysticism, the pragmatism in a misleadingly him first of each of these, resulting one-sided that of portrait on the dark tends to overlook his more conventional side. Yet Berlin's emphasis vision is entirely appropriate, of Maistre's that modernism his more something orthodox interpreters tend to downplay.
II. The Apostle
of Darkness
For Berlin, Joseph de Maistre is first and foremost a great "apostle of darkness" side of things" lies at the core of his "the whose of nocturnal dark, appreciation an at the he there is dark" mystery For Maistre, argues, "impenetrably thought. reason can never human of heart of man that the weak hope to "flickering light" In his "The and the Berlin claims that Maistre Fox," essay penetrate. Hedgehog reason as noth had, "[m]ore clearly and boldly than anyone before him," depicted more instrument when the than "a of natural feeble power ing pitted against conduct seldom explained of human forces; that rational explanations anything. it defied explanation that only the irrational, precisely because He maintained and
Isaiah Berlin's could therefore
Joseph de Maistre
119
not be undermined by the critical activities of reason, was able to and be is distinctive Maistre Berlin's persist by dint of his acute sense of strong."9 the almost mystical subterranean forces that influence human behaviour from "below the level of consciousness."10 Berlin believed that Maistre's of man and terrifyingly dark and vivid depiction was an not while without nature, grotesquely important kernel of exaggerated, in truth often denied thinkers the tradition that Maistre by Enlightenment as what Berlin he Maistre's clearly appreciated opposed. regarded psychological he compared realism in particular, which that of the philosophes favorably with the power of reason. He did not merely who, he thought, tended to overestimate extent he subscribed to it describe Maistre's "realism"; to a surprising psychological as well. This can best be seen in the following, revealing passage, which deserves to be quoted in full: While
that deed
underlined,
before
all around him there was talk of the human pursuit of happiness, he [Maistre] again with much exaggeration and perverse delight, but with some truth,
to immolate superior power, oneself, to suffer, whence for no matter to prostrate it comes, sake?that prosperity, oneself and before the desire were authority, to dominate, forces histori in
the desire
to pursue power authority, as as the desire at least strong cally His realism takes violent, equality. in
to exert
its own
these
for peace, rabid,
obsessed,
realism nevertheless ... Blindly dogmatic
liberty, justice, happiness, it is limited but forms, savagely
inmatters
of theology
(and theory generally),
... No a one who he was has lived the pragmatist practice clear-eyed through that Maistre's first half of the twentieth after and, indeed, that, can doubt century, political psychology, for all its paradoxes has proved, and if the only occasional descents and into sheer de stressing, nocturnal side of
counter-revolutionary structive tendencies?what
absurdity, the German
romantics
by revealing, called the dark,
a to want to see, at times humane and optimistic tend not persons things?which or at any rate can to human in reason; conduct than the faith of better believers guide no means a to their antidote useless, and, more sharp, by often over-simple, provide superficial than once, disastrous remedies [my emphasis].11
some As this passage Berlin credited him with reveals, even when insight into dark truth about the human condition, he believed that Maistre had a dangerous to "push things too far with his ultra-verit?s."12 to exaggerate, For tendency Berlin, Maistre's was what might be called an "exaggerated realism," from which we can draw something useful. This ambivalence is encapsulated in Berlin's claim to that Maistre "revealed central truths, (and violently exaggerated) unpalatable his contemporaries, denied his and successors, indignantly by recognised only in
our own day."13
in Maistre's fascination with violence features prominently surprisingly, It was above all his "grimly unconventional Berlin's account. and misanthropic view about the nature of individuals that was the most distinctive and societies" and captivating for Berlin.14 He believed that Maistre's aspect of his thought as constant mature writings, with their notorious of descriptions blood-letting a even were to most the natural, and, beneficial, up among point, inescapable accounts of the ruthlessness and pessimistic and violence of nature to be powerful Berlin unequivocally found anywhere. rejects the common view that reduces this a to with blood and death fascina defect; Maistre's preoccupation psychological tion with these dark themes, Berlin writes, was "not a mere sadistic meditation about crime and punishment, but the expression of a genuine conviction."15
Not
120
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment to Maistre's response positive thought was surprisingly of The Russian his novelist great Tolstoy. by reading in probably was much
Berlin's fluenced
by Maistre, whose work he read while writing War and Peace. This is impressed in the battle scenes, and Maistre the book, particularly apparent throughout name in Berlin's is even mentioned Historical it.16 essay on "Leo Tolstoy's by a in to devotes attention first considerable 1951, Scepticism," compari published son of the ideas of Tolstoy and Maistre, and is Berlin's first significant engagement with the latter's thought. He describes both as "sharp-eyed foxes" and "acute ob servers of the varieties of experience."17 The essay that eventually became "Joseph was as and the of Fascism" first de Maistre broadcast Origins part of a radio series on same wrote time that Berlin his essay It is hard to imagine around the Tolstoy. did not signifi that Tolstoy's interest in and generally favorable view of Maistre Berlin's of him, particularly reception given that Berlin speaks of of those Maistre's that seem to have made outlook very aspects appreciatively war. on as account such his the greatest of impression Tolstoy, not only described this for claiming that Maistre Berlin has been criticized law" of violence, but actually subscribed to it. This is the view of Owen "universal in A Modern Maistre: The Social and Political Thought of argues Bradley, who de that Maistre's and irrational Maistre, Joseph "deep lifelong interest in violence an obsession, at not which indeed be called does all might necessarily ity, imply he praised them. The step from the one to the other, which Berlin nowhere doubts, case quite accounts For Bradley, Maistre's is inMaistre's disturbing precarious."18 nature and the dark forces that dominate both human and nonhuman of violence are purely descriptive. that "the reader should He therefore concludes remain ... that 'these gloomy doctrines inspired nation skeptical when Berlin concludes in most and and their violent alism, form, finally, imperialism, pathological dark Fascist and totalitarian doctrines.' On the contrary, we shall see that Maistre's him instead to defend vision encouraged limit that the of every against spread cantly influence
darkness."19
It is true that most of what Maistre is descriptive. says on the subject of violence went But Berlin is right when he claims that Maistre further. This is occasionally on France (1797). After a shock than in his Considerations nowhere more apparent a consequence law" of violence?as of the "universal of ingly brutal account in the world"?Maistre which "the effusion of human blood has never ceased this violent destruction adds that "there is room to doubt whether is, in general, such a great evil as is believed." He argues that, under some circumstances?when, the human soul "has lost its strength through laziness, for example, incredulity, and and the gangrenous vices that follow an excess of civilisation"?individuals an can He then blood." draws be between groups by "retempered analogy is continually "an invisible hand and mankind and a tree, in which pruning A "skilful will which often profits from the operation [my emphasis]." gardener" the real fruits of human avoid pruning the fruits of the tree. "Now carefully nature?the arts, sciences, great enterprises, lofty conceptions, manly virtues?are to the state of war. We know that nations have never achieved due especially the are and of which after of the capable except greatness point they long highest in this analogy like any good horticul is God who, bloody war."20 The gardener it is sometimes to that to cultivate the fruit of mankind turalist, knows necessary a "terrible purification" tree. This view in of the human is repeated undertake
Isaiah Berlin's Maistre's death
Joseph de Maistre
121
in the year of his the St. Petersburg Dialogues, published "masterpiece," In writes the character the Senator of he that, "in the vast it, (1821). through ... [F]rom the violence domain of living things, there reigns a manifest maggot law of violent destruction of living things is unceasingly up toman, the universal an immense altar fulfilled. The entire earth, continually steeped in blood, is only on which must be without immolated without restraint, end, every living thing of the world, until the extinction without of evil, respite until the consummation itmay be objected that the Senator does not until the death of death."21 Although that he says on this subject is consistent with here, everything speak for Maistre was himself a senator. elsewhere views expressed by Maistre, who it is also is not only healthy For Maistre, violent destruction (sometimes); a a uses to com with blood-red thumb who God is both violence moral. gardener war means as a such and bat sickness and violent moral employs judge who to punish the innocent too). Maistre the guilty (and occasionally held in the larger context of a di affairs can only be properly understood is forever beyond human understanding. of which vine plan, complete knowledge It is precisely this larger context that was missing from the prevalent interpreta to tions of contemporary Maistre. One of the fun events, revolutionary according on was to in France fill of his Considerations this damental objectives missing "big revolution that human
of the 1790s in providential the violent circumstances picture," thereby explaining an "invisible hand" the crimes of the modern terms, inwhich age are punished by are mere French who of "instruments Revolutionaries, operating through mere own and his God." Maistre (in description thereby goes beyond legitimizes as a form of and bloodshed of the French Revolution the violence Christian mind) out on Europe for the crimes of the eighteenth meted divine punishment century. It is because accord "Europe is guilty" that "she suffers." This ismoral because, can have no other end than the removal of evil."22 He to Maistre, ing "punishment itwas "gratifying that during the French Revolution amid the general confessed a presentiment to in of This have the of plans upheaval providential Divinity."23 to the of Maistre's German of the Revolution is closer position terpretation than it is to Edmund he is often associ Burke, with whom contemporary Hegel ated. Like Hegel, Maistre was seeking to interpret the epochal events of his times a perspective as a that led them both to affirm everything, even violent theodicy, to the degree of being a consequence of God's will. Hence his view of revolution, as a reflection more of God's intentions than those of men, a per the Revolution more it to do with human folly whom had unlike that of for Burke, spective quite than divine wisdom. Burke was much more of a counter-revolutionary than in this sense.24 Maistre did not deviate from this line in his St. Petersburg Dialogues, which he Maistre on the Temporal Government of Providence." In this subtitled "Conversations in the he seeks to account for "the ensemble of ways of Providence work, war is the of moral One of these like violent world."25 which, governance ways ... whose defines as a "department direction Providence has revolution, Maistre toMaistre, is in its of war, according reserved to itself."26 The "moral" dimension function as an instrument the Senator explains of divine justice. In the Dialogues, it" that war is divine "in the mysterious that and "in its results, surrounds glory which of human Maistre the reason."27 escape absolutely speculations Although was fascinated by war, itwas less amorbid than a religious fascination fascination
122
from witnessing (as he genuinely thought he was) the hand of a divine human affairs. Berlin's claim that Maistre judge working through "glorifies war, is therefore substantially and divine" and declares it to be mysterious correct.28 stress While he did not explicitly glorify war as something he did inherently good, its divine power and acknowledge both its beneficial effects and itsmoral function a scheme of Christian are in some within and bloodshed Violence providence. sense executed for Maistre sanctified God. by by their incorporation within a plan designed and
that comes
III.Maistre
the Modernist?
not only disturbingly dark at the heart of Joseph de Berlin perceived something as well. It is this that dis Maistre's but modern" thought, something "terrifyingly more him traditional and apologists from conservatives of tinguished decisively as and Bossuet his "twin" such Louis de Bonald.29 religious orthodoxy supposed in a "violent preoccupation For Berlin, Maistre's "modernism" resides principally with blood and death," a trait that was absent from the "rich and tranquil England at the heart of things" is, he of Burke's imagination."30 This "doctrine of violence "frozen the reactionaries from who immured themselves claims, far removed of freedom or revolution within the thick walls of medieval against the champions is "our contemporary" because he criticised the impotence of dogma."31 Maistre and scholastic methods which predominated among pious Catholic and intense anti-intellectualism "violent hatred of free traffic in apologists.32 not the orthodoxy and loy ideas" were, Berlin tells us, "not mere conservatism, was to state in and which he but the church [Maistre] up, alty brought something at once much older and much newer."33 On this view, Maistre has moved far be con traditional the Aristotelian authoritarianism, yond "symmetrical leaving or Suarez" structions far behind.34 According of Thomas Aquinas to Berlin, the virulent pessimism him from tradi of Maistre's outlook not only distinguishes the tional conservatives but, more gives him "an affinity with controversially, of modern Fascism."35 paranoic world Maistre's in a variety link with Berlin characterized Fascism of different In most account its his credits Maistre with having formulation, ways. positive the advent of which "visualised" twentieth century totalitarianism, prophetically as "a remarkable of Maistre and terrify "has vindicated the depth and brilliance" of our day."36 Berlin's most negative formulation of the link has ing, prophet a "dominant on "reactionary, influence" Maistre obscurantist and, in exercising abstractions His of this claim also appears in his essay on "The it is argued that Maistre's "gloomy doctrines" in most violent and and their nationalism, imperialism, finally, actually "inspired in and totalitarian Fascist doctrines twentieth the form, pathological century."38 to support the more critical of these two formula Berlin offers no real evidence on any prominent had little (if any) direct tions. Maistre influence certainly and I am not aware the Action fran?aise Fascists beyond (least of all in Germany), that was anything more than negligible. of any evidence of an indirect influence extensive his influence may have been in such circles, itwas certainly far However in the second half of from "dominant." His posthumous influence peaked some was the nineteenth and Catholics, among century inspired principally by his ideas."37 A version in which Counter-Enlightenment," the end, Fascist
Isaiah Berlin's
Joseph de Maistre
123
in Du Pape (1819), a conservative in which defense of ultramontanism work and fascination with violence are least in evidence. He also Maistre's "modernism" on many thinkers who could not reasonably be classi made a strong impression or even straightforwardly fied as Fascist, protofascist conservative. on Maistre's link to Fascism are those that lie More typical of Berlin's comments somewhere between these two extremes, and stress the "unmistakable" ideologi cal resonance between them that falls short of a direct causal connection yet goes as near the of beyond mere foresight.39 Berlin depicts Maistre standing beginning a broad current of thought, ruthless applica the "richest flowering and the most did not come until the twentieth rather than in the tion" of which century, mainstream as with conservatism of traditional Bossuet, figures such Aquinas, and Burke.40 Maistre is therefore best understood, "not as the last voice of a dying but as "the first theorist in culture, as the last of the Romans (as he saw himself)," a precur in culminated the great and powerful tradition which Charles Maurras, sor of Fascists, and of those Catholic and supporters of the anti-Dreyfusards as were sometimes described before they were being Catholics Vichy regime who in this stream with Maistre and Fascism are figures such Christians."41 Standing as Carlyle, Fourier, Sorel, Cobbett, Proudhon, Pareto, D. H. Bakunin, Nietzsche,
and Lawrence, d'Annunzio, Drumont, Belloc, Maurras, Barres, Drumont, all of whom and articulated themes that used a similar vocabulary Deroulede, were in twentieth-century echoed Fascism. For example, Maistre's strongly as violent anti-intellectualism is hyperbolically described "what is per sounding note militant the earliest the anti-rational of Fascism modern of times."42 haps Berlin argues that Maistre "assembles for the first time, and with pre Elsewhere, movement the list of the enemies of the great counter-revolutionary cision, that culminated in Fascism,"43 a list that includes Protestants, Jansenists, deists, atheists, Freemasons, democrats, liberals, utilitarians, Jews, scientists, Jacobins, anti-clericals, materialists, idealists, egalitarians, perfectibilians, lawyers, journal Berlin also claims that Maistre's terrible ists, secular reformers, and intellectuals. vision of life, obsessed with "blood and death," has an unmistakable "affinity" with Fascism.44 as it is underdeveloped. Berlin's case here is as overstated The association of Maistre to not with Fascism has a distinctly it sensationalistic and is it, ring of what is meant the precise supported by much explanation by "Fascism," on more He is in The Roots of which still contested. sheds this meaning highly light even a Berlin short here and the con of Romanticism, definition, stops of although are nections that he makes movements between ideas and very disparate as "an inheritor of at best. In this work, is depicted loose and vague Fascism romanticism," the notion
forward
with which
it shares will either of a man

to organise, we shall
of the unpredictable
fashion that is
or of a group, which
impossible go, what to predict, shall
forges
impos
in some
impossible
sible to rationalise.
tomorrow, how the
That is the whole

spirit will move
heart of Fascism: what
the leader will

we do?that
say
us, where
cannot be foretold. The hysterical self-assertion and the nihilistic destruction of ex isting institutions because they confine the unlimited will, which is the only thing
which his will counts for human the superior person beings; are a direct is stronger: these inheritance?in but still an inheritance?from form, no doubt, who crushes an the the inferior because and to distorted extremely romantic movement...
garbled
124
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment this extent romanticism in its full form, and even its offshoots
seems to me to be fallacious.45
in the form of both
existentialism
and
Fascism,
This anthropocentric of Fascism is actually the opposite of Maistre's the conception a more in which istic providentialism, is than human. agency property godly a are dominated What by a mysterious they do share is belief that human affairs will that defies rational human understanding and control. But in Fascism that inMaistre's it is will is principally racial and ethnic, whereas fundamen writings of Maistre is "theologically Berlin's interpretation tally religious. irreligious as once views cannot Weber said himself. Maistre's be fully and of unmusical," in terms link and of faith. Maistre understood his The between except properly at best, and probably would not that Berlin asserts is extremely weak Fascism have been made had Berlin had more of an ear forMaistre's religious convictions. it comes that Berlin posits between Maistre and Fascism, Given the association as no surprise as anti-Semitic. that he regarded Maistre He writes that Maistre classed Jews among the ranks of "the sleepless enemy that never ceases to gnaw at the vitals of society."46 This view is shared by E. M. Cioran, who writes that, in St. Petersburg, "when Maistre realised that the Jews in Russia, faithless certain ideologies toward their own theocratic tradition, were echoing imported from France, he turned against them, calling them subversive spirits and?the in his eyes?comparing them to Protestants."47 depth of abomination does claim in his posthumously Letters on To his discredit, Maistre published the Spanish Inquisition (1822) that in the fifteenth century "Judaism deeply shot its ... The Jews to kill the national plant roots into the soil of Spain, and threatened ... were nearly masters An insurrection broke out in the year 1391, and a of Spain ... it was to establish ensued the dreadful necessary indispensably slaughter cure cancer was as to best the which calculated Inquisition, political rapidly the heart of the nation."48 However, this is, as far as I am aware, the only corroding run to over a which remark inMaistre's published writings, overtly anti-Semitic was "the dozen volumes. Also, these Letters boast that the capital of Catholicism nor of where the feels himself neither maltreated humbled Jew part Europe only "49 ... In at of 'the title Maistre's the fact, Jewish paradise.' by glorious distinguished are that titude on this subject compares with of whose Voltaire, writings favorably with anti-Semitic his admiration remarks.50 Maistre professed peppered one of the few great legislators of wonderful man"?as forMoses?"a antiquity.51 a priori, Maistre or written no can be made that constitution Despite arguing one that of "the Divine mission of the great exception, granted just "magnificent" ex even some truth to Cioran's There is Hebrew characteristically Lawgiver."52 were with the of the Old Testament that Maistre's "affinities claim spirit aggerated so to speak, so deep that imbued with that his Catholicism seems, Judaic, a faint trace in the but the of which he of found gentle mediocrity frenzy prophetic a "transient as is this all Yet Cioran finally unimpressed, dismissing Gospels."53 on Maistre's that he "dares not imagine the invectives enthusiasm" part, adding later to reserved for them [the Jews] had he [Maistre] foreseen the role they were as as in in Russia in much the movements social of emancipation, Europe."54 play to back up this claim, although it does Cioran offers no evidence Unfortunately, while not sound far-fetched.55 as a "modernist" is that he does One problem with Berlin's portrait of Maistre term. not define what he means by this notoriously A strong case could slippery
Isaiah Berlin's be made
Joseph de Maistre
125
an antimodernist as a modernist, or that Maistre was at least as much was in the service of antimodernism. If he really was a that his "modernism" man ahead of rather than behind his times, then this only served to strengthen his tomany of the central features of modernity, such as secu implacable opposition and equality, individual that he larization, autonomy, pluralism, democracy an ever greater part in Europe's future. feared would play their case against him in this Even so, some of Berlin's critics have overstated to that "blame for the dangers For Owen Maistre regard. example, Bradley objects in our disenchanted world has been the error of almost every rejec he perceived tion of his thinking. Berlin repeats itwhen he tries to connect him more directly to ... In turn, the existence of those evils that cultural politics twentieth-century seem to imply that Maistre themselves Berlin seeks to trace back toMaistre would was all too correct that political order is irrationally maintained and underwritten that the achieve by cultural discourses?by language, Maistre would say?and ments have done little enough to change that so far."56 But of the Enlightenment as Bradley claims. At most, as we Berlin did not blame these dangers on Maistre, to offered some inspiration have already seen, he claimed that Maistre's writings in most their and violent and "nationalism, finally, imperialism, pathological in the twentieth form, Fascist and totalitarian doctrines century."57 To this Bradley and impe "offers trenchant criticisms of nascent nationalism replies that Maistre of democracy that destroy rialism alike as consequences cultural traditions."58 Although Maistre's that Berlin is wrong. Bradley may well be right here, it does not mean some of which would contain contradictory works elements, appeal to on not not. of others which would Considerations nationalists (if imperialists), criticizes the universalist of the "Declaration of France, for example, pr?tentions an is that the of "mankind" ab the Rights of Man and Citizen," idea very arguing stract creation of the eighteenth-century "Now there is no such thing imagination. as man in the world," in one of his better-known he wrote "I have seen passages. in my lifetime Frenchmen, and so on. Thanks to Montesquieu Italians, Russians I even know that one can be a Persian. But as for man, I declare that I have never in
to me."59 Maistre life met him; if he exists, he is unknown also claims in my are "the two great thaumaturges this work that religion and patriotism of this to modern the antidote which involves "the of substitution world," philosophy, for the national mind." the individual mind
must be merged and political Religious dogmas reason common or national strong plete enough is the mortal of its nature reason, which enemy All known only divergent opinions. produces other than the annihilation that of individual of useful and mingled to form a com together to repress the aberrations of individual it of any association whatever because nations have been happy absolute and powerful
to the extent that they have very faithfully obeyed

ing reign of national dogmas, so is to say,
this national reason, which

and the and prejudices existence continues ... Man's
is noth
dogmas
general is that first need
his nascent reason be curbed under a double yoke, that it be abased and lose itself in
the national existence, just reason, that that as a river it changes into flows its individual always into another to exist common in the mass the ocean
of water, but without a name and without a distinct reality. What is patriotism! It is this national reason of which I am speaking, it is individual abnegation.60 even when It is not at all difficult to imagine how such words, read in their proper could offer inspiration and support to nationalist thought. At most, Berlin
context,
126
one that does justice is guilty here of failing to give a complete picture of Maistre, to the internal development and complexity of his thought. Sometimes, by not too in to far his far of Maistre. But Berlin goes portrait deny that going enough, in Maistre's element of nationalism there is at least a strong (and quite potent) even if, in Maistre's with his own declamations later are an on a Du such sentiments Pape, eclipsed by writings, particularly emphasis the Catholic civilization headed Pope. pan-European by more this conclusion To many admirers does not go orthodox of Maistre's a grotesque is For Berlin's of Maistre far them, portrait nearly enough. simply is Darcel that believes Maistre under caricature. For example, best Jean-Louis tradition to which he stood within the context of his own time and of the Catholic as a viewed from this perspective, Berlin's picture adhered. When of Maistre a of Fascism" turnaround" his of represents "precursor "disquieting thought, counter-sense and intentions of the author "a complete of the philosophy making in contrast to Berlin's, was "inspired by the con of the Soir?es." Darcel's Maistre, stant theology of the Church, that of the Greek Fathers, that of St. Augustine."61 Far from having an affinity with twentieth-century "anal Maistre totalitarianism, name in the of Christian the first version of state values, ysed and denounced, of Public Safety."62 Darcel further objects that terrorism, the Jacobin dictatorship thought is inconsistent from Maistre invoked by Berlin?always passages many of the most incriminating extracts on war and execution?have been unfairly taken out the same notorious in a distorted and anachronistic of their proper contexts, interpretation. resulting should "rather be interpreted within the framework of a These dark passages and free intellectual Christian speculation." gnosis that ismade up of orthodoxy from a loy Thus situated, Darcel asserts, itwill be seen that, "without departing lived and many times proclaimed, he [Maistre] intimately alty to the Church, and Modernity."63 the past and the present, Antiquity threw out bridges between
Finally, Darcel complains that Berlin's over-reliance on one of Maistre's most un
reactionary works, Quatre chapitres sur la Russie (posthumously compromisingly in 1859, although dated December the fact that itwas 1811), obscures published a situation. and, in Maistre's eyes, very volatile particular addressing highly of state violence is "to Berlin's attempt to depict this piece as a general apology the intentions of the author for whom war is in all cases a betray on all points "64 scourge, even if it is 'a law of the world.' an image of Maistre that is remarkably By contrast, E. M. Cioran presents to is "our Maistre because he Berlin's. For Cioran, similar contemporary" precisely a to not him be attracted of his is "monster." We should because reasonableness, but rather because of "his pride, his marvelous moderation and humanity, If he did and occasionally of decency. insolence, his lack of equity, of proportion, not
ern
constantly
age resides
irritate us."65 Cioran

in his repulsiveness,
argues
excesses,
that Maistre's
and "outrages
relevance
to
for the mod

sense."
common
our superstitions our principles or upbraids in the name of "Every to rejoice: the writer then excels and "we have occasion his own," he writes, enfold it in a light, the more he will The darker his vision, outdoes himself. is far like from the moder Cioran's Maistre, Berlin's, transparent appearance."66 ate conservatism of Darcel's Maistre. of theocracy" Rather, he is "the Machiavelli rather than by sentiment, who was "Christian by persuasion quite alien to the time he insults figures of the New Testament."67
Isaiah Berlin's One
Joseph de Maistre
127
his conservative side in this debate over Maistre orthodoxy emphasizes stresses the other his and while (Berlin, (Darcel Lebrun), reactionary modernism because and Bradley). There is some truth in both of these positions Cioran, on the one hand a very hard-nosed Maistre's thought contains elements of both: that even times "realism" that he took to violent extremes brutal) (at occasionally Hobbes might have found shocking; on the other hand amore restrained Burkean to convey so ef faith. What Berlin manages traditionalism and a genuine Catholic a defense on in the Maistre did write Maistre is his former. After all, essay fectively of the of the Spanish Inquisition, offer a providential justification slaughter of the in of war, claim that there is "nothing but violence innocent and the "divinity" the deliberate the universe" and that this is not an entirely bad thing, prescribe in Russia, and call for the integration of church and retardation of enlightenment state. Darcel, by contrast, succeeds where Berlin and Cioran do not in recognizing faith and the conventional of many of of Maistre's conservatism the importance
his views.
IV. Conclusion
or Not all forms of liberalism derive either historically logically from the Enlight a that there is distinctive enment. form that has Indeed, I have argued elsewhere in the reaction against the Enlightenment, and that Isaiah Berlin is one its genesis of this view.68 Although of the foremost the philosophes were, he representatives on the whole from naive and well-intentioned admirable, they operated thought, were to truth human and that about nature, prove quite assumptions morality, reasons for Berlin's when One of the principal disastrous put into practice. is his dissent from what he sees as its implausibly criticism of the Enlightenment to nature and its unwarranted human of optimism?beliefs conception benign immune. Simplistic which Maistre was completely assumptions Enlightenment on Berlin's in the have been about human nature, view, replaced rightly and unstable and twentieth centuries by "an increasingly complicated as new about the action were and of springs disturbing hypotheses picture and anthropologists."69 advanced by psychologists to Berlin, many of the political disasters of the last two centuries, According in the with the of Terror," originated project to "Reign Enlightenment beginning to make it conform to a single, univer unbend "the crooked timber of humanity" that "the great eighteenth-century sal ideal. That iswhy he believed philosophers were ultimately in the Soviet for a lot of intellectual tyranny, ending responsible in the gulag; ... these good men, who were against superstition, falsifica Union, had nevertheless and were great legislators, doctrines tion, authority, preached which led, albeit in a somewhat form, to tragic consequences."70 perverted arose in opposition to this monistic liberalism Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment as the philosophes unintentionally about that Just consequences brought project. their own goals, many of the thinkers of the Counter-Enlightenment undermined nineteenth ends in spite of their reactionary liberal, pluralistic promoted inadvertently and is one of This idea features again and again in Berlin's work, intentions. the major themes of his thought. It is the law of unintended consequences applied to both the Enlightenment and is one of his central and Counter-Enlightenment insights.
128 Given
after all to find that Isaiah Berlin, the "patron this, it is not so surprising was not of in, but actually had some liberalism,"71 sage only interested English In some of his "lion of the de antiliberalism."72 Maistre, for, Joseph appreciation he is remarkably close to the "realist" enemies of the Enlight basic assumptions views of history have been in enment such as Maistre, many of whose pessimistic in the twentieth in his view his eyes, particularly century. tragically vindicated that it is Berlin believed most Unlike figures, however, Counter-Enlightenment because of these grim realities that we must cultivate the liberal virtues of precisely he had a grudging tolerance, and mutual self-restraint, respect respect. Although some truths about human to articulate of the unpalatable forMaistre's willingness in to deny, he also found Maistre's works in his age preferred that many beings come us that from blowing about the potential dangers structive for what they tell is the real reason that he insisted on such truths out of proportion. That, I believe, to those who might and Fascism, as a warning the link between Maistre stressing be tempted to swallow Maistre whole.
Notes
in The Crooked of Fascism," and the Origins 1. Isaiah Berlin, "Joseph de Maistre ed. Henry Hardy Timber of Humanity, (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton was in the New York of this A version Press, 1990). essay reprinted University 1990. Review of Books on 27 September 1990, and 25 October 1990,11 October as the introduction to a translation was of version Another published on France, trans. R. A. Lebrun (Cambridge: Cambridge Considerations Maistre's have been published radio broadcasts Press, 1994). The edited University and Its Betrayal: Six Enemies of Human Liberty, ed. Henry Hardy and Windus, Chatto 2002). (London: of Fascism," pp. 126-7. Maistre and the Origins de Berlin, "Joseph of Fascism," pp. 112-3. and the Maistre de Berlin, "Joseph Origins The and Furio Colombo, of this literature are: Susan Zuccotti Recent examples Italians and theHolocaust: Persecution, Rescue and Survival (Lincoln: University Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Nebraska Press, 1996); John CornweH's New York: XII and Pius Braham, The 1999); Randolph (London Viking, of and the Holocaust Vatican Press, 2000); (New York: Columbia University Genesis the War and the Pope (Columbus, Missouri: Ronald Rychlak, Hitler, The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, Press, 2000); and Michael Phayer, Indiana 1930-1965 Press, 2000); Garry Wills, (Indiana: Papal Sin University The His Windows: Under Susan York: Zuccotti, 2000); (New Very Doubleday, in Italy (New Haven: Yale University Vatican and the Holocaust Press, 2001); Sword: The Church and the Jews: A History (Boston: James Carroll, Constantine's A Moral Reckoning: The Role and Daniel Goldhagen, Mifflin, 2001); Houghton and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair (New of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust York: Knopf, 2002). of Fascism," p. 166. and the Origins Berlin, "Joseph de Maistre of Fascism," p. 96. Maistre and the de Berlin, "Joseph Origins M. Cioran: "His [Maistre's] observations E. This attitude iswell expressed by inhuman and erro seem to us exact; his theories and his value judgments, in Anathemas An Essay on Reactionary de Maistre: neous" Thought," ("Joseph as Freedom
2. 3. 4.
5. 6. 7.
Isaiah Berlin's and Admirations, trans. Richard Howard
Joseph de Maistre Little, Brown
129 and Co.,
[New York:
1986], p. 38). in my in detail 8. I develop "The Counter-Enlightenment this argument Liberalism of Isaiah Berlin," Journal of Political Ideologies, 2 (1997), pp. 281-96. and the Fox," in Russian Thinkers, ed. Henry Hardy 9. Berlin, "The Hedgehog and Aileen Kelly (Harmondsworth: 1994), p. 59. Penguin, and Its 10. I explore this theme in depth in my "Joseph de Maistre's Civilisation the 57 429^6. Discontents," (1996), pp. Journal of History of Ideas, 11. Berlin, "Joseph de Maistre and the Origins of Fascism," pp. 167-68. and the Origins 12. Berlin, "Joseph de Maistre of Fascism," p. 169. in Against the Current: Essays in the 13. Berlin, "The Counter-Enlightenment," Press, 1981), (Oxford: Oxford University History of Ideas, ed. Henry Hardy 174. p. and the Fox," pp. 57-8. 14. Berlin, "The Hedgehog and the Origins 15. Berlin, "Joseph de Maistre of Fascism," p. 118. The common view of Maistre's with violence that Berlin rejects is typified preoccupation for whom "Maistre's extreme, not to say macabre, theory by Stephen Holmes, a strain of near-dementia in his works" discloses of the executioner-priest Press, (The Anatomy of Antiliberalism [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University 1993], p. 31). of writing War and Peace, 16. Berlin writes that, inNovember 1865, "in the middle am in "I wrote down his and on 7 September Maistre," diary reading Tolstoy to the editor Bartenev, who acted as a kind of general assistant 1866 he wrote ... to him, asking him to send the "Maistre archive," i.e. his letters and notes the Soir?es, as well as Maistre's correspondence Tolstoy possessed diplomatic to be found in the library at Yasnaya and letters, and copies of them were case quite clear that inWar Poly ana. It is in any Tolstoy used them extensively in the and Peace. Thus the celebrated Paulucci's intervention of description is reproduced almost verbatim debate of the Russian General Staff at Drissa at Mme. from a letter by Maistre. Prince Vasily's conversation Similarly de m?rite" about Kutuzov, Scherer's reception with the "homme de beaucoup in which all the French phrases is obviously based on a letter by Maistre, is sprinkled are to be found. There is,moreover, with which this conversation a note in one of Tolstoy's early rough drafts, "at Anna Pavlovna's Maistre? and an refers to the raconteur who tells the beautiful H?l?ne Vicomte," which of Napoleon admiring circle of listeners the idiotic anecdote about the meeting at supper with actress Mile, Georges. the celebrated with the Due d'Enghien habit of shifting his bed from one room to an Again, old Prince Bolkonsky's tells about the similar habit other is probably taken from a story which Maistre name of Maistre occurs in the novel itself, as the of Count Stroganov. Finally to that would those who it be and senseless agree being among embarrassing more and of eminent this marshals since the army, capture princes Napoleon's create diplomatic and the Fox," difficulties" ("The Hedgehog merely pp. 57-9). 17. Berlin, "The Hedgehog and the Fox," pp. 80, 77. 18. Owen Bradley, A Modern Maistre: The Social and Political Thought of Joseph de Maistre of Nebraska Press, 1999), p. xvi. (Lincoln and London: University would 19. Bradley, A Modern Maistre, p. xvi.
130
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment Considerations St. Petersburg on France, pp. 28-9. trans. R. A. Lebrun Dialogues,
20. Maistre, 21. Maistre,
(Montreal and Kingston: 216-7. Press, 1993), pp. McGill-Queen's University in Richard 22. Maistre, St. Petersburg Dialogues, Lebrun, quoted "Joseph de in the Annual View of Maistre's War," Proceedings of Meeting 'Philosophic' of the 7 French 46. Western Society for (1979), p. History, on France, p. 31. 23. Maistre, Considerations on this subject, see Richard A. Lebrun's 24. For a particularly good comparison in Joseph deMaistre's and Edmund Burke: A Comparison," "Joseph de Maistre Life, Thought, and Influence: Selected Studies, Press, University Kingston: McGill-Queen's 25. Maistre, St. Petersburg Dialogues, p. 7. 26. Maistre, St. Petersburg Dialogues, p. 220. ed. R. A. Lebrun 2001). (Montreal and
27. Maistre, St. Petersburg Dialogues, pp. 218-9. and the Fox," p. 66. 28. Berlin, "The Hedgehog 29. See W. J. Reedy, "Maistre's Twin? Louis de Bonald in Joseph deMaistre's Life, Thought and Influence. 30. Berlin, 31. Berlin, 32. Berlin, 33. Berlin, 34. Berlin, 35. Berlin, 36. Berlin, 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. "Joseph de Maistre "Joseph de Maistre "Joseph de Maistre "Joseph de Maistre "Joseph de Maistre "Joseph de Maistre "Joseph de Maistre "Joseph de Maistre and the Origins and the Origins and the Origins and the Origins and the Origins and the Origins and the Origins and the Origins
and the Enlightenment," pp. 126-7.
of Fascism," of Fascism," of Fascism," of Fascism," of Fascism," of Fascism,"
pp. 126-7. pp. 171-2. p. 150. pp. 126-7.
pp. 112-3. of Fascism," p. 174. of Fascism," pp. 134-5. Berlin, 24. "The Berlin, p. Counter-Enlightenment," and the Origins of Fascism," p. 158. Berlin, "Joseph de Maistre and the Origins of Fascism," p. 155. Berlin, "Joseph de Maistre and the Origins of Fascism," p. 170. Berlin, "Joseph de Maistre and the Origins of Fascism," p. 150. Berlin, "Joseph de Maistre and the Origins of Fascism," p. 119. Berlin, "Joseph de Maistre and the Origins of Fascism," pp. 112-3. Berlin, "Joseph de Maistre ed. Henry Hardy Berlin, The Roots of Romanticism, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton 145-6. Press, 1999), pp. University
this 46. Berlin, "The Counter-Enlightenment," pp. 22-3. Berlin also attributes in "Joseph de Maistre and the Origins of Fascism," p. 119. view toMaistre 47. Cioran, "Joseph de Maistre," pp. 47-8. 48. Maistre, Letters on the Spanish Inquisition, trans. Thomas J.O'Flaherty (Delmar, N.Y.: Scholars' Facsimiles and Reprints, 1970), pp. 22-3. Letters on the Spanish Inquisition, p. 33. 49. Maistre, in The Party of Humanity: "Voltaire's 50. Peter Gay, Anti-Semitism," and Nicolson, Weidenfeld in the French Enlightenment (London:
Studies 1964), of
pp. 97-108. 51. Maistre, Essay on the Generative Principle of Political Constitutions, reprint 1847 ed. (Delmas, NY: Scholars' Facsimiles, 1977), p. 93. 52. Maistre, p. 94. Essay on the Generative Principle of Political Constitutions, 48. 53. Cioran, "Joseph de Maistre," p. 54. Cioran, "Joseph de Maistre," pp. 47-8.
Isaiah Berlin's
Joseph de Maistre
131
summarizes and persuasively the "case for the de 55. Owen Bradley eloquently is to ignore that Maistre fense": "This [the view that Maistre was anti-Semitic] of Judaism ex himself was an ?migr? intellectual who showed an admiration rare tradition and within the Catholic wholly tremely lacking, for example, one of the favourite from Burke. That 'the barbarism is of the Hebrew people a sure for Maistre of the 18th century' was all, these charges ignore his unrelenting nullity. Above revolutionaries" (AModern Maistre, p. xvii). 56. Bradley, A Modern Maistre, pp. xvii-xviii. 57. Berlin, "The Counter-Enlightenment," p. 24. 58. Bradley, A Modern Maistre, p. xvi. on France, p. 53. 59. Maistre, Considerations theses 60. Maistre, Lebrun sign of that century's to right-wing hostility
in Against Rousseau, trans. R. A. "On the Sovereignty of the People," Press, 1996), pp. 87-8. (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University in Joseph deMaistre's "The Roads of Exile, 1792-1817," 61. Jean-Louis Darcel, Life, 29. and Influence, p. Thought 62. Darcel, "The Roads of Exile, 1792-1817," p. 29. 63. Darcel, "The Roads of Exile, 1792-1817," p. 30. reference here to the 64. Darcel, "The Roads of Exile, 1792-1817," p. 29. Darcel's on France: "There is only one war" Maistre's Considerations is of from "scourge the disorders the scourge of war, and that is by restraining way of restraining that lead to this terrible purification" (p. 29). 65. Cioran, "Joseph de Maistre," p. 23. 66. Cioran, "Joseph de Maistre," p. 70. 67. Cioran, "Joseph de Maistre," p. 33. 68. See note 8 above. the Current, pp. 323-4. 69. Berlin, "Georges Sorel," in Against The Envy of theWorld (London: Weidenfeld 70. Berlin, quoted inHenry Carpenter, and Nicolson, 1996), p. 127. 71. Martin review of TheMagus Bull, "God, creation and the genitals," 26 Isaiah The October 1993, p. 15. Guardian, Berlin, by 72. Stephen Holmes, "The Lion of Antiliberalism," The New Republic, 32-7. 1989, pp. of theNorth 30 October
Benjamin and Love
Constant
on Liberty
?oKiel Qossvnan
In memory of Jack Lively
I. Introduction
To Constant. on Benjamin of my knowledge, Isaiah Berlin never wrote directly This is the more surprising as there is general agreement among Berlin's a on on was influence his that Constant decisive reflections interpreters liberty. it is Berlin's Besides scattered references true, in a list throughout essays?usually, as Madame de Stael, Jeremy Bentham, James Mill, along with other figures such to the and Guizot?Constant is singled out on two occasions for his contribution the best
of modern liberal thought: first in the celebrated Oxford articulation inaugural lecture on "Two Concepts of Liberty" of 1958 and again in the essay on "Liberty" a in 1962 (but published drafted for a BBC program only in 1995). But itwas in let ter to Conor Cruise O'Brien, dated 10 April 1991, that Berlin made the most ex to Constant. In an otherwise favorable of his indebtedness plicit acknowledgment in the New York Review of Books, review of Berlin's The Crooked Timber ofHumanity to task for including Edmund had taken Berlin Burke "in a list of O'Brien
'reactionary' thinkers, along with Hamann, Moser, and Maistre." Berlin re
that he knew "virtually nothing about [Burke] except what sponded by confessing most people know?the image handed down in history books and conversations," to and therefore "really should not argue" with O'Brien about him. A postscript the letter left no doubt that Constant, not Burke, had helped Berlin to articulate his ideas on liberty. "That cold, perceptive, civilised Swiss wrote better independent, about the destruction of individual liberty and the horrors of both the Terror and, to some degree, of Bonapartist "I cannot deny he claimed. rule, than anybody," the conceptions of liberty in the that his famous essay on the difference between did have a pretty strong influence on me." He went ancient and modern worlds so far as to suggest it was Benjamin Constant who that "perhaps showed the the Revolution and into French its aftermath" sharpest penetration and?hedged round by parentheses?that be "in some ways more Constant's writings might interesting of Constant than even Burke's."1 As far as political ideas are concerned seems to and Berlin thus be beyond dispute. the affinity
133
134
Those who knew Berlin well will be able to judge whether there is any founda to Berlin more broadly, tion in fact for my hunch that Constant may have appealed in the way that Alexander to him, because of his almost debili Herzen appealed to understand and with tating capacity sympathize points of view. conflicting a to not even men Berlin did devote of brilliant whom is Herzen, essays, couple in C. J.Galipeau's Isaiah Berlin's Liberalism (Oxford, 1994). Yet the profound as conviction, as of intellectual well the extraordinary temper liberality honesty and the vast range of sympathies and openness, of the author of My Past and as great an impact on Berlin, as he was in Russian Thoughts surely had steeped as the more to literary values, literature and highly sensitive formal theories of inmy view, isHerzen in a different key? liberal political philosophers. Constant, as Berlin it somewhat "cold" rather than romantic, Swiss classical, himself, put rather than Russian, but equally and with the same endowed cosmopolitan one on for the world others' In of the essays Herzen eyes. capacity seeing through Berlin himself placed the two in the same without Fanaticism") ("A Revolutionary category of "enlightened sceptics," along with Erasmus and Montaigne, Bayle and and the English Philosophical Radicals. Fontenelle, Humboldt Like Berlin, Constant did not shrink from taking positions, but he did so, like the ease and assurance of the party man or dogmatist, and his Berlin, without or line of action, now often tactical, favoring now one position choices were to him to require, and never, seemed another, as the situation and the occasion the sense of being fully at one with himself that is the unde therefore, enjoying and self-righteous. While his aim was to achieve served privilege of the dogmatic as much individual that there were freedom as possible, he always acknowledged individual freedom and that these were not other human needs and goods besides tioned security, solidarity. Constant's irony and always compatible with it: love, heroism, a as well as the discomfort sense of "not caused the him, ambivalence, they being as he put it,might well have struck an even deeper chord in Berlin real person," than his political ideas as such. It is hard to imagine that Berlin was not as drawn to the Constant of Adolphe, the Journaux intimes, and the wonderful letters to his friends as he was to the author of the essay on "The Liberty of the Ancients Com some in with that the There after truth of Moderns." Gas is, all, y Ortega pared more a is that "liberalism far view set's potentially assertion of dangerous general life than a question of politics."2 texts by Constant that will be the focus of The two generically disparate de (De my attention?a l'Esprit conqu?te et de l'usurpation) and political pamphlet a short novel in de the French classical (Adolphe) composed syle of Mme. same time (1806-1807) written about the La Princesse de Cl?ves?were Lafayette's a couple of years of each other. The pamphlet within and published appeared two weeks in 1814, in Hanover and London, and then in Paris, within of in in An the novel London and Paris 1816. abdication; English Napoleon's a friend of Constant's translation of the novel, by Alexander from his Walker, in 1816, only two months also appeared after the student days in Edinburgh, text and I then consider elements shall take each French. up separately original common to both. There is a copious about Constant literature on himself. First, a brief word his extraordinarily active and varied public and private life and numerous love
Benjamin
Constant
on Liberty
and Love
135
as exhausting to read about as they must have been for him to affairs?almost are two excellent biographies?a in. In there engage particular, truly elegant one a more recent and Harold much detailed volume Nicolson, by by Dennis Wood.3 itwill have to be sufficient to emphasize For our purposes, that Constant was a French ancestry; Swiss birth (in 1767) and family connec thorough cosmopolitan: as writers); tions (including several relatives who had distinguished themselves in Germany in of and education the Scotland (at (at University Erlangen, briefly) the University of Edinburgh, 1783-85?"the happiest years of my life"); close ties in Switzerland, to and much travel and residence Scotland, Germany, England, as as and and Holland well France; two marriages (both to German women) in love affairs with German, French, English, Irish, and Swiss women, and with the redoubtable stormy notoriously relationship cluding long-standing a member Mme. de Stael; and an active political of the career, as a pamphleteer, a member Conseil d'Etat Tribunat at the time of the First Consulate, of Napoleon's Days, and a parliamentary deputy and leading liberal under during the Hundred the Restoration (1818 until his death in 1829). With all that, the author of transla tions from the German, essays, a large treatise on political literary and political on a of and another short novels, a tragedy, and various au theory religion, couple to the the memorable from Cahier Journaux intimes. Rouge writings, tobiographical to European culture in the Age of Goethe far Like Mme. de Stael, Constant belongs more at home in than to French culture as such, and of course he was as much as in two In and French. his German the of influence years English particular, countless a at Edinburgh University, and debating discussion alive Adam Smith was in lively student during which he participated actively a number of scholars. societies, has been emphasized by was at the time and Adam still teaching. Ferguson A French translation of the latter's widely read Essay on theHistory of Civil Society in Edinburgh arrived the year Constant of 1767 appeared (1783) and, judging in its broad distribution libraries France today, appears throughout by public on Constant to have reached a large public. The impact of Smith and Ferguson reason to is but there believe that itwas has not been carefully every investigated
considerable.4
In lieu of a visual portrait of Constant, vivid verbal let me cite one particularly a comes to It Harold Nicolson's introduction from description. popular English just after the Second World War: language edition of Adolphe, published
Constant Benjamin not prepossessing. at His that date carroty was hair twenty-seven over hung his of age. His years in forehead wisps, appearance his white was face
was blotched with yellow patches; his little eyes glinted within half-closed eyelids and behind green spectacles; his lips were mobile and slim. He had a weedy body, and white freckled hands which jerked nervously; his finger was constantly in his
mouth. He had a thin, rather effeminate voice, and when he uttered his epigrams, the
sibilants hissed and whistled.5
IL De
l'Esprit de conqu?te
et de l'usurpation
The material Constant drew on for this pamphlet was first set down around 1806 a liberal theory of politics, in a large manuscript which Constant outlining an was not in under abbrevi (It appeared simply publishable Napoleon. explains in its entirety ated version as Principes de politique, in 1815, but was not available
136
until quite recently). Constant the By late 1813, however, evidently thought was opportune a topical turn moment for giving some of his general reflections and injecting them into the contemporary and historical situation. "The political author has cut out all the purely theoretical discussion and extracted only what of immediate and interest," he stated in the preface, relevance dated appears 31 December references
and usurper
1813, to the first edition of the pamphlet. in the pamphlet to the Terror, the Jacobins,
par excellence.
This accounts and Napoleon,
for the many as conqueror
I shall touch on a variety of points, the underlying like to theme Iwould in is that of for Constant insisted that there the explore following pages modernity, was a radical difference between the modern and earlier classi age ages, notably cal antiquity, which was still, in Constant's time, a point of reference and even a While thinkers and artists. theme itself is old enough. Earlier phases of the Querelle des Anciens et des in the sixteenth and seventeenth Modernes centuries had been centered on the idea as we and Moderns intellectual scientific stand on the shoulders of the of progress: we see more of the Moderns and further. The order of the ran, Ancients, argument we nature itself, however, was unchanging; it better. Likewise, understood simply common as the from perception regards human nature, politics, and government, to the end of the eighteenth the same the Renaissance century was of repetition: The it was the same behaviors, the same arguments, the same situations, problems, or masks. Even the Moderns held, recur in constantly changing guises, costumes refined masks, claimed only that the arts of civilization?more codes of costumes, a kind of cosmetic that had mitigated the and behavior?were harshness language of earlier times without fundamentally altering nature. to construct a secular "science" of politics rested on this ambition Machiavelli's view of history as repetition. Whoever studies "current and past affairs will rec ognize how the same desires and the same characters recur in all cities and among so that "whoever all peoples," he claimed, studies past situations and carefully to foresee and events will find it easy, by virtue of the similarity of occurrences, forestall, in any state, those of the future." As the Spanish censor of a book possibly drawn from Tacitus noted: "Nos ha de ense?ar of aphorisms junto con lo que casos" ("Our task is to teach, along with what pass?, lo que passera en semejantes in the past, what will happen in the future in similar conditions").6 happened view of history as repetition and with links this neo-classical Despite lingering human nature as unchanging it, for instance, in the taste for max (we can observe in Adolphe), of precise temporal and geographical definitions an idea for whom the by develops already anticipated Montesquieu, of virtue, like some prelapsarian is ancient republic and its principle humanity, to recreate in and world: the lost contemporary irretrievably impossible namely, from the ancient world and that history that the modern world is truly different is not simply a succession of different masks worn by essentially the same players, as Thus customs and institutions that Voltaire claimed, but is real and constitutive. as "abuses" when historical have served one age well are experienced changes use made them no longer useful or effective. "Everything has had its function and was is abusive of progress. What fulness in the movement today indispensable is subject to the same Our own modernity, Constant notes reflectively, yesterday." some of the principles that seem to us beyond law of historical change: "Perhaps ims and the absence Constant model for many
Benjamin
Constant
on Liberty
and Love
137
of "commerce" and well before the Hegelians and of the 1707 Treaty of Union with England, and the Marxists, Constant was already arguing that the policy-maker's task is to un of history?"l'esprit derstand the movement g?n?ral" of his time, as Montesquieu as tomake so to it the best of the opportunities it affords it?and expressed adapt in the natural world runs its course. Men follow it, at any given point. "Everything accelerate the pace, or slow it down, but they cannot escape it."8 For Constant, hu man nature itself is historical. The progress of civilization, Constant declared, "has
created for man new relations with his fellows and, as a result, a new nature."9
the same fate." The fact that a custom or dispute will meet with once useful in no way justifies attempting to resurrect it. "As long it is because it crumbles, it has lost it stood firm on its own. When and destructive In fact, the most dangerous of all policies consists to turn with the back the clock. Scottish trying Along champions
institution was as itwas useful its usefulness."7 in deliberately
In light of these considerations, Constant for mod rejected antiquity ern politics. To him there is little to be gained from weighing the up theoretically of Sparta, the model of the Ancients, and and disadvantages relative advantages or from arguing for this or that form the preferred model of the Moderns, Athens, manner In practice, history of the Enlightenment of society in the philosophers. limits the range of our options and the ancient republic is simply not one of them. It is not suited to modern forms of govern life; and as historically inappropriate create ment can only be imposed by violence, but and in the misery they nothing
long run cannot are truth endure. that are in one but that no remain so in another. the men
as amodel
There This
things is often
possible never neglected,
age, without
danger. done they
longer It is a great
evil when
who hold in their hands
the destiny of the world
are mistaken
about what
is actually
... was read history and see what They possible ... now it can still be done sider whether [S]ince interests, the entire moral existence of their
and do not stop to con earlier, are at odds with the moods, the these forces react against
contemporaries,
them. And within a span of time all too long for their victims, but extremely short if we consider it historically, nothing is left of their enterprises but the crimes they have
committed and the sufferings they have caused.10
at the Jacobins (though it has a strikingly Constant's critique is clearly directed are confronted resonance to those who today by another?religious?kind topical his critique is equally clear: the The principle of fundamentalism). underlying and of aristocratic, Jacobins' rejection of the limits set by centuries provincial, to it of and liberties the be that the monarch power, privileges sovereign municipal or that of his replacement, the sovereign of the modern state, their transgression the state and civil society, their failure, in short, to acknowl between boundary in complex modern limits of state power the societies, betrays edge the proper of their program. You cannot revive the ancient Roman republic in the and Mably would have conditions of late eighteenth-century Europe, as Rousseau to the would liked to do, Constant Constant's criticism implies. apply equally or of Novalis oder the fantasies Christenheit (Die 1799) Europa, medievalizing in Fichte Der Handelsstaat? dreamed self-contained up by community geschlossene anachronism about which Constant had this to say in 1804: of our modern
of bills
God bless them, with

material needs
their Spartan ideals in themidst

become part of our existence,
civilization,
etc.
of
that have
of exchange,
They
138

who, if ever they intentions came to power, in the world.11 would begin Robespierre all over
are madmen again, all with
the best
Its anachronism is also the basis of Constant's critique of the Napoleonic regime. It is simply, he claims, unsuited to an age in which what people aspire to is no or the comfort and longer glory challenge and exaltation of combat, but individual no as it in Adam his Essay on the regretfully wellbeing; longer virtue, Ferguson put was one of the but that the of which Civil Society, of pursuit History happiness, in enshrined the American Declaration of rights Independence.
I have sometimes wondered what one of these men who wish to repeat the deeds of
Cambyses,
nature has confronting
Alexander
given and you a
or Attila would
quick eye, danger
reply if his people
spoke to him and told him:

thirst ... Are for we
boundless
surmounting
... and an inexhaustible energy ... But we should for these? pay why
here only to build, with our dying bodies, your road to fame? You have a genius for fighting: what good is it to us? The leopard too, if itwere transported to our popu lous cities, might complain of not finding the thick forests, the immense plains where
it delighted in pursuing, seizing another and devouring its prey, where its vigour was dis
played
climate, wish ... Man to
in the speed and dash of the chase. Like the leopard, you belong
another reign from land, in a civilized another from our own. species if you wish Learn peace, age. this one.12 world, stop despoiling Learn to rule to be over civilized, peaceful
to another
if you peoples
to a more primitive in 1815, is a throwback observed Constant stage of Napoleon, human history: "He is Attila, he is Genghis Khan."13 of historical of the real importance time and On the basis of his affirmation a et in I De de de of Constant offers part conqu?te l'Esprit l'usurpation critique change, as anachronistic, of satisfy of war and conquest ways inappropriate historically of usurpers, and in part II, a critique and the desires; dictators, ing human a on the seizure and with exercise of sustained reflection power, along arbitrary kind of government that is appropriate to modern times?that is, to a bourgeois, his vision of politics and these critiques, he develops commercial society. Around for the nineteenth century. society A series of contrasts between ancient and modern life is generated by the argu no longer needs to be stolen from others by ment times wealth that in modern commerce or created by industry; that violence but can be acquired peacefully by an age of commerce has replaced the age of war.14 First, ancient warfare is said to in to and addition have developed of the heroism, greatness spirit enriching as as all victors the well victors. In contrast, modern warfare impoverishes parties, "the new way of fighting, the changes inweapons, the vanquished. Moreover, [the use of] artillery have deprived military life of ... that pleasure of the will, of action, and moral of our physical of the development faculties, that made hand-to-hand or so attractive to the knights of the Middle Ages." the heroes of antiquity fighting or an age "which values in accord "interest without passion," everything Waged as one attempts move as soon out to of this to its and, sphere, opposes ing utility a war must become its irony to every real or feigned enthusiasm," horrifyingly must if I As too affair.15 the lesson of and sadistic love, may anticipate cynical second short novel C?cile (written around 1810, but both Adolphe and Constant's and not published until 1951). left unfinished, concerns politi A second contrast between the ancient and the modern world cal organization. Constant sets the ancient polis and the medieval city-republics
Benjamin over against mogeneous absorbed by life. private the modern
Constant
on Liberty
and Love
139
state. The former were small, autonomous, internally ho was entirely in which each individual he communities, claims, (male) his role and identity as a citizen and there was virtually no sphere of in his "To the ancient Greek, or the Roman," Ferguson had asserted was and the To the "the individual the modern, Essay, public every thing. nothing, In the ancient world, individual is every thing and the public nothing."16 differ ences were not between citizens, Constant again following explained, Ferguson, cities or poleis. The modern but between state, in contrast, is part of a commercial inwhich differences ironed of culture and ethnicity are being progressively world out by similar interests and desires and people are becoming more and more alike. one state from another but and divides Difference here no longer distinguishes man states. of all A is no longer fully iden has been internalized within individuals as as a to that one), but is rather a private tifiable citizen (of this polis opposed an a Constant individual. Optimistically, believes this devel person, bourgeois, states anachronistic. after opment ought to make war between (Understandably, and 1939, Berlin did not share Constant's the wars of 1866,1870,1914, optimism on this score and did not evoke this aspect of his work.) Our world
nation
is, in this respect, the opposite of the ancient world. While

an isolated family, the born enemy of other families,
in the past each

a great mass of
formed
human beings now exist who, despite the different names under which they live and in their their different forms of social organization, are essentially homogeneous
nature. This mass is strong be enough to have nothing a to fear from hordes that are still
barbarous.
toward above every
It is sufficiently
To errors sure,
civilized
the warlike
to find war a burden.

tradition, slow down heritage the effects
Its uniform
from of distant this
tendency
ages, and but
is
peace. all the day
itmakes
of governments, further progress.17
tendency,
and poleis were unified around a shared fact that the ancient communities are or whereas modern societies characterized tradition, by interest and myth a in of advantage, results between the rational calculation difference significant to the state and the ancient citizen's attachment attachment individual's modern to the polis. The patriotism of the Ancients was a kind of family loyalty; modern a cos to Constant to the man's attachment state, according (himself perfect we observed earlier), is conditional on the advantages accrue to as that mopolitan, all that was dearest to aman. him from it. To the Ancients, "fatherland embodied The To lose one's country was to lose one's wife, children, But and social enjoyment." nearly all communication
the age liberty, activity, of that sort of patriotism of whatever is the property a thousand sorts glory, is over; we what we love our now
friends,
in our
all affections,
as
and
possess, of happiness
security, ... Individual
country, the possibility existence today
in our of rest,
is less
submerged in political existence; individuals can take their treasures far away; they can carry with them all the enjoyments of private life. Commerce has brought nations closer together and has given them virtually identical customs and habits; monarchs
still be may was ancients them it is quite enemies, a punishment, agreeable.18 but peoples is easy are for compatriots. the moderns; Expatriation, and far from which being for painful the to
and excesses and of the late nineteenth the nationalistic passions (Again, with was in to not centuries Berlin take twentieth still fresh inclined memory, up early in the age of economic migrations, the of Constant's. this argument However,
140
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment from poorer argument to richer countries, and the "global seem more than may compelling economy," they did parts half a
"brain drain" of Constant's
century ago.) distinction led to the famous Above of ancient and modern all, Constant's or between distinction between ancient and modern liberty "political" and "civil" a to had familiar distinction with which have he become liberty, during his years in Edinburgh, since it is central to the thought of Hume, and Smith, Ferguson, and which, in turn reflects the other leading figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, two strains, in Constant's of Rousseau and This was the Montesquieu.19 thought, most to formu work that him of Constant's part strongly engaged Berlin, helping were late the two concepts of "positive" and "negative" which the liberty topic of I quote at length from the 1958 inaugural lecture on "Two Concepts of Liberty." the distinction is elaborated. the chapter of De l'Esprit de conqu?te in which in collective power rather than in [Ancient] liberty consisted in active participation the peaceful enjoyment of individual independence. And to ensure the former, itwas
necessary for this for sacrifice the citizens and to sacrifice a impossible to exact deal good it at the of stage the latter. But have it is absurd reached now. to ask people
In the republics of antiquity,

citizen had,
the extremely
a great
small scale of the territory meant
that each
exercise The of the importance. personal politically speaking, so to the occupation of citizenship the amusement of and, represented speak, rights all. The whole to the contributed of the laws, pronounced people making judgments, on war was in national and peace. share decided The of the individual sovereignty ... It follows no means, as it is now, an abstract an from this that the supposition by in order to conserve and their share cients were their political importance prepared, in the administration to renounce their private of the state, and to per independence mit maintain increase institutions which the of fortunes, prevent equality, proscribe distinctions, what and obstruct the influence of wealth, talents, and even virtue. Clearly
such institutions
Thus peoples we ... The ... But
limit liberty and endanger

now citizen call had civil
individual
security.
slave to the of the ancient majority of the nation of which he
was unknown liberty in a way made himself the
formed part. He submitted himself

legislator and felt with citizen the reason was
entirely
was
to the decisions
himself worth that
of the sovereign,
that enough
of the
that he was
to be
than
It is quite that of
all that his suffrage pride a power. a different matter in modern the they through ancient adopt, republics, no have
and legislator in a nation small
sovereign, for each
states. of
Because their
their
the mass active that
government sovereignty not men include
representation,
in it. part They is to say in a fictitious ... It would this kind the progress among that of be
inhabitants, are called
is much territory whatever at most
larger form of
to exercise
manner...
The immediate pleasure

as many rifices would tendency to be left
[of liberty] is [thus] less vivid among them [since] it does

impossible to exact these the from sac liberty. Moreover, of civilization, have
of power any of the enjoyments to win and maintain sacrifices [now] of the be much age, the more painful: communication
commer multi
cial
peoples, their
infinitely
plied and varied

only in dertakings, their
the means
perfect sphere
of individual happiness.
in all their fantasies.
To be happy, men need

occupations,
[now]
un
independence of activity,
concerns
their
and sacrifice has thus become The relation of liberty to pleasure the exact reverse itwas in antiquity. "In the past, where of what there was liberty, people could en it is necessary to enslave people there is hardship, dure hardship; now, wherever to get them to put up with it. The people most attached to liberty inmodern times
Benjamin
Constant
on Liberty
and Love
141
ismost attached to its pleasures. It holds to its liberty above all is also that which see in to it it is enlightened the of its pleasures."20 because guarantee enough In part II, chapter 7 of De l'Espirt de conqu?te Constant warns of the danger of at tempting to recreate ancient liberty in conditions which are no longer appropriate to it. The result, he says, will be an inauthentic community, which will be main and terror. So the attempt to recreate a historically only by dictatorship in the destruction will result of liberty. Among Constant's inappropriate liberty one no to could have mistaken the here reference the Jacobin contemporaries, reign of terror. In light of those reflections, Constant the very terms of political redefines so much matters not the traditional the What is between distinction thought. who different forms of government etc.)?i.e. aristocracy, (monarchy, democracy, tainable
exercises power?as the manner in which government, any government, exercises
at the opening power "My aim in this work," he writes power?how no means et de "is II De de that of under of part of conqu?te l'Esprit l'usurpation, by to contrast forms I the of the wish examination different of government. taking one a I not to with that is not; do propose compare regular regular government is exercised.
governments among themselves." 21
von Humboldt concern is the same as that expressed by Wilhelm in Constant's some his Limits of State Action (written in the 1790s, but not published, for except fragments, until 1851):
a or to frame constitution, attempt reorganize political ... to be in view: to determine, for first, distinctly kept objects to arrange shall be governed, and who shall govern and who In every and the administration; once ment, constructed, which more secondly, should affects free, is to there the nation the actual are two main in question, working the govern latter object, of
determines ultimate
immediately of his the limits the
to which the exact prescribe sphere or confine extend its operations. The life of the citizen the private and, more spontaneous a necessary activity, means
purpose;
former
only
is, strictly speaking, at this for arriving
especially, the true, end.22
that far more attention has traditionally Humboldt been paid goes on to complain to the former than to the latter, i.e. to the question of the form of government rather than to that of its scope and limits. For Constant, is not between the significant distinction then, as for Humboldt, of whatever kinds of government but, first, between legitimate governments stripe that can be said in one way or another to rest on the will of the (i.e. governments and consent or by constitutional people, whether by a long tradition of acceptance in which power has been and illegitimate governments (governments or even against the will of the peo is consent and the exercised without usurped that acknowledge governments ple); and, second, between legal limits to state enactment) that do not, i.e. governments that claim absolute power. power and governments to For Constant the which he almost cer subscribes modern distinction?of fully as a student in in heard much the 1780s?between the varied tainly Edinburgh in and the and civil he holds the of of the that state; society sphere sphere sphere indi of civil society?private life, culture, religion, economic activity, etc.?the vidual has a right to freedom, and that no government, of any stripe, is entitled to that freedom. The sway of government should extend no further interfere with than the protection from external enemies and from other indi of each individual viduals who might seek to diminish his freedom.
142
Two tected

things from are needed internal task for a society and to exist two, disorders and enjoy happiness. be protected to repel One, from itmust foreign be pro invasion.
disorder,
it must and
Government's
is to suppress
invasions.23
In advocating strict limits on the power of government, Constant deliberately goes a more wants of He further than Montesquieu's reliable de powers. separation to me is of powers. "What matters fense of individual liberty than the separation one source cannot not that my personal be violated of without the power by rights cannot that be but violated whatso of another, my rights by any power approval toMontesquieu, ever."24 Or again: "According liberty is the right to do whatever is not citizens cannot do what the laws permit. No doubt there is no liberty when so law. But the well laws that there many by might prohibit things prohibited would be no liberty even under law."25 And just before his death in 1829, Constant
wrote:
in all things: in religion, For forty years Ihave defended the same principle?freedom in literature, in industry, and in politics. ... The majority has the right in philosophy, to oblige theminority to respect public order, but everything which does not disturb
which is order, everything personal, public to our opinions, in giving does expression physical vidual violence or obstructing contrary surrendered such no as our harm opinions, to others, which, everything either by provoking in which, industry,
opinions,
everything of
does not prevent a rival industry from flourishing

and cannot be legitimately
freely, all that belongs

the state.26
to the indi
to the power
or even as for most early liberals like Humboldt The essential thing for Constant, to conclude, is "negative Mill, one might want liberty"?that liberty from govern as distinct from the civic humanist tradi from the jurisprudential, ment, derived as appropriate most of the writers Scottish tion, and presented by Enlightenment to modern be they republics like the German commercial societies, city-states lectures on jurispru evoked by Adam Smith in his 1762-63 Glasgow University admired by Hume.27 "The axiom of popular dence or the "civilised monarchies" a as wrote. But in a of Constant has been taken liberty," sovereignty principle one recourse to to other the ex has determine modern "unless principles society, be the of tent of ... sovereignty, could lost, despite principle popular liberty
sovereignty, when no or limit even is set on account of of it." the 28 For state, but in a popular of
... tyranny liberty government as?more is as The that can do anything than?any dangerous dangerous people or the It is not that constitutes number of governors the small tyranny large tyrant. what the of state power, that guarantees number of governors liberty. Only degree a constitution ever is free or a in which it is determines whether the hands placed, a once it is has been the more and established, tyranny government oppressive; as the are more numerous.29 tyrants frightful are not defenders candidates for
to the power of
the
leaders
of
the people the exercise
So any form of government may claim absolute power and destroy liberty: democ no form is and less than of any racy government aristocracy. Equally, monarchy A would liberal be limited with power. democracy government compatible as much power as is necessary to ensure the "power placed in the hands of all, but only be order and safety of the association." A liberal aristocracy would correspondingly one in in a few; a liberal monarchy one inwhich is vested the same limited power can transfer its in a single person. "The people limited power is vested which
Benjamin
Constant
on Liberty
and Love
143
is as limited as that to a few or to a single individual, but their authority authority of the people which gave it to them."30 is on the protection In sum, the emphasis of the private sphere, private activi concern with This seemingly ties, private beliefs, private pleasures. overriding was by the experience as it undoubtedly of the Terror, "negative liberty," inspired a even to view Constant take of led fairly benign regimes that did not occasionally not too in the private did interfere much support, provided they enjoy popular same in Berlin would the 1958 Isaiah the lecture, argue way, inaugural sphere. (In at the height of the Cold War and in the shadow that of Stalinism, delivered or at any some kinds of autocracy, not with "is negative incompatible liberty In Constant's Red Notebook (a fragment rate with the absence of self-government.") in 1811), the narrator recounts an episode narrative composed of autobiographical on Bernese rule in the French-speaking from the 1780s, and comments pays an canton only became de Vaud?Constant's independent birthplace?which as a result of Napoleon's of Switzerland restructuring by the Act of Mediation
(1803).
The Bernese with whom Iwas travelling belonged to one of the aristocratic families of Berne. My father detested this government and had brought me up to do the same ... [He] spent his life declaiming against [it] and Iused to repeat his declamations. We did not reflect that our very declamations proved their own falsehood, by the mere
fact that we could utter unattended them without inconvenience by of cost dint to ourselves. of accusing and tyranny, his They were not, whose finally a peace in a post however, only caused always faults were them by and inconvenience: insolence, which oligarchs, father my and
monopoly to treat him the
of his years hatred of Bernese all my father's rule, Iwas to repeat all the well-known than I began chaise with this Bernese of the its the usurpation rights, against against people's policies, I did not to promise etc. fail that, my travelling-companion ity, ful existence Filled during as Iwas with nity had offered, me Iwould deliver the canton of Vaud from
unjustly; last twenty-five
injustice him his
place, life.
fortune
no
sooner
arguments against author hereditary if ever the opportu the oppression of his compa
triots. Just such an opportunity

before olution effort What means,
presented
itself eleven years later; but by this time I
a ... witness a rev I had been where of what the experience of France, as far as I is and from refrained concerned; any liberty carefully really to revolutionize Switzerland. strikes conversation with this Bernese, my to the attached of any sort days expression If one the period. that characterized nowadays expressed one would not be safe for half an hour.31 me, when in those I recall is the of small im and of
portance the tolerance such views,
that was
opinion, one quarter
of this decidedly A few lines in the middle passage un-revolutionary ("They were ... an unattended inconvenience emit not, however, ") by important warn always not that An does ing signal. "illegitimate," "foreign" government enjoy popular allows for considerable support but nevertheless personal liberty may in practice a to some supposedly In the end, however, be preferable popular regimes. nor not to the is answerable neither that government people provides security and without restraint the moment liberty, for it will act ruthlessly to it. out of indifference no longer seem harmless it permitted In fact, Constant that be something may missing acknowledges in modernity in general. This liberty"?and liberty" or "modern illustrated by three passages from three very different works. the freedoms in "negative point can be
144 The
first is from one of our two principal texts, De l'Esprit de conqu?te et de to and anomie of the attention here the isolation draws Constant l'usurpation. freedom is enjoyed. citizens of large modern states, even where negative Inspired no doubt in part by the strong particularist and tradition of his native Switzerland in part by the image of ancient Greece as a land of countless poleis, independent the that there is a continuity between Constant argument anticipates Tocqueville's more state of the ancien r?gime French monarchy and the and more centralized state in that both aim to eliminate the local identities modern post-Revolutionary and communities
In all All ert those states are
that stand
where concentrated the rest local
in the way
of their hegemony.
interests themselves;
a little state in their center. is formed life is destroyed, to ex in the make their way There all ambitions capital. in an unnatural inert. lost remain isolation, Individuals,
strangers
in the place of their birth, without
contact with
the past, living only in a
an immense flat plain, detach themselves from a cast like atoms upon present, hasty a see. can matter to Its of indifference nowhere becomes that they fatherland entirety ... One come cannot to rest on any of its parts cannot since them their affection help numerous with and vigorous covered times when the earth was those regretting in a to its in every way suited stir and exert itself could and mankind sphere peoples capacity.32
comes from De la Religion, a text on which Constant worked The second passage It than any of his other writings. he himself valued more all his life and which bitter triumph of Enlightenment: the somewhat describes Victorious
tive
in the battles he has fought, man

is astonished itself. He finds at his
looks on aworld
... His on
depopulated
idle now may
of protec
and soli him
and powers, tary, turns upon this earth up. On they into
victory. himself alone follow each voice
imagination, an earth which
swallow
the generations suffer, still they die and living, silence. eternal by which
other, of of those the
appear, they the life of those by between the
... No
fortuitous, transitory, that are no more is living
isolated;
the voice What been
engulfed
same the past
shall man abandoned
hope, is excluded?33
he has
be generations without do, without memory, and a future he from which
prolonged soon must
is from a text of 1824, a commentary The third passage entitled Scienza delta legislazione:
In the age The of our excessive civilization, relations between
on an Italian work
of 1794
fathers
and
children
have
become
future. strive the
extremely
present
difficult. Fathers
live in the past. Their children's domain

combat like the in which to retain. generation Each
is the
some day
ceaselessly torrent of
... the theater of a great is but nothing to hasten of what others would the collapse and ambitions affairs, separates pleasures,
taking
possession Modern bonds
of life from the generations
that life is abandoning.34
seem to be saying, tends to destroy both the life, these three passages to separate genera and the bonds of history and tradition, of community time into discrete instants. By eroding and decompose tions, isolate individuals, or parts of a larger whole, as members it deprives their sense of themselves peo an object for the passion, dedication, that are the hallmarks and enthusiasm of ple be it in the form of love of another in of the human desire for self-transcendence, or love of God. Continuous self-reflection love of a larger community dividual, and and cut the conviction also destroy and the habit of skepticism spontaneity
Benjamin modern individual off from the wellsprings his own affective life.
We have lost in imagination what we have
Constant of energy
on Liberty
and Love in himself,
145 from
and feeling
gained
in
knowledge;
as a result,
we
are
even incapable of lasting emotion; the ancients were in the full youth of their moral life, we are in itsmaturity, perhaps in its old age; we are always dragging behind us
which is born of experience, and which defeats enthusiasm afterthought, so afraid of being are and above all of like dupes, that we dupes, looking even our most in ourselves com violent emotions. The ancients had always watching we have a weak in all matters; conviction and conviction about plete only fluctuating almost We to this ourselves in vain.35 but try to blind everything. deficiency, ... We are some sort of
To be sure, there is no going back to the ages of community, convic unreflecting are no more and "These times and is it to tion, spontaneity. regret pointless them."36 However, Constant does appear to believe that something needs to be of the ancient in order to sustain the modern and to secure the liberties preserved modern individuals Smith himself that "there are enjoy. Adam acknowledged some inconveniences a from commercial of men are [:] the minds arising spirit... contracted and rendered or at least is despised education incapable of elevation, and heroic spirit is almost utterly extinguished." Smith remarks that neglected, "To remedy these defects would be an object worthy of serious attention."37 So, while he regards the attempts of the French Jacobins to reinstate the ancient as Ferguson and dangerous, Constant also recognizes, in republic as misguided particular had done,38 the human value of the old ways, of the old republics, even of war, in developing of courage, and dedica personal qualities independence, tion. He therefore protests his respect for the motives of those who had attempted, to revive those qualities however misguidedly, and the conditions that once sus even tained them. "Woe betide a not does whoever feel commitment, today even while the errors of the friends of humanity, to the principles recognizing have to from critical of Constant Rousseau, age they professed age."39 Though does not join the anti-Rousseauist he the limi Instead, bandwaggon. emphasizes tation of interest alone as amotivation for defending in the and freedom, Principes de politique he criticizes Bentham's utilitarianism. in to unite together "For men face of their destiny, more mere need than need self-interest; they something they real beliefs."40 When he wanted to truly insult Napoleon, he described him as "le calcul personnifi?." In other words, there is, after all, a need for something of the old "political lib tomodern as Ferguson had "civil liberty." Otherwise, erty" in addition repeatedly those who enjoy pointed out in his Essay, "civil liberty" itself might be lost while it are busy pursuing their private interests.41 "While in this work we have consid ered only matters pertaining to civil liberty," Constant toward the end of explains his Principes de politique, "we have in no way intended to imply that political lib is Those who would in sacrifice order erty superfluous. something political liberty to enjoy civil liberty in greater peace are no less absurd than those who would sac rifice civil liberty in the hope of ensuring and Provided expanding political liberty. the people is happy, it is sometimes that it be free politi said, it is not important ... But to declare freedom useless is to declare that the edifice in cally political which we live has no need of a foundation." In Stephen Holmes's pithy summary, can Con "private independence only be guaranteed by political responsibility."42 stant explains his anxiety in a of to the De la Preface passage prophetic Religion:
146
tous sont isol?s, il "Quand chacun est son propre centre, tous sont isol?s. Quand a que de la poussi?re. est de la fange." la Quand poussi?re l'orage arrive, n'y all are isolated, there "When every one is his own center, all are isolated. When It is from anomic is only dust. When the storm comes, the dust turns to mire." that the "mass" arises.43 individuals out the dangers In his Principes of de politique Constant points repeatedly warns or in of indifference. He the face against turning away, a-politeia political in the hope that one will not be personally he defends blatant abuses, affected; a that it permits and encourages of the press on the grounds freedom lively concern and a watchful interest in public affairs, a spirit of criticism for rights in a restricted way among the highly such as flourished independent formerly the of feudal times; he justifies love, religion, pursuit of glory?"toutes nobility in et profondes"?as well as the joy we experience les passions nobles, d?licates a ? l'instinct habituel de notre "le d?vouement," joy that is "contraire
?goisme."44
some Romantic What is going on here, it seems to me, is not so much critique as a reaffirmation to of his Constant commitment the ideals of Enlightenment by won by the Revolution, an with and the freedoms of Enlightened modernity along as concern about the those of "virtue," who, sustaining expression qualities?the some fidelity to the old civic humanist tradition might retained like Ferguson, to hold on to these freedoms.45 said?needed career was devoted to defend entire political One could argue that Constant's to the Revolution threats them the left the freedoms achieved from against by ing and the right?and this argument has in fact been used to account for his appar to serve under Napoleon the Hundred ent opportunism Days, during (agreeing of De l'Esprit de conqu?tel). It is also after the publication for instance, only months insisted that all of life should worth noting how much of the life of this man, who not be politicized?that the spheres of economic activity, artistic activity, religious are autonomous in poli and should not be engulfed belief, and private emotions in fact taken up with politics, and with political action as well as writing. tics?was scholars about the relative place of opinion There is some difference among and uni well as about his views on democracy Constant ascribes to politics?as declared versal suffrage. This was no doubt inevitable, given Constant's explicitly a state ismonarchical, aristocratic or demo focus less on who governs (i.e. whether is carried out. For the late George cratic in traditional terms) than on how government a "Constant's of liberty is not, all things considered, portrait Armstrong Kelly, so as summons in must to political participation, far do to the individual he except this to ensure his full exercise of rights in the private sphere. There is no surplus in contrast, to be gained from a public role." Stephen Holmes, of exhilaration a means was to civil "not holds that for Constant liberty" liberty merely political Constant looked forward to but "an integral part of civil liberty"?that, moreover, a time when be "ennobled" "all citizens, without by it.46 Ac exception" would universal that Constant arguments against suffrage? presented knowledging claims that these were no more add, than Mill's?Holmes stringent, one might were In principle, all citizens for Constant, such arguments strategic. always have in politics. To those who objected that the majority participate were to act as members of a jury, he responded France) incompetent in become the jurors.47 responsible jury system people participation should of people (in that through
Benjamin
Constant
on Liberty
and Love
147
In the same way, no doubt, participation in politics will itself make the people, more at present judged incompetent to participate, to do competent progressively own words, a so. In Constant's "It has been objected that political thrusts liberty it not to nation into a condition of perpetual But would be difficult agitation. demonstrate that if the acquiring of liberty intoxicates of it slaves, the enjoyment it."48Above all, only free men will care about the of possessing forms men worthy institutions that preserve freedom. "Citizens will take no interest in their institu are called to participate in them by voting."49 is tions unless So Constant they "In matters most about the future of of the government, optimistic democracy: absolute equality of rights ... must be and soon will be in all civilized countries, ... and all those who the prime condition for the existence of every government to co-operate in their defense, that is to say, those rights will be authorized possess to participate inmaking the laws that determine the action of government."50 seems to be consider In fact, political for Constant, ("positive liberty"), liberty ameans more than civil and of securing ably simply defending liberty ("negative on those et profondes" It both depends d?licates nobles, "passions liberty"). are the which for dedication, self-transcendence, etc.), (enthusiasm, capacity and at the same time stimulates and promotes them, self-interest, his and and the talents his individual, saving developing personality, enriching him from the isolation, mediocrity, and lack of "elevation" that Adam uniformity, Smith himself allowed were the "disadvantages of a commercial spirit."51 And the eroded by and development is ultimately Constant's of our humanity ideal, as it promotion was Humboldt's. in his lecture on "Ancient and Constant declared "Gentlemen," Modern of Ferguson's Essay, "I call Liberty" in 1819 in tones strikingly reminiscent to witness that pursues this better part of our nature, the noble restlessness and our our to extend torments and us, the eagerness understanding develop to but faculties. Our destiny does not call us to happiness alone, self-perfection, and the most energetic means of self and political liberty is the most powerful ... to heaven all without citizens, By submitting granted by exception, perfection the care and assessment of their most sacred interests, [it] enlarges their spirit, en their thought, and establishes nobles among them a kind of intellectual equality which forms the glory and power of a people." Political liberty, "positive liberty," in politics turns out to be what will save individuals active participation from be to the look-alike puppets that a highly developed civilization threatens coming once turn them into. "There are no more to his Constant lamented individuals," younger battalions turning
stagnant,
and fellow-liberal, friend, fellow-author, Prosper de Barante, "but only in uniform." Political he could save society from believed, liberty a into another China, i.e. in the metaphoric of the time, lifeless, language
uniform mass.52
III. Adolphe
As we common themes might be found in Constant's bitter love inquire what a young man who engages a in love of it, but tires affair, story?about casually cannot either break decisively with the woman he has detached from her former on con to her?and lover and protector or commit himself his political pamphlet we own note in and should take that the writer's the view, quest usurpation, pub lic and the private, while intended for separate, were linked. In a remark originally
148
"It is not only in the ties of the the preface to the 2nd edition of Adolphe, he wrote: to develop and an incapacity enfeeblement heart that we can observe moral in love is an Faithfulness in nature is interconnected. durable feelings. Everything for freedom. Well, we have no en faith or the passion energy similar to religious or will. Everyone or no now. to doubts know how We believe, love, ergy longer and the truth of what he says, smiles at the passion he professes, feels."53 he of emotions the waning is an image of modern life to all Constant's Common writing and isolated. We alienated and of modern man as emancipated, in De l'Esprit de conqu?te et de l'usurpation from two such passages are the final pages of Adolphe, with ligion. Here now frozen grass (lifeless, shine (light without warmth), and desolation.
It was one of those winter days we like when the sun seems
anticipates as a wasteland,
the
already quoted and in De la Re sun of wintry their evocation insensate nature), loneliness,
to cast
a dismal
light
over
the
greyish
warm. "Never
countryside,
Ellenore mind.
as though looking down

might to go
in pity upon a world
it has ceased to
arm and we
suggested I should
I said. cold," go out. "It is very She took my with for a walk you." for a moment?" into she The bird was
went on for a long time without

ing heavily to feel your trees were upon me. "Shall once there was we support bare; was again." not and
saying aword,
stop We relapsed a breath of wind the only hearts sound
she walking with difficulty

"No," silence. and no said, sky cleaved of was
and lean
"it is so pleasant clear, but the the frozen still air. grass
Everything
motionless,
to be heard
the
being
resigned
crunched beneath
nature is! Shouldn't
our feet. "How calm it all is!" said Ellenore.

our learn resignation too?" She sat on
"Look how
a boulder,
then dropped
whispered words
on to her knees
and realized
and buried her head

she was praying...
in her hands.
I heard
a few
would not die with Ellenore, but would My grief was dismal and solitary. I knew I live on without her in the wilderness of this world, inwhich Ihad so often wanted to
be an which already ing my independent like a twin Iwas traveller. soul had by I was I had been crushed the one who loved me, broken this heart and shar unfailingly Ellenore loneliness. alone had Imet devoted was to mine still alive and me, more no in tireless but affection, past
overcome
already
confidences; of
atmosphere seemed harsher,
love with the faces
already which she of the men
in the world surrounded seemed
longer the very unconcerned. and
in that living air I breathed
With
her death, Adolphe

irksome this restless and over comings no Iwas now
relates,
... ... I
I felt the last link snap and the awful reality come between her and me for ever. How
had ments watch my for felt liberty and was, that that I had so desired eye to retrieve! was resentful a benevolent watching them. There there was going world.54 out. Only over was none Iwas recently all my move nobody to dispute free,
that my and
another's movements goings, loved.
happiness depended interested now, they no voice to call me back Iwas a stranger
upon nobody; as Iwas
to
truly,
longer
to the whole
as and the capacity for commitment of enthusiasm The lament over the dimming as essential to is the fic a result of ever increasing and Enlightenment rationality at the end of chapter 3 of the novel as to the political. A passage tional writing in De l'Esprit de conqu?te (referred to earlier) about the erosion echoes the warning in the first moments of a love affair "Woe to the man who conviction: of political to him who even in the arms of the that itwill last for ever! Woe does not believe
Benjamin mistress
Constant
on Liberty
and Love
149
an awareness to him maintains who has just yielded of trouble to come and foresees that he may later tear himself away." in the Principes de politique, inspired by the A curiously matching observation concerns the political French Revolution, and effects of modern reflectiveness to in of be modern the modern any irony, incapacity wholeheartedly engaged in the an of the people thing. "Whatever has been said about the inconsistency cient republics," Constant writes, If, during the outbreak of the best nothing equals the mobility we have witnessed. watch the obscure ranks of the blind and subju carefully prepared upheaval, you
gated populace, you will observe that, even as it follows its leaders, the people casts
a glance ahead toward themoment when these leaders will fall. And you will observe a strange combination of analysis and in its artificial exaltation [italics mine?L.G.]
mockery. People seem to distrust their own convictions. They try to delude them
selves by their acclamations and to reinvigorate themselves by jaunty raillery. The truth is that they foresee, so to speak, the moment when the glamour of it all will
pass."55
Another modern
by
similar poets.
in part perhaps observation, inspired by Schiller, are declares, They "always haunted," Constant
of
concerns
some
appear movement, tion modern violent for
naive
... defeats that It seems fear to enthusiasm. that they arri?re-pens?e Rather than to an irresistible and gullible. themselves surrendering on their own their readers. The first condi poetry they reflect along with to observe too much is not with wit But oneself and enthusiasm cunning. sort individuals observe themselves even in the midst of their most sensuous and
passions.56
or sure in his and an inability to be spontaneous self-observation, Irony, unceasing as a true child of character Adolphe affective life stamp Constant's Enlightenment a mother. He Like Constant himself, Adolphe and modernity. grows up without amocking, at has only a father?and who father that, represses emo self-mocking son. with his tion and cannot communicate The female presence affectively only woman whose in Adolphe's remarkable and highly original early life is "the aged mind had begun to influence my own" (a character usually assumed to have been and Constant's friend confidante Isabelle de but by the Charri?re), inspired by to bear on the hero, she has already been defeated, time she brings her influence and rendered "disillusioned," society.57 So, "joyless" by an artificial, "civilized" or continuity, reason but not love not from the outset, isolation, community as woman defines the world of the modern anti-hero Adolphe?inasmuch rather as as the the than man traditionally and of life well represents totality continuity to to in another. will this be devote oneself sense, Woman, repre capacity totally an as the past of later by Michelet, sented somewhat early admirer of Constant, mer (la m?re), in Michelet's man, as man before Enlightenment?la terms, before so the too obviously Michelet admires much have been phallic lighthouses to illuminate and control it. And Ellenore's constructed and death in suffering Constant's novel can also be read as the defeat of the "feminine" love, (of passion, religion,
world.
totality,
spontaneity,
nature),
its inevitable
victimization
in the modern
If Adolphe consciousness
refers to the irresistible frequently that eats like aworm at his capacity
habit of self-analysis and self for love, faith, and spontaneity,
150
narrator of the letters and Journaux intimes, describes the first-person Constant, in the same terms: "I have some excellent qualities: nobility of mind, gen himself (Jene suis pas tout ?fait un ?tre r?el.) erosity, loyalty. But I am not quite a real person. in one in me, one of whom There are two people the other."58 Likewise observes letters to his friend, the historian of the remarkable and fellow-admirer of Mme. de Stael, Prosper "One discovers that there is nothing de Barante: real in the a au rien the de r?el des of self" ?mes). It ismod (On s'aper?oit qu'il n'y depths fond em civilization itself and the very progress of reason that appear to turn men into to check whether I touch myself I am of artifice. "Sometimes seem as to to out I doff Barante. "I still alive," Constant confides live of politeness, I do not know."59 my hat in the street to people who greet me but whom is reflected in the form of Constant's The irony of the protagonist novel. People and events are not presented Schiller might have said? objectively?"naively," but as reflected in the consciousness is also one of the princi of the narrator who are known in particular, The other action. of the Ellenore characters characters, pal to us only through him. Likewise, Adolphe is at one and the same time the prose in his own confessional com cutor, the accused, and the defense story, constantly on it and of text the But the the reader. itself is as menting pre-empting judgments as its hero. It is framed, at the and self-judging beginning, by two self-observing note explaining, to author's prefaces and by an editor's or publisher's according was the conventions of eighteenth-century fiction, how Adolphe's manuscript the "editor" and an indi found, and at the end, by an exchange of letters between vidual who had supposedly known Adolphe and Ellenore, whom the "editor" in to had subsequently encountered chance and whom he had sent by Germany, mechanical creatures the manuscript These multiple textual framings allow the text for authentification. to read itself and comment on itself, now this way, now that. There seems to be no truth of the text, nothing that has not already been reflected on, filtered objective a it that consciousness?be of Adolphe, that of the "editor," that of the through or that of the author himself in Germany, latter's "correspondent" in the prefaces. In case we should be impatient with Adolphe, the text has already pre-empted our impatience: "I hate the vanity it of a mind which thinks it excuses what writes to the correspondent in Germany. the "editor" of the manuscript explains," "I hate the conceit which is concerned with itself while the evil it only narrating tries to arouse pity by self-description has done, which and which, soaring inde it should be repenting." In case we structible among the ruins, analyses itself when in one of the author's prefaces should be tempted to agree with the suggestion that are the cause of the failure of are we social conventions love affair, Adolphe's are quite unimportant; in another place that "circumstances reminded character is as In case we should be skeptical of the argument from usefulness everything."60 to the German for publishing the story (according justification correspondent, the story warns of flouting of the dangers social convention and of irregular the seductions and literature of love), the of the language liaisons, and exposes editor takes care to indicate in his answer that he is skeptical of such claims of use ever learns except at his own expense."61 Finally, in the world fulness: "Nobody as if to pre-empt serious time by the voice any judgment at all, we are told?this to an artistic chal of the author?that the whole work was simply the response a story in which there are only two characters and nothing hap lenge: to write wrote B?r?nice. What claimed he Racine resulted should consequently pens62?as a
Benjamin
Constant
on Liberty
and Love
151
be viewed as a pure product of French classical art: few characters, minimal action, no precise historical dates or places, only the most general descriptions, frequent use of maxims. is secondary; from this perspective, the artistry The subject matter, is all. So the reader who, his ironical takes the story too seri perspective, losing a a art?an to it is that work of and fails illusion, perceive deception?will ously to be taken in, as Ellenore was taken in by Adolphe. have allowed himself There are several accounts of a curious scene at Juliette de R?camier's, where in Lon of many Constant gave a reading of his novel in the spring of 1815?one to the due de Broglie, and 1816. According don and Paris in the years 1814,1815, the son-in-law There were
hours. The
of Mme.
de Stael,
twelve to fifteen of us present. The reading had gone on for almost three
author was tired. As he approached also suddenly the denouement of the story, his emo
tion increased visibly,

and burst into sobs. one was had and weeping become convulsive,
intensified by fatigue. By the end he could no longer contain it

The entire audience, Then, groaning. turned in. Soon moved, every joined deeply ... the and sighing, which heaving uncontrollable laughter.63
into nervous,
that the It is as though the audience had been brought up short by the realization were no more had than the intense feelings by which been moved they product of an was that and clever "real," fiction, imaginary unusually everything nothing as they were, in. had been and well taken that, sophisticated they truly To ensure that the reader will remain in uncertainty about the significance he is a final pirouette. to attribute to the work, the preface to the third edition performs to "this little work" that he attaches almost no importance The author announces to republish not have "bothered" it not that he had heard a and would it, were in Belgium.64 pirated edition was being prepared With their exacerbated reflection, and civilized self-consciousness, intelligence, text itself and its hero produce in the reader a sense of "uncer both Constant's as Constant once put it himself.65 It is as though civilized tainty about everything," man is living off a dwindling natural capital. Constant has a beautiful image for so on a sort of to this at the end of chapter 6 of Adolphe: "We were living, speak, to the make the of of heart, strong enough memory separation painful, but thought ... Iwould in being together too weak for us to find satisfaction have liked to give Ellenore tokens of my love that would have made her happy, and indeed I some and this language times went back to the language of love, but these emotions resembled the pale and faded leaves which, like remains of funeral wreaths, grow tree." listlessly on the branches of an uprooted in The sense of the second-hand, is overwhelming the worn, the warmed-over as can en to And its anti-heroic hero be taken insofar modern, Adolphe. represent in the modern the reader may begin to suspect that everything lightened man, world and secondary; is derivative that nothing is natural or original; that feelings do not come before the signs and words that supposedly them, but are express the of and themselves words. The stage seems set produced by signs manipulation for the desolate world of Flaubert. To sum up and conclude: On the one hand, an elegiac sense of modern life as man a as a real and of "not modern diminished, alienated, shadow, impoverished, on even the of the and of other, repeated warnings person"; futility danger trying to recreate enthusiasm love, faith) that can no longer be spontaneous (patriotism,
152
or authentic, of that situation. Thus bourgeois mar and, on the whole, acceptance to the disorders is in of passion, which, the Constant claims, end, preferable riage, inmodern if you in any case, can no longer be authentic circumstances. Wolmar, over Saint-Preux. luke-warm "Made more and more will, has triumphed by the ease with which what it can be pursued and subject in real life to calculation, the entirety of a person's of love no longer determines remains of the passion cases. Love has been and discouraging except in a few mostly unhappy destiny, itself. How many generation put in its place, in France at least, by the younger men in their and future order to marry convenience their would sacrifice young of for the abatement for love? Yet so far from being inclined to rebuke civilization am a once disorderly to that have be I admit morals passion, improved happy
cause of it... Habit and, above all, a common, shared interest sometimes produce
an affection of minds" in the absence of passion.66 takes In an interesting passage of his superb book on Constant, Stephen Holmes intermittent and "nihilism"?his of the Constant's world-weariness up question or meaning of life. He refers to an anecdote, much loss of a sense of purpose ap to of the eighteenth which the watchmaker-God according preciated by Constant, leaving his work unfin century died half way through his creation of the world stranded. "We are like watches which have no dial," the story ished and humanity in 1790, "and whose wheels, it to Isabelle de Charri?re recounted runs, as Constant wear turn without until with endowed out, why they knowing intelligence, I must I have a purpose." No and constantly therefore themselves: turn, telling purpose, Man is to be found.67 however, et ?nigmatique," and human "un ?tre double thus remains nature, a la ineradicable De includes to the author of Religion, seemingly according to do with to reach beyond toward ends that have nothing ourselves "tendency us in or that of the and direction calculated transport utility rationally advantage
an unknown, invisible centre, unrelated to our day-to-day lives and mundane
iswhat sustains, against all reason, a residual capacity interests."68 This tendency and a desire for fame and reputation. Even for faith, love, dedication, self-sacrifice, most world this irrational of a desacralized denizens the among skeptical if never maintains. be It Constant however, survives, may, corrupted, tendency in the and manifest itself and utilitarianism, may by skepticism entirely destroyed, the empire of reason most degraded and degrading forms. "We have proclaimed are All our systems of philosophy is unhinged and the world by madness. and appeal to our interest, yet our acts of waywardness founded on calculation In a prophetic shameful or our passions more unruly."69 have never been more one to his version of Constant writes de letters of his of Barante, passage Prosper seen men who believe in into magic. rush "I of Reason. have nothing Goya's Sleep are weary and incapable of putting I have seen men who of their incredulity that and excesses in its place except ecstasies, unbridled enthusiasms, anything are the more and being methodically incurable for having sprung from reasoning
deranged."70
in part a re liberalism was that Constant's argues plausibly Stephen Holmes man?an to nature the dual of to of this the cope with sponse attempt challenge strove to fash and purposive cosmic order. "Constant surrender of a meaningful or theological ion a humane, stable, and self-regulating ontological polity without was con he writes. "Liberal freedom, foundations," including self-government,
Benjamin ceived
Constant
on Liberty
and Love
153
as a morally of nature's reaction to the sudden disappearance responsible to I would love of and dedication add, Likewise, liberty, patriotism, purposes/'71 as appropriate in the public weal appear to have been seen by Constant channels in to guide essential human energies that civilized life had anaesthetized, which or and that if his view, but could never completely deaden, might, repressed thwarted, find new and monstrous applications.
NOTES
* My to the Tel Aviv seminar was developed from a segment of an on "Writers and Politics course in France which 1750-1950/' undergraduate at in the Romance I had been teaching Princeton Department Languages on a number of for a couple of decades. The course focused University whose embraces both literary and political French writers work writing Rousseau, Constant, Gobineau, Renan, Montherlant, Sartre) or (Montesquieu, the literary and the political The aim explictly combines (Hugo and Michelet). the political dimension of literary texts and the of the course was to investigate contribution and so to challenge of political writing the anti-rhetorical literary dimension and was later rein that accompanied Romanticism definition of "literature" At the same time, the class on Constant was forced by academic specialization. to point toward one of the great themes of nineteenth-century also intended French literature, among liberally inclined as well as conservatively inclined the association writers of (Stendhal, M?rim?e, Flaubert), namely post-Enlight vision enment modernity with My concern here is Constant's inauthenticity. as an to civil the distinct from antidote smooth of political liberty (as liberty) and the stifling of spontaneity ing out of differences produced allegedly by and modern civilization. modern manners
Notes
The Great Melody: A Thematic Biography and O'Brien, Burke Edmund 1992), (London: Sinclair-Stevenson, of Anthology ("An Exchange with Sir Isaiah Berlin"), pp. 605-18, on p. 615.1 am Appendix to Professor Brian Cowan of the Department of History, Yale Uni indebted to attention. this for my versity, bringing exchange in Gesammelte Werke 2. "Socializaci?n de Hombre," Jos? Ortega y Gasset, 4 vol. Deutsche 1, p. 537. Anstalt, vols., 1952-56), (Stuttgart: Verlags 3. Harold Constant, Nicolson, Constable, (London: 1949), Dennis Benjamin A In addition, Constant: Wood, (London: 1993). Benjamin Biography, Routledge, See Conor Cruise Commented John Cruickshank, 1974) and Tzvetan Benjamin Constant, (New York: Twayne, La Constant. Todorov, (Paris: Hachette, 1997) passion d?mocratique, Benjamin life and work. The intro offer highly readable general accounts of Constant's to Ephraim Harpaz's of articles and pamphlets ductions editions many by the of the Esprit de conqu?te in the edition French Constant, including popular series (Paris, 1986), provide excellent summary accounts Garnier-Flammarion to be made of his political needs of two thought. Finally, special mention and studies of Constant's penetrating scholarly comprehensive political Holmes's classic Benjamin Constant and the philosophy?Stephen already Haven: Modern Liberalism Yale and the Press, 1984) (New University Making of 1.
154
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment late George A. Kelly's The Humane Comedy: Constant, Tocqueville, and French Liberalism (Cambridge: Cambridge Press, 1992). University In his classic study of a century ago, Gustave Rudler held that the two chief in on Constant were "Tune, celle de la France; l'autre celle de l'Ecosse." fluences ... ses id?es et religieuses; France "fournit ? Benjamin l'Ecosse philosophiques ses entre au moins la id?es moiti?..dans formation de pour politiques." (La Jeunesse de Benjamin Constant [Paris: A. Colin, 1909], p. 184) More recently, a has again underlined the leading authority on Constant's political writings and in particular "the overwhelm influence of Scottish thought on Constant, in the background of Constant's ofNations political in the "Commerce and Civilisation Fontana, (Biancamaria Annales 5 of [1985], pp. 3-15, Writings Benjamin Constant," Benjamin Constant, at p. 4) Likewise Lothar Gall, Benjamin Constant: seine politische Ideenwelt und F. Steiner, 1963), pp. 2-3: "Die in unserem der deutsche Vorm?rz (Wiesbaden: ing presence reflection." of the Wealth er nicht so sehr in aber empfing wichtigsten Zusammenhang Impulse an Frankreich als w?hrend seines Studiums der Universit?t Ac Edinburg." friend and sometime rival for the favors of Germaine de cording to Constant's on Constant Stael, the historian Prosper de Barante, the influence of Germany was also deep and enduring: "il eut toute sa vie quelque chose de l'?tudiant ... la solitude distraite r?veur, studieuse, allemand, par les plaisirs pr?f?rant et la soci?t? des salons." sensuels ou les ?motions du jeu, ? la vie du monde (Quoted by Rudler, p. 161) an introduction Constant, Adolphe & The Red Notebook, with Benjamin by Harold Nicolson 1948), p, ix. (London: Hamish Hamilton, N. Machiavelli, Discorsi sopra la prima de?? di Tito Livio, ?d. Giorgio Inglese in his censor's de Covarrubias (Milan: Rizzoli, 1984), I, 39, p. 145; Antonio report on Baltasar Acarnos de Barrientos, Aforismos de Tacite (1614), quoted by in der Geistesgeschichte des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts Etter, Tacitus Else-Lilly 1966), p. 109, note 91. (All translations by L.G. (Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, otherwise
le mouvement
4.
5. 6.
unless
7. "Dans
indicated.)
progressif, tout a servi, et ... les abus d'aujourd'hui
sort est-il r?serv? ? quelques-uns lem?me ?taient les besoins d'hier. Peut-?tre nous As for customs des principes incontestables." and qui paraissent "tant qu'ils sont utiles, ils se conservent d'eux-m?mes. ils institutions, Quand "De la perfectibilit? c'est que leur utilit? a cess?." Constant, de l'e s'?croulent, et al., (T?bingen: M. Oeuvres completes, ed. P. Delbouille sprit humain," 8. 1998), vol. III, I (Ecrits litt?raires 1800-1813), pp. 442,443. Niemeyer, Les hommes la suivent, l'acc?l?rent ou la re "Tout dans la nature a samarche. to Ferguson, s'en ?carter." (Ibid,, p. 443) Likewise tardent, mais ne peuvent are indeed the result of human "nations stumble upon establishments, which of any human design." action, but not the execution (An Essay on theHistory of Forbes Civil Society, ed. Duncan Press, University [Edinburgh: Edinburgh section ii, 1966], part III, p. 122)
"The age of commerce has given man a new nature." Commentaire sur l'ouvrage
9.
de Filangieri, by Holmes, p. 188.
Science
2 vols. 1822-24. de la L?gislation, Both passages cited and the Constant Modern Liberalism Benjamin Making of
Benjamin 10. De
Constant
on Liberty
and Love
155
to 4th ed. Quoted from the l'Esprit de conqu?te et de l'usurpation, foreword in "The of and translation, Constant, Conquest Spirit Usurpation," English trans, and ed. by Biancamaria Fontana Political Writings, (Cambridge: Cam 48^9. SC Hereafter Press, 1988), pp. (with occasional bridge University slight text). Constant clearly has Montesquieu's "esprit
of the translated modifications in mind. g?n?ral"
11. Benjamin and Charles Roth Constant, Journaux intimes, ed. Alfred Roulin same 27 91. The (Paris: Gallimard, 1804) contains a 1952), p. entry (for May, a member on August Wilhelm of similar comment (like Constant, Schlegel one never Mme. de StaeTs circle at Copper): is those of "Schlegel people who, can be to do with had anything real life, believes that everything having never and of the that ordinances laws, by struggle accomplished dreaming or of the ensuing citizens and the authorities vexatious laws provoke between more so that in the for the laws to become progressively necessity rigorous, in a country." end they embrace all the individuals 12. SC, 1,15, p. 82. See also Constant's Principes de politique (version de 1806-1810), ed. Etienne Hofmann (Paris: Hachette, 1997), VI, 5, p. 135. 1815. 13. Constant, Journal des D?bats, 19March 14. SC, I, 2, p. 53. For a modem confirmation of the crucial importance of war in see the economy the recent study by Aldo Schiavone, of the Roman Empire, Ancient Rome and theModern West, trans. Margery J. Schneider (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000). 15. SC, I, 2, p. 51; I, 3, p. 55. See also 1,4, pp. 56-57 and 1,15, p. 81. 16. Ferguson, Essay on theHistory of Civil Society, part I, section viii, ?d. cit., p. 56. such as Sparta Likewise, part III, section vi, p. 158: in the ancient republics, to the dismay of Hume and Smith), "the citizen (much admired by Ferguson, was made to consider himself as the property of his country, not as the owner
of a private estate."
17. SC, I, 2, pp. 52-53. here echoes the concluding 18. SC, II, 18, p. 141 and p. 141n. Constant para on the Civil of Essay History of Society, part I, section iii, p. Ferguson's graphs to say, the antithesis 19. Needless of the "sanguine affection which every of an early Roman," Greek bore to his country" or "the devoted patriotism to the affection binding of a family, and the members compared by Ferguson
modern "valuing society on account of its mere external conveniences" (i.e.
as described in of "virtue" and "commerce," the antithesis by John Pocock Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Re his The Machiavellian Press, 1975]), corre [Princeton, N.J: Princeton University publican Tradition a number of similar antitheses at to aimed the identity of discerning sponds and fields. They the modern that can be found in a variety of other writers an essential are device of a good deal of thinking structuring seemingly of naive and senti about history, and culture: Schiller's categories society, mental Lukacs' (and their twentieth-century counterpart, epic and poetry in in the and Walter Scott's sable evoked novel); (black), gules (scarlet heraldry) to set off the old forms of conflict?war, to Kenilworth introduction courage, heroism?from the newer forms in which blackrobed lawyers fight court bat of this in The Red and the Black; T?nnies's Gemein version tles; Stendhal's
156
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment bezauberte and entzauberte Welt. In their schaft and Gesellschaft; Max Weber's various ways, all these match Constant's distinction between "impulsion or on one the and "calcul civilis?" and "ironie," "enthousiasme," hand, sauvage"
19. On
(SC, I, 2, p. 53 and I, 3, p. 55). see Duncan and "civil" liberty in the Scottish Enlightenment, "political" Hume's Politics U.K: Forbes, Philosophical (Cambridge, Cambridge University was also important to Constant's Press, 1975), pp. 155-66. The distinction the Genevan Simonde de Sismondi, who was for a time friend and compatriot, a follower of Smith, and who may have been the first to use the term "libert? to describe "modern" or "civil" liberty. (Jean-Charles L. Simonde de n?gative" Sismondi,
on the other
Histoire des r?publiques italiennes du moyen ?ge [Paris, 1840; 1st ?d. to Sismondi, 19 vols., vol. 10, ch. 8, p. 340) According 1809-18], liberty in this sense was unknown to the ancient republics, the Italian city-republics of the or cantons. Middle the German free cities Swiss the the "Until High Ages, was as seventeenth the of the citizen understood par century liberty always of his country, and it is only the example of the a protection of taught us to consider liberty as and domestic Sismondi defines "civil lib repose, happiness, independence." that guarantees erty" as "that passive faculty, claimed by the moderns, against in whatever hands it is lodged," while the abuse of power the term "political ... in the for an active faculty, liberty" should be reserved "participation in sovereignty." the association of free men Such "political power exercised, a to whether restricted Sismondi out, caste, as in points liberty," particular Venice, or shared by all citizens, as in Florence, was entirely compatible with a form of government to our current principles, which could be "according no limit to the extent of the power since it "set considered that tyrannical," in the name of the nation." could be exercised the (pp. 330-32) Ultimately, goal of ancient liberty, "like that of ancient philosophy, is virtue." In contrast, "the end of modern is happiness." liberty, like that of modern philosophy, (p. 363) 20. SC, II, 6, pp. 102-104,105. See Todorov's in his Ben of the summary argument, is jamin Constant: La passion d?mocratique, p. 40: "The most eloquent distinction as described, that between the liberty of individuals i.e. modern civil liberty, from interference by the state in all areas where freedom one's activity does not threaten others, and a quite different form of social action, which consists can also be of participating in the political life of one's country, but which sense of the term in a different identified by the word 'liberty.' In order to new opposition, this Constant sometimes of civil liberty and designate speaks or of and political negative positive liberty, liberty liberty, or, again, as in a lecture he gave at the Ath?n?e Royal in 1819, of the liberty of the Moderns and as a means the liberty of the Ancients." On political of civil liberty ensuring n. 46 below. true goal?see liberty?the 21. SC, II, 1, p. 85. von Humboldt, 22. Wilhelm The Limits of State Action, ed. J.W. Burrow (Cam Press, 1969; rprt. The Liberty Fund, Indi bridge, UK: Cambridge University 3. Constant does not mention he must Humboldt, 1993), p. anapolis, Though have known him through Madame de Stael, to whom Humboldt taught Ger man an to Mistress A Madame de Stael Herold, (J. Christopher Age: Life of was con Bobbs Humboldt also Merrill, 1958], p. 268). [Indianapolis: closely in the sovereignty ticipation British constitution which
Benjamin
Constant
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de Stael's circle at Coppet, as, inevitably, was Constant. nected with Madame She thought well of him: "Il est difficile de rencontrer nulle part un homme et d'id?es." dont l'entretien et les ?crits supposent (cit. plus de connaissances son et in Carlo "Corinne Mme de Stael et l'Eu aspect politique," by Pellegrini, as the au rope [Paris, 1958], p. 257) In De l'Allemagne (ch. xii), he ismentioned on Goethe's Her thor of "the most philosophical and stimulating comments" mann und Dorothea (Paris, 1958), 5 vols., 2:170-71. Principes de politique (1997 ed.), II, 5, p. 59. Constant, Principes de politique, II, 3, p. 56. Constant, Principes de politique, I, 3, p. 5. Roulin de la uvres, ed. Alfred Constant, (Paris: Biblioth?que Benjamin 801. Pl?iade, 1957), p. 27. Report of 1762-63, in Adam Smith, Lectures on Jurisprudence, ed. R.L. Meek, D.D. Raphael, and P.G. Stein (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1982), The Glasgow edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, vol. V, p. 289. On see the jurisprudential and civic traditions, The Scottish En John Robertson, 23. 24. 25. 26. Constant, Militia Issue (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1985) lightenment and the Seton and the supporters and of Union with England) pp. 48-50 (onWilliam 72-73 (on Hume). 28. Constant, Principes de politique, I, 3, p. 35. 29. Constant, Principes de politique, I, 6, pp. 47,44 (in order of citation). 30. Constant, Principes de politique, p. 46 (italics added). 31. Constant, Cf. A remark of Gibbon, Adolphe & The Red Notebook, pp.148-49. most in the 1780s, in which Lausanne the resident of perhaps distinguished to his friend Catherine de S?very that at Lausanne, "la suggests ... vaut vous ne assez sentez du dont le pas gouvernement, tranquillit? prix mieux peut-?tre que notre orageuse libert?" (Letters of Edward Gibbon, ed. G. E. 3 vols. [London: Cassell, Norton, 1956], vol, 3, p. 71 [letter of September 1787]). 32. SC, 1,13, pp. 76, 78. 33. Benjamin De la Religion, and notes by Pierre D?guise Constant, preface romande, (Paris, 1971), pp. 65-66; also in Oeuvres (Lausanne: Biblioth?que 1426. 1957), p. sur Filangieri, 34. Benjamin Commentaire vol. 2, p. 82, quoted Constant, by the historian Liberalism, p. 187. Holmes, Benjamin Constant and the Making ofModem 35. SC, II, 6, pp. 104-105. (Translation emended) slightly 36. SC, 1,13, p. 78. 37. Adam also Smith, Lectures on Jurisprudence, report of 1766, pp. 539-41; on The Wealth of Nations, "Education of York: Modern Youth," (New chapter 1937), pp. 732-40. Library Edition, 38. Ferguson, Essay, part II, sec. I, ed. cit., pp. 74-81. Cf. Smith, Lectures on Jurisprudence (report of 1766), pp. 540-44. 39. SC, II, 7, p. 106. see Constant, 40. SC, I, 4, p. 58. On the critique of Bentham's utilitarianism, de 61-64. II, 7, pp. Principes politique, 41. "If to any people it be the avowed in all its internal refine object of policy, to secure the person and the property of the subject, without ments, any the constitution indeed may be free, but its character, regard to his political members likewise become unworthy and of the freedom may they possess,
158 unfit
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment to preserve it. The effects of such a constitution may be to immerse all or ders of men in their separate pursuits of pleasure, which they may now enjoy or of gain, which without with little disturbance; any they may preserve to the commonwealth. If this be the end of political attention the struggles, means in to the individual his when and the estate, executed, securing design, of subsistence, may put an end to the exercise of those very virtues that were on the its execution." required in conducting (Ferguson, Essay History of Civil sec. ed. iii, cit., pp. 221-222). Similarly, Dugald Stewart, Fergu Society, part V, in the Chair of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh, son's successor maintained "the bulwark of that tyranny is to be only effective against the encroachments in to the governed," found the political privileges secured by the constitution it is necessary to possess political for the people that, in other words, liberty in order to place their civil liberties beyond the danger of violation. (See Duncan Forbes, Hume's Philosophical Politics, pp. 166-167). Ferguson kept coming back to the difference the "order of free men," which between does not exclude a may and agitation, and the "tranquillity," which considerable degree of dissent to go about their private business, not allow individuals but is ultimately in with of "Our notion order civil is fre incompatible "despotism." society ... we consider commotion as contrary to its nature. and action false quently ... The a fixed in the places good order of stones in wall, is their being properly were are to must stir the fall: but the order for which hewn; they building they are to in society, is their being placed where of men they properly qualified act. The first is a fabric made of dead and inanimate parts, the second ismade of living and active members. When we seek in society for the order of mere ... our tranquillity, we forget the nature of subject, and find the order of slaves, on the not that of free men." (Essay History of Civil Society, part VI, section v,
pp. 268-69, footnote) 42. Constant, Principes de politique, XVII, 3, p. 388; Holmes, Benjamin Constant and 41. the Modern Liberalism, p. of Making 43. Constant, De la Religion, Preface, p. 23. 44. Constant, Principes de politique,V, 3, p. 92 and VIII, 1, p. 141. 45. The "excesses" of the Revolution did not shake Constant's faith in its ultimate a Democrat," seem not to wrote to be in "You he Mme de Charri?re Tightness. I agree with you that what we are witnessing 1790. "However much is funda knavery and fury, I still prefer the knavery and fury that overthrow mentally ... to the titles and similar follies and fortified castles and destroy knavery are deployed in monstrosities" and that defence of "wretched fury" "As between scoundrels and scoundrels I am for the "barbarous stupidity." and Barnaves rather than the Sartines and Breteuils" Mirabeaus (Letter of in de Oeuvres ed. 10 December, Isabelle Charri?re, 1790, Jean-Daniel compl?tes, et al. [Amsterdam: Oorschot, Candaux, C.P. Courtenay, 1979-84], 10 vols., vol. 3, pp. 250-251) 46. Kelly, The Humane Comedy: Constant, Tocqueville, and French Liberalism, p. 44; Modern Liberalism, p. 43. The pas Holmes, Making of Benjamin Constant and the sage quoted is from "De la libert? des anciens compar?e ? celle des modernes" in Constant, Cours de politique constitutionnelle, ed. Edouard Laboulaye (Paris: 2 vol. 1872, rprt. Geneva,: Slatkine, vols., 2, p. 559. Holmes' 1982), Constant would appear to be closer to the still quite "republican" Ferguson,
Benjamin
Constant
on Liberty
and Love
159
to Duncan Forbes, "happiness Kelly's to Dugald Stewart, for whom, according is of intrinsic value, and what is the only object of legislation which is called means one is of the of that end" (Hume's political liberty only obtaining in his Histoire des describes this position Philosohical Politics, p. 167). Sismondi [? la libert? civile] pour garantie R?publiques italiennes: "On a cherch? ? donner non plus Ils ont d?s lors ?t? consid?r?s, les droits politiques des citoyens. comme ?tant eux-m?mes une de ses la cause de la libert?, mais seulement Sismondi retains great re (vol. 10, p. 340). But, like Constant, sauvegardes" and for the of power spect inspiring elevating "republican liberty." Though the latter is by no means like civil liberty, with "happiness," "elle identifiable, au nectar des dieux; une l'effet que les poetes attribuaient fait sur les hommes toute nourriture humaine; mais aussi fois qu'un mortel en a go?t?, il d?daigne en et une il trouve lui-m?me nouvelle de nouvelles forces vertu; sa nature est chang?e, ? leur table, il sent qu'il s'?gale aux et, s'asseyant immortels." (p. 350) 47. Constant, Cours de politique constitutionnelle, ed. Laboulaye, vol. 1, pp. 235,238. 48. Constant, Principes de politique, XVII, 3, p. 392. 49. Constant, Les "Principes de politique" de Benjamin Constant, ed. Etienne Hofmann (Geneva: Droz, 1980), XV, 5 (additions), p. 397: "Les citoyens ne s'in t?ressent ? leurs institutions que lorsqu'ils sont appel?s ? y concourir par leurs pour former un esprit public, cette suffrages. Or cet int?r?t est indispensable ... Sans l'?lection sans nulle n'est durable libert? puissance laquelle populaire, les citoyens d'un pays n'ont jamais ce sentiment de leur importance, qui leur comme et la la leur de la la libert? pays pr?sente gloire portion plus pr?cieuse L'on a, je le sais, [con?u parmi nous] dans ces de leur patrimoine individuel. contre les ?lections derniers de pr?ventions temps beaucoup populaires, nos jours, toutes les exp?riences en leur N?anmoins, jusqu'? d?posaient
faveur."
50. M?langes De la libert? des mod de litt?rature et de politique (1829), in Constant, ernes. Ecrits ed. Marcel Gauchet Livre de poche, (Paris: 1980), pp. politiques, 517-612, at pp. 520-21. 51. Smith, Lectures on Jurisprudence, p. 541. 52. Passage from lecture on ancient and modem liberty in Cours de politique on individuals ed. Laboulaye, vol. 2, p. 559. Passage and constitutionnelle, in "Lettres de Benjamin Constant ? Prosper de Barante," ed. Baron battalions de Barante, Revue des Deux Mondes, vol. 34,1906, pp. 241-72, 528-67, letter of to China 25 February 1808, p. 250. References ("La Chine! La Chine! Nous y ? grands pas") ibid., p. 251; also letter of 21 October tendons, nous y marchons and letter of 1810, p. 537. 1808, p. 268 ("La France est une Chine europ?enne"), Cf. the famous passage on China in John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Ch. 3 (Every man on in Essay on theHistory ed., pp. 128-31). Ferguson ^Library happiness sec. cit.: most Civil ed. "The occasions of viii, I, Society, part of animating to safety and ease: human life, are calls to danger and hardship, not invitations in his excellence is not ... destined merely and man himself, to enjoy what ... to follow the exercises to the elements his but of his nature, use; bring are called its in preference to what "That enjoyments" (p. 45). mysterious ... is not the succession ... of mere animal pleasures thing called Happiness can fill up only a few moments in the duration which of a life" and "on too
160
turn to satiety and disgust." Nor is it "that state of re frequent a repetition,... or at a distance from care, which that freedom is so frequent pose, imaginary ... an but with its of tedium." arises, desire, Happiness approach brings object than from the attainment of any end claims, "more from the pursuit, Ferguson to which we arrive, ... it depends more and in every new situation whatever; are properly on the degree to which our minds than it does on the employed, are to act, on the materials in which we are destined circumstances which our hands, or the tools with which we are furnished." in placed in Adolphe, ed. Gustave Rudier 53. Quoted (Manchester: Manchester University terms "now" and "no longer" imply comparison Press, 1919), pp. xii-xiii. The an earlier, with culture. Such a comparison had already been pre-modern as in a passage of the Principes de life is concerned, spelled out, as far personal the exacerbated yet somehow politique (p. 368) that also clearly anticipates in nature of the of is com nerveless modern hero Adolphe: sensibility "Nothing else. Literature separate from anything always bears the mark of the an age. Less worn down by civilization, the Ancients had of character general Their of bellicose life them with love of filled way greater vivacity expression. in their own strength, fearlessness before death, and of action, firm confidence to pain; whence indifference energy, nobility of spirit. We greater dedication, a and for that reason more have wearied sadder Moderns, by experience, we are more to emotions and more often delicate susceptible sensibility; pletely that accompanies that capacity for feeling may corrupt it, it. To resist the power that suffering has over us, we have in contrast, faced up to itwithout to avoid the sight of it. The Ancients, fear and bore itwithout pity." trans. Leonard W. Tancock 54. Constant, (Harmondsworth: Penguin Adolphe, are from this transla All quotations Classics, 1964), pp. 116,117-118,120-21. tion, with occasional slight modifications. 55. Constant, de politique XVI, 7, p. 372. Cf. SC, II, 4, p. 100; Principes "If one could scrutinize the obscure ranks of a people apparently subject to the as one see some is would them confused who them, usurper oppressing by instinct fixing their eyes in advance on the moment when this usurper should seem to be trying at one faith in their own convictions, fall. Lacking much they with time to stupefy themselves relieve and the same acclamations, moved. The egoism but cannot eliminate themselves
be past."
by
raillery,
and
anticipate
the moment
when
the glory
will
56. Les "Principes de politique" de Benjamin Constant (1980 ed.), p. 430. 57. Constant, Adolphe, chapter 1. 58. Constant, Journaux intimes, ed. Alfred Roulin and Charles Roth (Paris, 1952), novel C?cile, 76 (11 April 1804). The hero of the strongly autobiographical p. in the latel940s and first published of which was rediscovered the manuscript in the early 1950s, also shares with Adolphe the same suggestibility, the same or to with for stick any feeling engagement. incapacity long ? Prosper de Barante," ed. Baron de Barante, 59. "Lettres de Benjamin Constant 1812): "Je me 1810); p. 562 (letter of 23 Sepember p. 534 (letter of 8 August encore. vivre si vis l'air de t?te quelquefois savoir J'ai par politesse, pour je comme j'?te mon chapeau dans la rue aux gens qui me saluent et que je ne
connais pas."
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Constant
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60. Constant, Adolphe p. 125. to the 2nd and 3rd editions at the beginnng 61. See the prefaces and the letter from at the end of the novel. in Germany the correspondent 62. Constant, Adolphe (Penguin Classics edition), Preface to 3rd ed., p. 30. structure et destin d'Adolphe (Paris: Edition in Paul Delbouille, 63. Quoted Gen?se, in his journal for 19 les Belles Lettres, 1971), p. 388. Constant himself noted mon roman. "Lu Fou rire" 1815: (p. 387). April 64. Constant, Adolphe, preface to 3rd ed., p. 30. 65. See Holmes, Liberalism, p.161. Benjamin Constant and the Making ofModem sur la trag?die" (1829), Oeuvres, ed. Roulin, pp. 939-40. 66. Constant, "R?flexions 67. See Holmes, Modem Liberalism, p. 163. The Benjamin Constant and the Making of is from a letter toMme. de Charri?re of 4 June, 1790, story of the watchmaker first cited by Gustave Rudler in his La Jeunesse de Benjamin Constant 1767-1794, tout promet pp. 376-77: "Je sens plus que jamais le n?ant de tout, combien et rien ne tient, combien nos forces sont au-dessus et de notre destination, ... Un Pi?montais, doit nous rendre malheureux combien cette disproportion ? La Haye, un chevalier de Revel, homme d'esprit dont j'ai fait la connaissance ... de c'est-?-dire l'auteur de nous et de Dieu, que pr?tend envoy?e Sardaigne nos alentours, est mort avant d'avoir fini son ouvrage; qu'il avait les plus et les plus grands moyens; beaux et vastes projets du monde qu'il avait d?j? comme on ?l?ve des ?chafauds mis en oeuvre plusieurs des moyens, pour b?tir, et qu'au milieu de son travail il est mort; que tout ? present se trouve fait dans un but qui n'existe plus, et que nous en particulier, nous sentons destin?s ? quelque chose dont nous ne nous faisons aucune id?e; nous sommes comme o? il n'y aurait point de cadran, et dont les rouages, dou?s d'in et tourneraient jusqu'? ce qu'ils fussent us?s, sans savoir pourquoi telligence, un se disant toujours: Puisque me donc but. Cette id?e tourne, je j'ai para?t la more more et la ouie." feel and the ("I que j'ai plus spirituelle plus profonde is of how much and how little fulfilled, everything, promised nothingness how much higher we are able to think than our actual destination, and how ... A us is to that bound make Piedmontese witty unhappy disproportion I got to know at The Hague, the envoy of Sardinia, a chevalier Revel, whom we is to say the author of us and of the environment argues that God?that live in?died and the before finishing his work; that he had the most beautiful as well as the greatest means of executing them; that he had grandest plans use some to like of those that is put up in means, already begun scaffolding order to raise a building, and that in the midst of his work, he died; that thus made for a purpose that is no more, presently existing was everything and that we, in particular, feel we were destined for something of which we have no idea; we are like watches which have no dial and whose wheels, turn until with endowed out, without intelligence, they wear knowing I Imust have a pur and therefore themselves: turn, why telling constantly I and most profound pose. This conceit seems tome the wittiest extravagance have ever heard.") 68. Constant, De laReligion, in Oeuvres, ed. Alfred Roulet, p. 1414. Cf. p. 1413: "The a virtuous action, a glorious sacrifice, an act of courage in the face of sight of a individual to the assisted and consoled, danger, being suffering superiority to to of devotion the resistance those vice, unfortunate, impulses tyranny?all des montres
162
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment of man the mysterious disposition 1423-24 [to
in the soul things awaken and nourish rise above all individual and particular 69. Constant, De la religion, p. 1425. Cf. the at a orders and excesses of the Romans ligious skepticism. 70. Letter of 2 December
Barante," p. 549.
thoughts]." on pp. description time of widespread de Benjamin ofModern of the dis and re incredulity ? Prosper de
1811,
in "Lettres and the Making
Constant
71. Holmes,
Benjamin Constant
Liberalism, p. 163.
Berlin's Marx:
10
Enlightenment, and Counter-Enlightenment, the Historical Cultural Construction of identities
^olnn t. Toews
an invitation from H. A. L. Fisher to write the volume accepted for the Home University years Library in 1933. He was twenty-four was completed five years later, in the summer of 1938, and old. The manuscript it to one half of its original size, itwas after radical editorial cuts which reduced as Karl Marx: His in 1939. A new edition with only Environment and published Life re in 1948 minor corrections and editions with more significant further appeared in 1963 and 1978. Michael and additions were published visions has Ignatieff Isaiah Berlin on Karl Marx that the five years of extensive claimed for this volume, preparatory reading not only of Marx's texts but also of the texts that constituted Marx's intellectual on which and Berlin with "the intellectual environment, heritage provided capital he was to depend for the rest of his life."1 The distinctive, breathless prose style and the signature Berlin ability to combine perceptive reconstruction of personal the historical and critical exegesis of ideas, to examine identity with conceptual as were also of inherited of meaning, individualized worlds systems re-makings or at to least from talk written in the word. this book, transposed developed In writing the Marx book Berlin discovered of ideas as the the history concerns and his philosophical his genre for examining appropriate articulating a a was in for It different genre positions, philosophical key. doing philosophy that allowed for a more and open-ended ambivalent, richly textured, nuanced, in which he had been trained, and that was than the Oxford philosophy analysis suited to illuminate the historically and categorial especially shifting conceptual the sets of fundamental which individual within frameworks, assumptions to address and resolve the ba thinkers in different epochs and cultures attempted our experience sic existential of who we are, how we should organize questions into meaningful lives, how we should live together, and where we are going.2 to view Karl Marx as both a point of For all of these reasons it seems legitimate a continuous center and of Berlin's later talks and essays. The most origin impor can be seen as tant and influential of these later works revisions, amplifications, or at least and clarifications in this youthful of themes first presented suggested on work. Lengthy both Marx's historical the essays precursors, shapers of his
163
164
and on his historical intellectual whose alternative inheritance, contemporaries own choices highlighted the historical of Marx's constructions, particularity returned to the problem of defining and redefining and the distinctive persistently at center that Berlin the Marx's historicism found of both inheritance troubling and the Marxian legacy. a was The Marx book, however, negative origin and center for peculiarly to intellectual history. He wrote about Marx in order to Berlin's own contributions and clarify his distrust of, and critical opposition to, Marx's particular frameworks his envi transformation of the conceptual intellectual provided by so to the various ronment and, by extension, and practical Marxisms theoretical own environment in his the 1930s. Most he used during predominant strikingly to turn Marx on his head, by asserting examination the historical of Marx that own attempt to refute the power of ideas in history was in turn refuted by Marx's in which men in which his ideas permanently think the ways altered "the ways neces the and act,"3 and by showing how his claims about historical impersonal the meaning human of all individual from identities sity that defined emerged a viable historical Marx's own personal and particular struggle to achieve identity. examine as oppos and Counter-Enlightenment between Enlightenment men think about "the and of historical act," a way patterns ing assumptions so crucial to Berlin's own intellectual that became distinction project, emerged an within with Marx. Marx provided the critical context of his Auseinandersetzung avenue the problematic the distinctive for probing espe implications, dangers, as in of human freedom and human solidarity, cially they related to the questions The distinction and particularly for analyzing the ambiguities of the the of and values that historicization truths, meanings, Counter-Enlightenment defined the nature of human existence. was not yet a part of Berlin's The term "Counter-Enlightenment" vocabulary toMarx's in the 1930s. In the chapter of his Marx book devoted dual intellectual or "scientific rationalism" Berlin the "semi-empirical inheritance, juxtaposed of and "romantic the French the against empiricism" Enlightenment English phi in Germany, like Fichte and Schelling and especially losophy" of post-Kantians Historicism" of Herder and Hegel.4 against what he called the "metaphysical the of enunciated The title of this chapter?"The Philosophy Spirit"?clearly was most the influential Berlin's view at this time that Hegelian philosophy to the and the of the German historicist proponent opposition Enlightenment in the dominant the "counter-attack" universalist traditions of epitome against both cultural stances,
Western culture.
the assumptions of the Berlin was not yet ready in 1939 to characterize in set the somewhat formulaic of succinct, propositions Enlightenment content of that the substantial which became such a familiar part of his later work, was clearly present in this initial assessment. As an "independent characterization the and grounded Voltaire and of by Encyclopedists, system" thought propagated in amerger of the positions of of seventeenth-century rationalists (the subsumption a or under "transcendent" formal all existential timeless, pattern of particularity Although universal scendent this tran critics (who transformed truth) and their empiricist an on into immanent universal truth truth of based the empirical pattern order governed of man as an object in a natural and historical examination by was based, the Enlightenment all natural beings), first of the laws determining rational
Berlin's
Marx
165
to have universal of man as a part of nature that was assumed all, on a conception across The and integral core and cultural boundaries. essential all validity temporal of passions, of human characteristics, interests, and purposes, was deemed know that had proved so suc able like all objects in nature, and by the scientific methods about the laws of the natural world. Every legitimate question cessful in grasping man and the world not which did transcend boundaries the (that is, every question could be of immanent earthly or natural existence) had "one true answer" which and rational analysis, and all "infallibly discovered" through empirical observation as ultimately in harmony with each other. Human be such answers were perceived within the system of havior, both personal and collective, could be fully understood the mechanical order of all natural existence. Human laws that defined purposes like security, happiness, the pursuit of values and intentions, solidarity, equality, as physical objects and events and freedom, could be known by the same methods the terrestrial and were inherently compatible with each other and realizable within flawed or somehow misplaced within the world of realm. Man was not inherently nature and thus in need of transcendent redemption. and ful As was true with every object in nature, the possibilities of satisfaction and potentiali or conflicts be and human actualization ties. Disparities between human potential were in cultural tween different values due to (as exemplified differences) or on dif willful The historical and cultural based ignorance deception. practices were evanes human each other from ferences which beings ultimately separated cent. Rational knowledge could and of the world given toman in sense experience the unity or harmony demonstrate would among all values inherently grounded nature in human between the achievement of those and the identity that followed the inherent impulses or laws of values and the empirical behavior one major paradox interference. Berlin discerned that nature without misguided in the set of assumptions construction that characterized the Enlightenment of in which all the world. On the one hand, it tended toward a scientific positivism man as an human actions were determined by the laws governing object within that through the discovery of the natural world. On the other hand, it assumed to liberate themselves could freely choose from the those laws, human beings and inequality, from the chains of unnatural artificial authority, prejudice, and of the laws of frustrated desire. Rational of conflict of knowledge irrationality nature could form the ground for criticism and judgment of that which had been cor in the empirical world by unreason and justify policies that would produced to error. Human rect error and reform a social world constructed according beings as the agents of rational knowledge were seen as capable of a freedom in relation to the actual existing world institutions and relations which of historical seemed to be denied them as the objects of rational knowledge.5 in terms of Marx's The "Counter-Enlightenment" that Berlin presented was focused on the historicization in 1939 of the Enlighten inheritance Hegelian The historicism immanent rational perfectibilianism. ment's articulated by the late and of German, thinkers, array eighteenthearly nineteenth-century, mostly was first of all a In Berlin's terms this meant that it assumed position. metaphysical an that the empirical world was an epiphenomenal real of expression underlying sense course was not to not did which of accessible experience. Hegel ity jettison in human values or full rational knowledge the assumptions of of universality fillment among humankind were commensurate with its desires
166
in ways the total system of beings. But he conceived these organizing principles new in that opened radical human for up grasping experience possibilities was essence no con and The human differentiated time. space progressive longer as the ceived as an unalterable object in nature but constantly changing embodied on the of a suprahuman agency or purpose which was conceived representative an individual a or self of character, personal analogy purposefully acting subject that developed of directed and The teleologically meaning through stages growth. of the of rational accessible of individual identity objects knowledge, empirically in the world and different of cultures, as well as of objects and events persons were or not in terms in of construed traits mechani nature, generalized empirical units in which cal relations of cause and effect between unalterable such traits were as common individualized of but forms of inherent, life, unique, expressions or cultural organizations that represented of experience, stages in the develop ment of the metaphysical of empirical subjective agency. Rational understanding in to existences involved those existences relation the purposes of the construing or the idea or spirit, the "cultural that was expressed "personality," impulse," that the thoughts and acts of communicated through them: "Hegel had asserted men who belong to the same period of a given culture are determined by the an identical spirit which manifests in in them all of itself the working phenomena nature in this schema was of the period."6 Human and historically culturally or were Not only what men perceived able to know, but what particularized. men were, as human beings, at each stage of cultural their identities differed within the internal relations of specific and development: they were produced common forms of life.7 particular In this earliest formulation of the idea of the Counter-Enlightenment Berlin's fo cus seemed to be on the assumption in determinism of a contextual ("organic") sense. All both a cross-sectional and a progressive cultural temporal expressions a particular to each other not through within historical connected epoch were or forms of the same relations of cause and effect but as diversified expressions or agency. were defined characteristic Individuals purpose by the organizing were frame of the cultural epoch in which situated. The horizons of human they were same to At and human values time and tied the how time, place. knowledge a unified within and knowable ever, the claim to organic development pattern to take away the sting of this intimation seemed of a human nature defined by The "universal" meaning inherent historical and pluralism. of an indi diversity was as an vidual existence accessible of the way that retroactively, understanding was assimilated into historical the any and every particular epoch unity of an or teleology which moved in a necessary, devel overall purpose law-governed, one one to to and another culture another. There from pattern epoch opmental was little analysis of any actual Hegelian text or particular claim in these passages: in particu in general rather than Hegel and Idealist Historicism Itwas Romantic The analysis of "spirit" or lar that seemed to be the object of Berlin's descriptions. the redefining of the "cultural impulse" as creative, self-transforming subjectivity, reason and freedom in terms of self-determination and self-mastery, for example, from Berlin's descriptions. was in Hegel the general that cultural principle were not the result of de in human value and meaning, differences differences, fects in rational understanding and practices based on that understanding but the seemed What absent noticeably Berlin discerned
Berlin's
Marx
167
of an historically The individual could not consequence necessary development. man contexts to the which is be what made historical/cultural escape every "by are the man, are what he is; to wish to escape from this is to wish to he is, which lose one's proper nature, a self-contradictory which could made be demand, only one whose what he is demanding, idea of per by one who does not understand sonal liberty is childishly and rationality within Freedom the as subjective."8 in of historicism consisted the self-conscious sumptions metaphysical primarily into the cultural totality and histor integration of one's own values and purposes ical epoch to which one belonged, of (rational assimilation) through a knowledge the historical necessity of one's own nature. All other behavior was not only futile in different but inherently values embodied cul irrational. The conflict between tures and epochs could not be resolved by removing resis constructed artificially as stages in a tances to the unity of mankind but by understanding the differences of mankind evolution toward the perfected maturity of complete un necessary was a a Like the philosophes, Hegel and rationalist, but perfectibilian derstanding. reason and to the necessity of cultural and temporal by connecting perfectibility in rather than the universality of nature, he derogated the contingent dividual choiceof values and action based on such choices to the realm of irrele vant subjective opinion and futile, pointless irrelevant) practice. (historically and analysis of Marx's Berlin's description theoretical positions in 1939 focused on the 1840s and on the formation the of particularly theory of historical in 1845-1846. in Berlin's materialism first articulated Historical materialism as a evolved critical of the form of historicist merger interpretation Hegelian with that traditions Marx had inherited Enlightenment Counter-Enlightenment from his father and which had apparently "inoculated" him against the most ob inmetaphysical idealist elements and thus also prepared him historicism viously to join the critical attack on Hegel's in the doctrine of the Spirit led by Feuerbach to contrast In 1840s. historical with its early Hegel's assumption phenomenology of a suprapersonal itself in the empirical particulars of his spirit that embodied in good Enlightenment torical existence, Marx that only the asserted, fashion, concrete, "real objects in space and time" and their "observable empirical relations to each other"9 were of rational and that all expla knowledge legitimate objects must nations of historical "be the evidence of scientific processes supported by observation." The edifice of rational knowledge of the whole must be built "solely in accordance with the results of this empirical method of investigation."10 Marx stance toward all of those symbolic as also maintained the critical Enlightenment a reality of or to provide pects of culture which purported insight into underlying difference transcendent value-laden and that evaded naturalistic and purpose explanation, thus distorted human knowledge of the immanent realities of historical existence. were explained use within All such phenomena in terms of their instrumental the relations. sphere of secular, worldly inwhich Berlin was most interested in the ways the fundamental However, pat terns of the Hegelian sustained within Marx's themselves Counter-Enlightenment ex and in his insistence on reductive naturalistic scientific empiricism apparent core The of cultural of phenomena. planations Hegelian Counter-Enlightenment was within the belief (a metaphysical historical materialism Berlin assumption, called it) that the history of mankind to laws that necessary proceeded according or common determined the formation of epochal sociocultural forms of life systems
168
transitional conflicts between them. Historical materialism in two senses, according to the Hegelian existence pattern. in the sense that individual existence was al First, human existence was historical in and defined by the particular contextual relations of epochal embedded ways of and "what man is." different ways systems, organizing experience defining were now as such defined of social based systems systems Although organization on modes of production, that is, in terms of differing of the historical modes relations between man and nature rather than as cultural expressions of divergent relations between human identity and the developmental logic of absolute spirit, worlds which remained contained their own cate self-contained they particular, one and values of The of historical interpretation gories understanding. epoch in the developmen could not be applied to another because they were grounded all systems of value and forms of social practice which defined tally distinct a Like Marx the that belief unified system meaning. rejected Enlightenment Hegel, and could be used to judge of rational truths transcended historical differentiation in any culture or historical individual actions, thoughts, and purposes epoch. The a man a in common nature rationally known was ideal of brotherhood of grounded in the sense that the relations shattered. Secondly, human existence was historical of existence were historically determined between such organizations by imper acts based on contextually individual sonal forces beyond control. Not individual framed choices among alternative values, but general laws governing the histori of social systems were the motive force of historical cal transformation develop ment. Human dialectical law in which the existence was subject to a necessary in within social articulated the conflict classes of contradictions systems evolving that replaced one system of class transformations eventually produced cataclysmic were another. Individual human reduced to representatives agents by hegemony laws that operated with the inexorability of objective forces, instances of historical
of laws of nature.11
and the progressive human historicized
in structural conceived The combination of the idea of historical necessity, terms with the idea of the conflict of incommensurable social worlds, produced of Marxian the peculiar ethical implications of right and theory. No standards or truth and error existed outside of the social systems inwhich individu wrong, ac Human of production. als were inserted by their relations to historical modes tions and human thoughts were shaped by the determinants of their concrete, ma had no access to universal truths terial situation within each system. Individuals or values outside determined situation. There were no natural their historically are those conferred by his rights but only historical rights: "the only real rights on to act the which is one's the There class."12 part historically imposed tory, right were no universal terms for truth or value that cross the boundaries of social or accommodation the his between compromise, systems of class rule. Dialogue, were im of human and distinct unique organizations reality inherently torically between determination behavior the distinction of Moreover, empirical possible. or value was demolished: of and the purposeful pursuit of meaning "Judgments from those of value; all of one's judgments fact cannot be sharply distinguished are conditioned in a given social milieu." For an ethical activity by practical to it to refer "to to claim would have Marx, objective validity, according judgment to and be them." The verifiable reference only meaning by empirical phenomena or not of good or bad, right or wrong, was whether left to judgments something
Berlin's Individual the historical "accords or discords with process."13 was identified with "knowledge of the laws of necessity":
Marx human
169 freedom
If you know inwhich direction the world process isworking, you can either identify yourself with it or not; if you do not, if you fight it, you thereby compass your own certain destruction, being necessarily defeated by the forward advance of history; to choose to do so deliberately is to behave irrationally. Only a rational being is truly
free tion, term, to choose he cannot deny between choose that alternatives; where one of these leads is free, to irresistible as Marx destruc the to say because it freely, it is contrary to reason.14 that an act employs
is to
of Marx's However much Berlin may have insisted on the brilliance insights into the social transformations theoretical power of his of his age, on the concentrated or and on the intensity of his search for empirical verification, conceptualizations, on at in influence and his social the social practice marveled pervasive theory itwas quite obvious the creation of historical materialism, century that followed was seen in 1939 that the Marxist Historicism form of Counter-Enlightenment an war more as a danger reason than little The for years provided inspiration. to change his views. The 1948 edition left the portrait of Marx as the rigid as a kind of positivist of all individual determinist identity, Hegelian, in the Berlin devoted his ener 1950s, however, firmly place. During increasingly clarification of the issues raised by his Marx book and thus to a gies to a historical between historical self-clarification of his own views of the relationship identity re or eventually who criticized and freedom. Those of Marx's contemporaries Herzen the and drew his Hess, paradigm, particularly jected Hegelian-Marxian to examine At the same time he began the great variety of special attention. of rational truth and hu universal of systems critiques Counter-Enlightenment man values, both among thinkers like Vico and Herder (for eighteenth-century and cultural difference was not assimilated whom the recognition of historical into a linear teleological of the historicists pattern), and among the non-Hegelian Berlin historical
Romantic movement.15
in 1954, In the well-known first published essay "Historical Inevitability," more clearly than he had in 1939 between Berlin distinguished scientific-empirical of historical necessity. Both patterns and teleological models reduced individual actions and choice of values to determinations of the inexorable lawful movement of suprapersonal entities, but in different ways. The Hegelian teleological model, now saw as to he back the whose of human reaching origins "beginnings was perceived as more an interpretation fundamental of Marx's for thought,"16 than the naturalistic mechanistic of social sci position empiricism Enlightenment ence. In fact during the mid-1950s Berlin began a process of differentiating Marx's so in the scientism influential from nineteenth the late position Enlightenment century orthodox was determinism rather vidual propagated by Engels and Plekhanov.17 Teleological the model of narrative meaning Judeo-Christian upon grounded than the classical and Enlightenment model of a cosmic mechanism. Indi ameta-narrative life stories were inserted as functions and purposes within their Marxism
patterns identity was defined by their role in the preconceived the nation cultures, states, religious communities, imposed by history of peoples, etc. Such meta-stories the all individual of alities, classes, meaning provided stories. Individual identities were scripted by the story-teller. This was not to say structure,
170
that Berlin suddenly abandoned his previous of Marx's completely conceptions to scientific empiricism, but the emphasis had shifted toMarx as the commitment narrator of a salvational in the meanings interested that provided story, more existences with individual historical than the construction of a unified identity causal order among the empirical realities of the evolution systematic, objective, a not of mankind's is social existence. he in theory, or a hypothesis," "Teleology in terms of which sisted in 1954, "but a category or framework is, or everything and described."18 Berlin's should be conceived evaluation of relatively positive in terms which of 1939 and Marx's the the 1948 editions had empiricism, kept aMarxist as his followers, as schematic and dogmatic Marx from becoming began a commitment to fade. What Marx to providing lacked was not so much empiri of social formations and their transformations but for his descriptions a of the indeterminacy of understanding "reality,"19 that is, sympathetic and converging stories constructed historical processes marked by diverging from constructed traditions and cultural formations) alternative scripts (historically by individuals making value-choices within the temporal and cultural parameters of historical worlds that had no discernible The emergence of this single meaning. the old was undoubtedly influenced "new" Marx alongside by the emergence in of Marxist scholars (some of them Berlin's own students) of a new generation humanism of the early Marx, as well as by the historical terested in the Hegelian cal evidence a sense of of the late 1950s in Hungary, Poland, Russia, and the Suez that shaped the and outlook of this new generation. Itwas also deeply marked by Berlin's as the creative activity in notions of human existence interest Romantic growing and of "positive" human freedom as the subjective of self and world construction, events interests and self-determination.20 But it did not lead Berlin to a agent's self-sufficiency more sympathetic it clarified and amplified his Marxian of Rather, reading theory. as the most reasons Marx formidable of his own for viewing opponent on and defined nature of the historical refined) positions inherently (increasingly human existence. Itwas not so much the emancipatory of the New hopefulness Left as the "totalitarian" that shaped Berlin's views of threats of the Cold War Marx in the late 1950s. in the extensive The shifts in Berlin's position during the 1950s were articulated to the chapter on "Historical Materialism" in the third edition of Karl additions in 1963. The analyses of Marxian Marx, published theory from the 1939 and 1948 from this new edition. Instead Berlin simply inserted editions were not deleted two new sections within the old chapter, virtually doubling its length. nar Marx's of The first insertion reconceptualized theory history as teleological the into rative which translated Hegel's of spirit phenomenology "semi-empirical as the story of human terms." Marx, like Hegel, constructed history beings' strug as free self-determining beings by gle to "realize their full human potentialities" a and of the natural world of which of themselves they were becoming masters as or was not the of construed This activity part. struggle thinking struggle come to self-conscious of individual transparency through the medium "spirit" to ethical and symbolic worlds, but as the human constructing objective beings a to construct in its human material creative world of labor, subjectivity, struggle own image through the medium In of both of historical cases, systems production. the "harmonious of all human the goal of the story was realization however, a in the of that involved with both accordance reason,"21 powers principles goal
Berlin's
Marx
171
or self-mastery, as the and unity, defined freedom, defined as self-determination uncoerced of the the individual into universal human of integration community the victory of that form of self-creation and self-determination ity through the essential human activity of material represented by the class that incorporated industrial Itwas creative labor (a translation of the self-determination, proletariat. the Romantic doctrine of the self-transforming rial and social terms) that now appeared as the the identity of human beings as transformed As the core of social practice, labor externalized world of its objective products. The division of the process of class conflict arose as instruments and self-making subject into mate center of the Marxian story. Labor
it transformed the natural world. human creative potentials in the the formation of classes, and labor, of this deeper struggle of man to in the world in his product as a free and and recognize himself produce himself was social being. It the "constant self-transformation is at the heart of all which work and creation, which rendered absurd the very notion of fixed timeless an and unalterable eternal universal human The principles, goals predicament."22 was in the factor this transformative process permanent only dynamic activity of man himself. in "Work the cosmic vision Berlin of "is Marx," claimed, laboring what cosmic love had been for Dante?that which makes men and their relation invariant factors of the external world ships what they are, given the relatively are into which For the empirical phenomenal born."23 real therefore, Marx, they core of found in individual historical existences its the of ity meaning teleology as a laboring man's creative powers and himself being constantly transforming in the struggle the world to be both free and at home in the world of nature and society. In the second inserted passage Berlin reinterpreted the Marxian of conception freedom in terms of the laws of the dialectic as a self-determining that is, process, as a process inherent to the subject of labor.24 The dialectic was now construed as a story of alienation and its overcoming. As human externalized beings themselves in their products social, they produced historically specific economic, of their collective exis political, and cultural structures, generalized organizations tence that first articulated and then hindered the process of self-transformation. That which had been created as an instrument to actualize human purposes be came an objective hindrance to further development: it took on the character of a on the law, modeled self-imposed prison. Dialectics was not simply the objective in the world of natural forces, of the tension and confrontation laws pertaining be tween opposing as it had been described forms of social organization, in 1939 and and self-transfor 1948, but an internal process of self-production, self-criticism, mation. Alienation, Berlin now insisted, was forMarx "the heart of history itself."25 Classes were objectifications of mankind's that struggle at a particular moment as from natures their demand."26 [human prevented "artificially beings] living Romantic and historicist of the self-transforming character of human conceptions nature were thus ultimately to universalist subordinated teleological conceptions inwhich all human values were a perfect social form. Historical integrated within once again as individuals evanescent difference their proved finally achieved as a essential "members of unified of the identity society, capable understanding reasons for doing what own and of the of fruits their free united, enjoying they do, and rational activity."27 Human identity was not simply determined by the indi vidual's place in particular and social organization. There systems of production
172 was also
a deeper own in which universal man's inherent determination, was nature that which his who he and what defined he did. "craves,"28 purposes, Yet Berlin was skeptical of the "freedom" that defined human history in this as of human for self-determination. the self-fulfillment story teleological struggle as determined The struggle laws that controlled itself was defined by inexorable in their creative activity; individuals were still seen the purposes humans pursued as actors in a single plot. They were not "mechanically" determined (that percep a was in bourgeois tion of human practice part of the alienated objectification as par but determined and goals over which, scientific conceptions), by meanings no ticular individuals, control. Freedom had only one form, recognition they had of the collective labor as one's own essential story of Promethean story. Freedom a was identified with full self-conscious in collective social practice participation and world-mastery. to fall of self-mastery To reject one's role in this story was out of the historical narrative to be less than human, to forfeit one's altogether, essential human identity. to integrate his new Berlin apparently did not feel the need self-consciously more Marx into his older, more and teleological Romantic Enlightenment oriented because he did not see the Enlightenment Marx and the analysis, as in A Marx fundamental contradiction.29 Counter-Enlightenment lengthy essay in 1964, "Marxism and the International in the Nineteenth published Century,"30 to be needed clearly revealed why he did not feel that his earlier assessments was not the crude scientific materialist Marx revised. that and Recognition was to in that be in determinist the later he sociological occasionally portrayed a not and of Plekhanov of unveiled, terpretations prophetic conception Engels but a "terrifying vision" of spiritual despotism. As rational human emancipation, Marx and Hegel were now situated in a tradition ofWestern think perfectibilians, of the pre-Romantic ing that could be traced back to Plato and included members and Romantic Counter-Enlightenment like Rousseau and Fichte. What differenti ated Hegel and especially Marx within this tradition was the combination of a answer in one knowable in universal to all questions rational values, belief of a commitment to with and historical determinism. value, meaning evolutionary in the Marxian The doctrine of the unity of theory and practice articulated concept of man as creative labor identified both truth and value as inherent products of so cial practice. However, this notion of the historical of standards of diversity was a to and ethics tied the that identified par assumption knowledge teleological and full human self-realization ticular group with the goal of complete knowledge actualization of all human values). (the harmonious within the framework Conceived collective Romantic of a self-determining, a in who of kind collective artist found his the creation of a freedom of subject, world his total self-sufficiency and self-mastery, the incommen that articulated were to a belief in existence tied and of of systems organized surability plurality in the absolute validity the ultimate universality of one of those systems, of one an of and truth. This marked claim abso meaning group-construction particular of truth and authority with the activ lute break with the past. "The identification an identifiable group of human beings had hitherto ity, theoretical or practical, of never been maintained into Marx's secular thinkers."31 by theory split mankind two worlds, in the universal what those who possessed simply being they were, and hindered and those who were left behind the realization of the universal
Berlin's
Marx
173
to Since knowledge and value were bound of what they were. simply because or no communication these different accommodation between group practice, of man as the maker of his worlds was possible. By tying the Romantic conception own self and maker of his world to the historical of modes evolution of social or a Marx of inevitable that had hatred" ganization, theory produced "historically wars in democratic Even all values. the undermined humane, completely religious had been imagined as a possibility. of the Middle Ages, conversion Like National as a Berlin described Socialist doctrines of racial determination (which actually mas translation of Marxism into racial terms32), Marxist historicism the justified sacre of those not among moral and spiritual the elect; it was an "unparalleled truth is a terrible new weapon, for its truth entails "The Marxist catastrophe." are literally expendable." there are sections of mankind which This "terrifying vi not self-consciously in Marx's and articulated texts, sion," although recognized of Marx's enemies or disciples, but a le Berlin claimed, was not just a construction of Marx's original theory. The moral recoil of the implications gitimate explication or exaggeration but on "Marx from Marxism was not based on amis-recognition ism itself," on the "real Marx."33 Stalin's Gulags were the legitimate product of the as self-determination and mastery contained with the Marxian theory of freedom texts of the 1840s. an epitome of all the negative thus became ethical and Isaiah Berlin's Marx of both and of the discourses Counter Enlightenment political implications of Marxian But Berlin's what the also clarified project Enlightenment. analysis might Berlin and future. Although be salvaged from these traditions for the present that transformed Marxian and Hegelian the his rejected mono-causality not he their of toricism into a teleological did system, reject critique Enlightenment on the basis of an historicist and self-transformative of universalism conception in two senses. First, human existence. Human identities were inherently historical the particularity of diverse forms of common they were always constructed within in these of social The diversity traditions, ethnicities, life, cultures, organizations. not subordinated to a single teleological forms was inherent and unreconcilable, It was not labor or spirit but individual determinant. freedom of choice that nature existence. of human The the historical, pluralist objectification undergirded in common and of value choices forms of life could be empirically examined was clearly possible to understand human values through appro understood?it for reconstructing communicative and empathetic methods priate interpretive in such historical the value-choices embedded cultures or cultural systems?but and inherently diverse. Individuals were situ discourses remained unpredictable ated in such cultural forms, but never completely determined by them. Individual some of involved self-identification element of rationally unpre processes always or transforming it inherited cultural forms. And dictable choice in assimilating was to the the difference sustained inherent choose by humanity's ability precisely values versal live by that also sustained Enlightenment of uni conceptions they would of mankind. The process of self-fashioning standards and the brotherhood and be that created the incommensurable human beings differences between ra tween human communities became itself the common element that sustained and ethical standards across cultural difference. Difference tional communication precisely systems of
was articulated became the sign of identity. Our common humanity in the struggle to create self-identity and sustain itwithin communal
174 mutual
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment recognition. Identities
were determined, shaped, but not ultimately by and cultural traditions social forms. Freedom, historically objective equality, or justice, etc., could be reconstituted solidarity, (although never fully harmonized as our and universal values both of oth integrated) objective through knowledge ers as contextually of their own identities and stories, and our shaped self-makers and story-makers of them as identity-constructors like us. recognition In 1968, five years after the revisions of his Marx biography, Berlin applied the an own to had from his with he drawn Marx insights struggle analysis of Marx's struggle for identity. Marx was In the essay "Benjamin Disraeli, Karl Marx and the Search for not so much from the point of view of the ways in the Enlightenment dual his inheritance and by
Identity," approached inwhich his theory was shaped of why Marx chose to traditions, but from the perspective Counter-Enlightenment as he in and transform those inherited value-frameworks shape particular ways in terms his own set of values. Here Berlin saw Marx's development constructed as a choices based on his own insecurities of negative of a number culturally on and his craving for recognition for the hu homeless for compensation exile, on his group of historical origin, the first generation miliating wounds perpetrated in central Europe.34 Unlike Moses Hess, Marx could not ac of emancipated Jews life which was his traditional inheritance, cept the values that framed the common and this gravely Those who
members of
distorted
his social perceptions: security

their natural
are born
it, and look
in the social
upon or it as
of a settled
home, tend
society,
to have
and remain
a stronger
full
sense
of social reality; to see public life in a reasonably

escape into political fantasy romantic
just perspective, without
the need to
invention.35
the cultural pluralism of the historical Instead of recognizing reality into which his had thrown him, and building his mature self on the firm ground of the and conflicted) that had been given to him within attenuated identity (however in of his birth, Marx chose to create a new, completely the cultural community in that disavowed rather vented self that could secure self-mastery only fantasy, the doubts than built on the identities he had inherited. To destroy within himself of his own Jewish origins, Marx built a theory that made about the importance evanescent The intensity and ex phenomena. ethnicity, religion, and nationality of of the intellectual inheritances of and Marx's Enlightenment clusivity remaking a meta-narrative into of heroic self-determination group Counter-Enlightenment and the freedom of choice on difference all historical reduced and assimilated situation to be empirical or "objective" required which difference was grounded. However, a as a sense of human the activity of human beings that embodied reality reality as culturally but not fully determined contextualized agents of their own values an unempiri was thus ultimately in Berlin's and identities. Marx's view, theory, human that the objective existence disavowed of cal and subjective explanation as to act and the of diverse of individuals free agents cultural forms ability reality in transforming and those forms, a theory of the type whose both themselves func to describe or analyze reality, but rather more to comfort, tion was "not primarily a for defeat and weakness, resolution, generate compensate fighting strengthen in Marxian the the authors of doctrines themselves."36 theory spirit, principally was a historically of a world and sustained that reproduced situated construction a particular kind of choice of personal and sociocultural Berlin's identity. from of Marx, we might similar construction suffered characteristics, suggest,
Berlin's
Marx
175
by different values. Berlin's Marx was inmany ways a vehicle for of his own moral positions and historical identity and should be as as the story it tells it much the tells for about Isaiah Berlin read, perhaps, story about Karl Marx. though guided the construction
Notes
1. Michael Ignatieff, Isaiah Berlin: A Life (New York: Henry Holt, 1998), p. 71. See also p. 70: "To write about Marx was to join the swim of the major ideological current of his age and to take the measure of the challenge that it represented to his own inchoate liberal allegiances."
of Philosophy" (1962), Concepts and Categories: Philosophical by Henry Hardy and with an introduction by Bernard Williams is to a large (London: Hogarth, 1978), p. 9: "Its (philosophy's) subject matter are viewed, in which but the ways the degree not items of experience, they or semi-permanent in which is conceived permanent categories experience and classified." 3. Isaiah Berlin, Karl Marx: His Life and Environment (London: T. Butterworth, 1939), p. 249. 4. Berlin, Marx (1939), pp. 41,42,49. 5. Berlin, Marx to a (1939), pp. 40ff, but especially pp. 43-4. In his introduction in 1956 (The Age of texts published selection of Enlightenment Enlightenment: The Eighteenth Century Philosophers, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956, pp. the Enlightenment in terms of the reduction of 11-29), Berlin characterized about the conditions statements of questions philosophical (meta-questions and value) to formal and empirical about meaning "sci (i.e., unphilosophical) entific" questions, which produced the illusion that all questions could even tually find single answers. 6. Berlin, Marx (1939), p. 77 7. Berlin, Marx the concept of the personal char (1939), p. 54: "Hegel transferred acter of the individual which gradually aman's unfolds itself throughout life to the case of entire cultures and nations, he referred to it as Idea the variously or Spirit, distinguished and pronounced it to be the mo stages in its evolution factor in the development of specific peoples and civilizations tive, dynamic as a whole." and so of the sentient world 8. Berlin, Marx 60. (1939), p. 9. Berlin, Marx (1939), p. 79. 10. Berlin, Marx (1939), p. 87. 11. Berlin, Marx (1939), pp. 117-34. 12. Berlin, Marx (1939), p. 133. 13. Berlin, Marx (1939), p. 134. 14. Berlin, Marx (1939), p. 136. 15. In "The Romantic A Crisis in the History Revolution: of Thought" (1960), in The Sense Isaiah in Ideas Studies and their History, Berlin, printed of Reality: edited by Henry Hardy and introduced by Patrick Gardiner (London: Chatto and Windus, Berlin "The German historical 1996), pp. 172-3, distinguished school" which included Herder and Savigny as well as Edmund Burke, from Romanticists con the ideal of the ultimate proper because they maintained some of in historical and cultural difference vast harmonious vergence unity.
2. "The Purpose Essays, edited
176
16. Berlin, "Historical (1954) in Berlin, Four Essays on Liberty (Ox Inevitability" ford: Oxford University Press, 1969), p. 51. 17. Berlin, "Historical p. 79. Inevitability," 18. Berlin, "Historical p. 53. Inevitability," in Berlin, The Sense of Reality, 19. Berlin, "The Sense of Reality" (1953), printed 1-39. pp. 20. Berlin, "Two Concepts of Liberty" (1958), in Berlin, Four Essays on Liberty, p. or at any rate to in the 131: "The desire to be governed participate by myself, a as a as which life is controlled be wish that of free my may process by deep area for action, and perhaps historically older." In 1958 Berlin claimed that this idea of "positive freedom" "rules over half our world." 21. Berlin, Karl Marx: His Life and Environment, 3rd ed., (New York: Oxford Uni new are inserted on pp. 127-34. 130. The passages versity Press, 1963) p. 22. Berlin, Marx 130. (1963), p. 23. Berlin, Marx (1963), p. 131. 24. Berlin, Marx 25. Berlin, Marx 26. Berlin, Marx 27. Berlin, Marx 28. Berlin, Marx 29. (1963), pp. 136-43. (1963), p. 137. (1963), p. 139.
and Marx (1958), Berlin stated: "Herder, Hegel models of social life for the older, mechanical no less than their opponents, that to understand the world ones, but believed, from them in stressing the part played by is to be free. They merely differed in what made human beings human" (p. 142). change and growth in The Sense of Reality, pp. 116-67. 30. Printed
(1963), p. 139. (1963), p. 143. In "Two Concepts of Liberty" their own vitalistic substituted
in the Nineteenth 31. Berlin, "Marxism and the International p. 120. Century," and the International in the Nineteenth 32. Berlin, "Marxism p. 139: Century," into cannot this the elect and the who "When evil separation was our in into it translated themselves racial terms, led, century, to an help enormous massacre?a in and spiritual moral catastrophe unparalleled human history." in the Nineteenth 33. Berlin, "Marxism and the International pp. 139, Century," 141. 34. Berlin, "Benjamin Disraeli, Karl Marx and the Search for Identity," Against the in the History of Ideas, edited by Henry Hardy, Introduced by crav (New York: Penguin Books, 1982), p. 259, where Marx's as "an effort to escape from the weakness is analyzed and ing for recognition or wounded humiliation social group by identifying oneself of the depressed with some other group or movement that is free from the defects of one's orig an in inal condition: and that attempt to acquire a new personality, consisting a a new new new set set with of of which it, habits, values, goes clothing, on the old scars left by the armour which does not press upon the old wounds, Current: Essays Roger Hausheer
chains one wore as a slave."
35. Berlin, 36. Berlin,
"Benjamin "Benjamin
Disraeli, Disraeli,
Karl Marx, Karl Marx,
and The Search and The Search
for Identity," for Identity,"
p. 258 p. 286.
Ssaiah Herzen, Counter-
??erlin, Alexander and Russia's Elusive Enlightenment
Michael Confino
which
were The Enlightenment and the Counter-Enlightenment complex phenomena and nineteenth-century left their mark on eighteenthEuropean thought and culture. They become even more intricate subjects of study when linked to the context of intellectual seem that life in Russia at the time. On the surface, itmight there is little scope for such a topic, given the major differences between Western Europe and given the latter's seeming lack of concepts and ideas with these two great constellations of European thought.
and Russia associated normally
I. Russian
peculiarities?
such an impression? With scholars, whatever Why regard to Western Europe, and interpretations, on the termi their approaches are, more or less, in agreement nus a quo of the Enlightenment and on the main tenets of its beliefs and theories. a shared There of the is, to say the least, a common ground, understanding as not the of differences of for essentials, to, instance, regardless negligible opinion was "a movement," as Isaiah Berlin assumed, or an whether the Enlightenment a wide of of ideas and called for range assemblage together lumped assume convenience's sake "Enlightenment." most scholars that the Similarly,
Counter-Enlightenment was a counter-ideology, or a counter-movement; in either
its basic ideas within certain agreed-upon they succeed in outlining temporal and theoretical this conceptual limits. Finally, it unity would prevail (although one as be if I term that the "Counter considers, do, shaken) might seriously a convenient a is essentially and elegant metaphor Enlightenment" signifying even set on and sometimes of thinkers and or, connected, ideas; loosely opposed, the contrary, if one believes that this is a powerful paradigm which imposes order and hierarchy on the intricate taxonomy of the eighteenthand nineteenth-century Western world of ideas and ideologies.1 But when we turn to the Russian to these preliminary scene, the answers no an is there that sufficient basis for examination of the "En questions suggest we know in view of what lightenment/Counter-Enlightenment" problematic
case
177
178
life in Russia, and the course of its history of about the parameters of intellectual ideas. This is not to say, of course, that Russia is and has always been sui generis. re That attractive but worn-out notion has been disproved by extensive historical sui search and empirical evidence. discrete, By definition, generis entities?being not comparable to any other, yet we know that in all unique, and unrepeated?are areas of historical and scholarly stands the test of development enquiry Russia In with the other countries. this European comparability regard Berlin's writings on Russia it not demonstrate and that time is sui generis, but rather again brilliantly to and and the to, in, events, the currents Europe, belongs participated responded of ideas, and "the spirit of the times," that reigned in Europe at any given moment. In his view Russia was not "aworld apart" (asMichael Ignatieff interprets Berlin's nor a different the other European countries. On the species vis-?-vis opinion),2 a coun and with Russia shared basic other contrary, unity European commonality same own at its had tries and, the national and religious peculiar time, like them, ities and differences. a On this subject, there is nowadays revival of the metaphysical stereo puzzling russe of old?now often referred to with trendy type of the "Russian soul"?l'?me or the "bur terms such as the "Russian cultural heritage," the "Russian mentality," It is the "Russian soul" that supposedly den of history." explains why "Russia is so different." It is the root cause of why, for instance, Russia cannot have amarket a democratic economy, r?gime, or a civil society. "Russian culture," like "culture" tout court, is one of many that are increasingly used and badly misused, concepts at too and all. which much should be treated with caution, explain nothing They like "race," "genes," "national for they are often used in lieu of specious notions character," and the like: such usage marks a cultural U-turn which, paradoxically, is leading back to such utterly discredited and reactionary pseudo-explanations. "L'?me russe et ses myst?res": in a kind of parody of eternal return, fin-de-si?cle themselves after a hundred-year fashions are repeating interval, this time with no Ballets Russes or Rasputins around to serve as alibis. But even if some aspects of state of Russia's and society are more the present reminiscent of Al economy Capone's all, who times than of John Maynard after Keynes' theory, it is not the Russians, or the invented the Mafia borrowed word) system (although they jungle a human face). True, Russia's economic devel (i.e., capitalism without capitalism or not? business management wizards inspired by Harvard opment?whether reminds one at times of the raw, early capitalism described by Karl Marx and bol stered now by the current globalization. in this; other countries have trodden hypothesis the "Russian soul" clich? But there is nothing peculiarly Russian this path before, and as an explanatory is less than adequate.
II. An Eighteenth-century
Russian
not
Enlightenment?
was indeed dif "a world In the eighteenth century apart," but it same can in Russia the reason was be said of the Enlightenment ferent; and if the or not its sui generis quality "Russian soul." In short, no matter the unfathomable no in Russia.3 To such phenomenon how one defines the Enlightenment, appeared a handful there were of enlightened be sure, in the eighteenth century people, Alexander Alexander them Catherine II, Nikolai Novikov, Radishchev, among in the sense that Berlin Betskoi, and some others, but there was no "movement" Russia was
Berlin, used
Herzen,
and Russia's
Elusive
179
this term. Logically, then, one might be inclined to say: no Enlightenment, no Yet this is not necessarily the case. Counter-Enlightenment. one is not that how this could have there been so, and Indeed, possibility explains that a Russian Counter-Enlightenment could have existed, namely, that it devel inWestern oped as a reaction to the Enlightenment Europe. This is neither an idle nor as in events counterfactual Russia, elsewhere, exogeneous hypothesis fancy: and ideas have often generated of schools indigenous movements, thought and a Russian is not it that have there been Thus, ideologies. impossible might a Russian without Counter-Enlightenment Enlightenment. a The late Alexander Gerschenkron, good friend and admirer of Isaiah Berlin, to the "advantages such a development would perhaps have attributed (or disad a of backwardness," But in the elaborated.4 concept he magisterially vantages) educated century this did not occur. At that time, Russian eighteenth society's in interest the ideas of the philosophes created lively conversations and a certain de a flow of mand for foreign books and publications (thus generating import dues for Catherine's customs); but in practical terms, in "real life," this interest came to The main reason for the impracticality of the Enlighten naught and led nowhere. ment in Russia was the widespread conviction that its otherwise lofty and ad in that country (at least?as mirable ideas were not applicable the clich? goes?not "for the time being"), and that they had no practical role in the "cursed Russian and serfdom. in This illustrated by autocracy reality" epitomized point is well of Herzen's Berlin's description father: hence
Shrewd, Prince honourable, in and neither War grim, unfeeling and Peace, shut-in, a 'difficult' character like old unjust, Ivan Yakovlev from his son's emerges half frozen human who terrorised being, nor
Bolkonsky Tolstoy's a recollections self-lacerating,
his
and
household
locked, own his
with
his whims
permanently virtually saw
and
nobody.
his
drawn,
sarcasm.
and, In later years
He
apart his
kept
from son
all doors
a few old described him
and
as
windows
the blinds
friends
brothers,
the product of the 'encounter of two such incompatible things as the [western] eigh teenth century and Russian life'?a collision of cultures that had destroyed a good many among the more sensitive members of the Russian gentry in the reigns of
Catherine II and her successors.5
In addition, the philosophes' advocacy of "enlightened had in Russia a despotism" was rather paradoxical which effect, condoning any very palpable despotism, to some distant future. Additional circum way, and postponing enlightenment stances which to endorse seemed this state of affairs included, for instance, visit to St. Petersburg Diderot's and his long (and well publicized) conversations with Catherine with Voltaire, whose II; the latter's assiduous correspondance letters to her are a model and of obsequiousness; Catherine's public "confession" to having "plagiarized (j'ai pill? sans vergogne) Montesquieu's shamelessly" Esprit des lois inwriting her new Code of Laws, the Nakaz of 1767 (which in any case was never put into These and other public were relations moves practice).6 quite had a flair for public relations management and for make successful; Catherine believe (whether the philosophes really believed her or not is an open question, but "as if"), and her success in this respect behaved in they greatly mitigated Russia the radical, humanistic, and revolutionary elements of the Enlightenment. After 1789 Catherine?together with most of Russian educated society? the French that "monstrous of perverse child and Revolution, repudiated
180
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment but while she energetically teachings," to wipe out the "Jacobin pest" and Austria of the fact that their armies were positioned up the kings of encouraged in Paris, she herself took ad in to order France, against was that she pretending routing
subversive Prussia vantage swallow
territory, large chunks of Polish ...Warsaw in the Second and Third Partitions of Jacobinism (!), thus orchestrating and diverting Prussia's and Austria's attention from the battle against Poland was more to the spoils in Poland. Russia's France than expansion important of Polish Thus, Finis Poloniae and the eradication fighting French revolutionaries. a fact of life for 125 years, and Jacobinism a certain became (to independence was to haunt Europe for the next two hun extent because of Catherine's strategy) to everybody's dred years, until Fran?ois Furet announced relief: "la R?volution one more est Mikhail and Gorbachev about termin?e," Fran?aise brought tangible it. of proof
III. The Decembrists

came in the cen The following stage of intellectual development early nineteenth a was the of reaction what and tury against represented strengthening perceived as the result of Enlightenment ideas: the Revolution's the execution of excesses, of the nobility, and fi Louis XVI, the abolition of the monarchy, the persecution was The court historian Nikolai Karamzin the nally the rise of "Buonaparte." a sans once of the of of Parisian mood: this change culottes, epitome sympathizer to le talent en moins. The opposition he became a kind of Russian Chateaubriand, was moral these developments (because of the Jacobin Terror), social (because ed was in of noble rank and had a sense of Russia almost exclusively ucated society and finally, political and nationalistic the French aristocracy), solidarity with born during sentiments the wars of the strong anti-French (because against was a sort In a way, and psychological this intellectual phenomenon Napoleon). but one that obviously bears no relation to that of bastard Counter-Enlightenment, in discussed this volume. new political A qualitatively and ideological occurred with the development secret societies of the Decembrists' from 1814 onward up until their formation I in December the unsuccesful rebellion against Nicholas 1825, when he ascended I. Strictly speaking, however, the Decembrists throne with the death of Alexander were not disciples of the philosophes. They disagreed with many of their concep and ideological and rejected the political tions and theories, path that led to rise to power and "despotic regime." Napoleon's in Soviet historiography have argued scholars and specialists Several Western were followers of the Encyclopedists, and that they that most of the Decembrists were influenced by the revolutionary movement in France and in other countries. ideas from their foreign tu The Decembrists did indeed acquire some enlightened tors (mainly Frenchmen) and from foreign books, but the authors who caught their attention were Adam Smith, Condorcet, Beccaria, Ben Benjamin Constant, exactly propo Say, Jeremy Bentham, Byron?not Jean-Baptiste jamin Franklin, nents of the Jacobin type of catechism.7 the Decembrists had travelled abroad Like other young Russian noblemen were exposed to and studied in foreign universities where Western the latest they But their universities fashions. of choice?Leipzig, intellectual European
Berlin,
Herzen,
and Russia's
Elusive
181
not hotbeds of Berlin, and K?nigsberg?were G?ttingen, Strassburg, Heidelberg, It is typical that in Pushkin's the radical thought. Eugene Onegin protagonist a course of studies at G?ttingen and, inspired Lensky returns to his estate after to alleviate the burden of his ideas acquired there, decides by the enlightened to treat to free them, as one might but them less harshly and serfs?not expect, more humanely. than these studies abroad (which were in a sense part of Much more influential were the Russian the customary abroad. Many campaigns Army's "grand tour"), and the military had served as officers during the Napoleonic Decembrists wars, across tense and these them to years brought Europe during campaigns long the Berezina, Leipzig, and to the heart of Paris, where Austerlitz, Friedland, they on made the (the wide park that extends camp Champ de Mars today from the to the Eiffel Tower). Victorious, Ecole Militaire they then returned all the way in contact these army officers home through Europe. That long march brought strata of society, quite different and wider with foreign peoples from their closed in Russia and in G?ttingen. It upset many of their notions and led nobiliary milieu and of managing them to discover new ways of life, of behavior, public affairs. At same the time, the ethos of war, the ordeals of battle, and hatred of the enemy, even nationalistic, attitude. At the end of it created a strong national, Napoleon, as returned home "national liberals," for lack of a better term. all, the Decembrists that characterizes It is this existential mindset and not some them collectively, vague links to the Enlightenment. In the Decembrists' intellectual the existential formation and mentality dimen than were abstract ideas and philosophical sion was of much more consequence soldiers was different from that theories. Their "grand tour" in Europe as Russian as part of the traditional undertaken noblemen ?ducation young usually by sentimentale. At the end of the journey their return home was ecstatic. Here is how Pushkin, who had several in the "Snowstorm": Meanwhile
abroad. tory: talked their The 'Vive
close friends
among
them, describes
their homecoming, returning from

of vic songs ... The soldiers words in
the war had been gloriously

people Henri were Quatre,' running Tyrolean to meet
ended. Our regiments were

them. The airs mingling time. bands from were playing 'Joconda' and German
waltzes,
among gaily conversation.
themselves, continually A never-to-be-forgotten
French
Russian soldiers and officers had seen in Europe more civility, more justice, more that Russia would freedom. This is what many of them hoped adopt after these wars. not to did turned When this their disappointment, transpire, glorious hopes and anger, and finally to the uprising then to frustration against the regime on 14 December 1825. But their rebellion was first and foremost an existential one, a rebellion of men tones (everything of action, not of thinkers. Certainly, it had philosophical under in that d?but de si?cle) and some had "philosophical undertones" it was more than ideas, but essentially enlightened psychological were rebels, as Albert Camus conceived The Decembrists this notion, change. As one of
disparate ideological. not revolutionaries. They thought of reforms, and they wanted in 1826 from his jail to Nicholas I: them wrote After
give
the end of the Napoleonic

his attention to questions
wars we were
of home government.
all hoping
We were
that the Emperor would

impatiently expecting
182

and nothing a reform has been of the law courts. except What the have colour we seen? Twelve years have
a constitution passed and
changed
of our
uniforms.
They
endured.
then attempted
change
through
insurrection.
They
failed, but
their
legacy
were not, as some historians The Decembrists think, a "proto-intelligentsia," rise the famed and turbulent immanent of Russian the heralding intelligentsia.8 were were nor were not not intellectuals; army officers, They they intelligenty, they hommes de lettres, with the exception of the poet Ryleev and the generous dreamer more men The remaining than one hundred sentenced K?chelbecker. by were courts?five of whom Nicholas's (unreformed) hanged and the rest exiled to some of them were well-educated Siberia?were and soldiers, although primarily were profes in philosophy, well-versed history and literature. Nevertheless, they not "pupils of the Enlightenment." If so, what sional soldiers, not intellectuals, and of the Counter-En makes them relevant to the search of the Enlightenment lightenment in Russia?
IV. The next stage: Herzen

In his memoirs, My
and friends
Past and Thoughts, a young Alexander Herzen writes that his events dated from the the Decembrists' political awakening surrounding uprising and its aftermath, which left a deep imprint on him and on his lifelong friend Nikolai Ogarev.9 This holds true for other eminent people of Herzen's generation, and leads to the third intellectual development relevant to the search for a Russian and Counter-Enlightenment. Enlightenment It takes place in the 1830s and 1840s, which include the well known "remark on center stage Alexander there appeared able decade,"10 when Ivan Herzen, Vissarion Mikhail Bakunin, Nikolai Stankevich, Turgenev, Belinsky, Ogarev, as well as the influential Timofei Granovsky, and not less original group, the one in In of the that from fact, gets Slavophiles. spite impression history books, the not be with should confused the included an array (who Panslavists) Slavophiles of powerful and of scholars and personalities philosophy, history, ethnography, Ivan the and Ivan Aleksei brothers Konstantin Khomiakov, Aksakov, theology: and others.11 Iurii Samarin, Alexander Koshelev, Kireevsky, in a Counter-Enlightenment the most movement Logically, likely participants in Russia should have been the Slavophiles: bred by German Romanticism, they an ensemble were re of organicists, and explicitly conservatives, evolutionists, of the eighteenth-century and universalism jected the rationalism Enlightenment. But what may seem logically sound turns out to be historically wrong, for in spite the Slavophiles did not espouse of these similarities, the main ideas usually even to the Counter-Enlightenment, and were to attributed strongly opposed core were a not the of its Weltanschauung. of Russian representatives They no one but themselves, and in fact they represented for, Counter-Enlightenment, ... is as Walicki doctrine intractable to aptly pointed out, "Slavophile particularly ... traditional classifications intellectual by taxonomy"12 This being the case, one must ask whether there were other possible represen as some tatives in Russia? of Counter-Enlightenment Is Herzen, scholars a the Russian for thinker? candidate One missing imply, Counter-Enlightenment on Berlin's conception commentator writes: of Counter-Enlightenment
Berlin,
Berlin's
Herzen,
heroes
and Russia's
are those
Elusive
thinkers
who formulated a Weltan
183
intellectual
pluralist Herzen
schauung from within

Vico, Johann Gottfried
the Enlightenment
Herder, Johann
movement
Hamman
and against
or Alexander
it: Giambattista
... In
Georg
spite of the considerable differences between them, these thinkers and others, whom were united in the to the "Counter-Enlightenment," Berlin defines as belonging
ences, assumption for that the sciences of their of man are different in their not essence from atom the natural according sci the object and above enquiry?man?is out of spiritual one more acting
to fixed physical attributes of its nature and thematerial needs

but also, all, acting yearnings and
that ensue from them,

cultural traditions.13
This
invites two remarks. First, Berlin's assumption that interesting interpretation cor the sciences of man are different from the natural sciences, although basically as a basis for or for the Counter-Enlightenment rect, seems insufficient defining more a set that matter, coherent of ideas bound other than few any general by
I would to include Herzen in this company hesitate of propositions. Secondly, and therefore could not have thinkers, for he did not belong to the Enlightenment, it "from within." been against Before explaining this proposition, let me add as "belonging that Isaiah Berlin, so it seems, never defined Herzen to the Counter and I have found only one instance in Berlin's writings where Enlightenment," ismentioned in the company Herzen of Vico and Herder. It appears in the essay "The Pursuit of the Ideal," and it reads as follows: If the old perennial belief in the possibility of realising ultimate harmony is a fallacy, and the positions of the thinkers I have appealed to?Machiavelli, Vico, Herder,
Herzen?are cannot live valid, together, then, even ifwe allow that Great can?in Goods short, if human then, as can collide, one that cannot may and some have depend Lenin of them every upon once others though as well as in in thing, principle practice?and a of mutually exclusive choices: variety that
creativity
Chernyshevsky to me, no
asked, "What is to be done?" How

how much must we sacrifice to what?
do we
There
choose between
is, it seems
possibilities? What
clear reply.14
and
What
learn from this quotation, its context and, for that matter, from the on whole of I believe Berlin's Russia and on Herzen? that corpus writings Herzen?whom Isaiah Berlin admired and with whom than he identified more about?stood any other thinker he wrote high in Berlin's esteem on account of four major positions which Herzen adhered to: the notion of individual gradually to the the refusal sacrifice for the future; the rejection of great mag present liberty; a nificent and about the and value of abstract abstractions, skepticism meaning sense of ideas as such15; and, finally, Herzen's will examine below their reality.161 on role in defining Herzen's the of the age, after a few spectrum place ideological remarks on the historical and intellectual background of the formation of ideas in
time.
can we
Herzen's
In terms of both temperament and theoretical works, Herzen was a thinker who came close to the kind of radical Isaiah Berlin has expounded? pluralism which or most of his As with all the members of the writings. explicitly implicitly?in source Moscow and the the of chief philosophical too, Circles, Slavophiles was were Herzen's His intellectual at formation theories debated Hegel. length both in private meetings, and in public, for instance at Mme. Elagina's salon lit of the Slavophiles. the many episodes recounted t?raire, the headquarters Among was friends Herzen's the story of how hard Bakunin toiled in translating and by texts for Belinsky who did not read German. his annotating Hegel's Incidentally,
184
one of the reasons for Bakunin's mastery of Hegel's critique de texte is perhaps on to account is that Marx have and said that the ideas, thought only redeeming (whom he deeply hated) was that he was one of the few peo quality of Bakunin the century who really understood ple in the nineteenth Hegel. (Notwithstanding a constant fixture in his Weltan hatred of Marx remained Bakunin's compliment, a sort of chain reaction?a it also engendered?by schauung-, unfortunately persis tent and deplorable and anti-Semitism.) anti-Germanism In spite of having such a gifted teacher, Belinsky (unlike Herzen) got Hegel's and at a certain point he conceived dialectics muddled the (erroneous) idea that real is ideal. This confusion led to his ideal is real, and that everything everything short-lived?"crisis of conscience" since Hegel's (in 1840-1842), meant that all the it, miseries, oppression, interpreted "political orgies" and corruption of Nicholas I's autocratic (as he put it later in a letter to Bakunin) a were and the the "rational and ideal serfdom of peasantry regime political was some For Herzen this and had harsh he nonsense, dangerous reality."17 re words both for Bakunin and Belinsky. The latter, after painful soul-searching, with announced his "reconciliation distanced himself from canted, reality," he now called "the German book"?and theories?which ceased spinning Hegel's to revolu his attention was drawn "the German web." Thereafter, increasingly a on and like he of embarked, Herzen, Proudhon, Fourier, tionary thought, study and Louis Blanc. Saint-Simon, Herzen himself was at no time an orthodox Hegelian, neither of the However, serious (Marx and Bakunin) brand, nor of Belinsky's tragicomic variety. As, with all the ideas he came across in the course of his life, he transformed Hegel's his own, mixing into something them with other (different doctrines peculiarly to form his particular Weltanschauung and often contradictory) blend. As views took from thinkers such as Hegel, George Isaiah Berlin aptly remarked: Herzen and the others just "what he needed, it into and poured Sand, Fourier, Proudhon,
the vehement torrent of his own experience."18 In any case, adds Berlin, when
notorious?but tenet, as he
Herzen
eventually [were] gone."19 is that out of the philosophical The important point in Berlin's analysis Tower it into the ... tor and poured of Babel of his time Herzen "took what he needed, in the formation rent of his own experience." Life experience was thus paramount to existential of Herzen's connected issues. ideas, for they were always intimately of Herzen's The centrality of existential factors in the formation ideas explains over time and fluctuations of his views the changes also, to a certain extent, to the next in connection with his personal and political and from one period There is a concrete example of this point in Berlin's explanation life-experiences. commune in the Russian attitude toward of Herzen's (formulated peasant to to and attributed the of letter Herzen's influence Jules Michelet, open usually to the Romantic Zeitgeist, or to Counter-Enlightenment Herder, tenets):
... [While in exile, of soil, Herzen] to achieve a life long filled lived and more the life of an affluent, Moscow, or even well-born man of letters, from inward exultation, of all over his or a member native outward followed whelming, the Russian, unable
wrote
his memoirs,
"almost
all traces of Hegelian
influence
specifically a settled existence occasional
gentry, uprooted the semblance of and and as even most objective
peace, by
with
moments
periods
of misery, bitter nostalgia.
corrosive Itmay
of hope self-criticism this, as much
omnivorous,
be
reasons,
Berlin,
that the caused central him
Herzen,
to idealise
and Russia's
the Russian of his
Elusive
185
to de of of a
'social'
humanisation the Russian non-industrial,
question the oppressor of both commune. He peasant semi-anarchist
time?that
to dream and that the answer peasant, of growing inequality, exploitation, in the preservation and the oppressed?lay in it the seeds of the development
perceived socialism.20
In other words, in the formation of this major aspect of Herzen's worldview?the earned him the title of "father of Russian commune?which socialism," peasant so in that is, "populism," which Isaiah Berlin described his introduction brilliantly to Franco Venturi's II populismo russo,21 the role played by personal circumstances was much greater than any supposed influence of Herder and Romanticism. him so between Herzen's life and ideas is what makes connection so in and his blend of and renders different, "particular Weltanschauung" original was was not He sui but he tractable for classification purposes. generis, unique; he was not individualistic, to say that him but he had an anarchistic which led streak, in aminority he felt good only when he found himself of one?another expression cannot be For this reason Herzen's Weltanschauung of the feature of uniqueness. as either an offshoot of the or as a representative of the classified Enlightenment was both and neither. Given it la limite this ? Counter-Enlightenment. paradox Sir Berlin was right in saying that "Herzen is neither consistent nor systematic."22 it as a reproach, and he may have seen in it a trait common to Isaiah did not mean a point to which Iwill return below. and himself, Herzen or to the to the Enlightenment The question of whether Herzen belonged some to bears another vexed issue, namely, Counter-Enlightenment similarity was Berlin himself a fox or a hedgehog? Whoever in answering succeeds the one a one to hold clue with the other. the also has Indeed, may regard impression This close that very often inwriting indicating how he would
ideas
about Herzen Berlin like to be perceived

talker point Eckermann such a the ...
is speaking by others:
always of view in an
about himself,
or at least
a brilliant and [H]e was irrepressible and from the waste, images; immense: he had no Boswell and no he a man of who would have suffered and
overwhelming ... of posterity to record his conversation, His
flow is probably nor was
of
form
talk, with tones which
the vices
virtues
heightened gressions memory argument;
and exaggerations of into a network themselves carry him or but to the main stream of returning speculation, always but above has the vitality of spoken words.23 all, his prose
relationship. talk: eloquent, the born story-teller, of
a is essentially prose liable to the spontaneous, to resist unable long di of intersecting of tributaries the story or the
The above
is not a description of Sir Isaiah, as those who knew him might an excerpt from his but rather Similar assume, portrait of Herzen. immediately in Berlin's writings, abound and I wonder if in some of them passages was Sir Isaiah was providing food for the thought that he, perhaps unconsciously, himself. depicting citation
V. Three
As I have
stages
already
in the formation
of Herzen's
worldview
of Herzen's noted, it is no easy task to give a rigorous definition more once in than his which shifted lifetime. Berlin, we Weltanschauung, Following were main in modo three that the evolution of there Herzen's grosso may say stages ideas and worldview.24 At the beginning?in the Moscow circle and during the
186
had an ideal vision of human decade"?he life, and ig years of the "marvellous it from the present, nored the chasm which divided the Russia of whether or in the constitutionalism the West. At that Nicholas time he I, corrupt its opponents in Russia?and and condemned radicalism glorified enlightened to blind the and the cau conservatism, tendency Slavophile especially nostalgia, as well and tious gradualism of his friends, the westernizers Granovsky Turgenev, as to to and rational the patience appeals conformity Hegelian inescapable to him designed to ensure the triumph of the seemed rhythms of history, which new class. bourgeois The second stage began around left Russia for Western 1847, when Herzen amore critical outlook. All at toward and first tended Europe, genuine change, he is to the of tradition is slow; think, very great; men are power necessarily began in the eighteenth than had been believed less malleable century, nor do they truly is but tsarism in differ Communism seek liberty, only security and contentment; ent garb, the replacement of one yoke by another. At this stage (notwithstanding as the prototype of the future society), his faith in the Russian peasant commune no the enlightened ?lite and the masses he longer felt certain that the gap between an in obsession later Russian could be bridged (a view which becomes thought i narod," the intelligentsia and the people), the label "intelligentsia since the and for de unalterable reasons, may, psychological sociological people a never which will civilization have the and of spise reject gifts enough meaning fears were shared even by such radical populists for them. (In this regard Herzen's even more as Chernyshevsky Later on, he spoke of something and Mikhailovsky.) a ever widening sense the and of haunting unbridgeable gulf between disquieting, under awakened free and civilized ?lites (to which he knew him the human values of the relatively self to belong) and the actual needs, desires and tastes of the vast voiceless masses of mankind.25 If these doubts were justified, asked himself: Finally, in the third stage, Herzen or desirable? is radical transformation From this followed either practicable sense of obstacles that might be insurmountable, his growing limits that may be a to him and latent and skepticism, empiricism, pessimism leading impassable, in most The document which this of the mid-1860s. way conveys eloquent despair an Old Comrade, addressed are to To his letters who Bakunin, open thought In these letters, is also an act of creation. that the act of destruction proclaimed in 1869, one year before his death, Herzen written his for admiration expressed to dared do of instead Peter the Great and the Jacobins because they something the behavior of Attila, and the Yet he says also that Petrogradism, a word, in of Public 1793?in method which of the Committee any Safety policy the of and radical solutions?in end the presupposes always feasibility simple and collapse. leads to oppression, bloodshed, But this three-stage intellectual development presented by Berlin invites some it it is to associ how difficult indicates remarks and qualifications. (again) Firstly, or in any case ate Herzen with and the Enlightenment Counter-Enlightenment, or that idea attributed to extent what he his the of when and shared question begs even if it to one of these two movements. this three-stage development, Secondly, nu some not intellectual does order Herzen's for evolution, explain the provides merous in and existed view, inconsistencies, contradictions, my paradoxes which, at each and every given moment. it illustrates in Herzen's Thirdly, thought nothing.
Berlin, Berlin's
Herzen,
and Russia's
Elusive
187
are reflected on two levels: his capacity to insights, which deep a and very complex and intricate picture of Herzen's present at times personality one subject (for thought, and at other times to do the opposite, namely, single out on a tour de force of extreme reduc views instance, Herzen's "liberty"), and, by stand in complete the core of Herzen's isolation from important tionism, present aspects of his whole mindset, thereby ignoring these contradictions.
VI. Conclusion
By way of conclusion one and personalities thought and mindset to these brief should which remarks recall on such complex and elusive topics in Herzen's the four main elements the tortuous path of his intellectual
perhaps help explain Berlin and and which described time again, stressing development, nor was that Herzen "neither consistent and the therefore?like systematic," in to Walicki's words?"intractable classification traditional Slavophiles, by Hence his equal distance from Enlightenment and intellectual taxonomy." a each of these four elements. reinforced alike, position Counter-Enlightenment by to all kind of abstractions. Although The first element was Herzen's opposition he believed in reason, individual scientific methods, action, and empirically to in he tended that faith and pre discovered truths, suspect general formulas, an were in affairs to human sometimes escape attempt, scription catastrophic, and unpredictable from the uncertainty variety of life. that human problems believed Like Isaiah Berlin and Ivan Turgenev, Herzen are too or to to answers demand receive ready-made simple solutions complex and recipes. On the contrary, he held that in principle principles to any genuine there could be no simple or final answer human problem and that if a question was serious, the answer could not be clear and neat. Above all, answers could never consist of some symmetrical set of conclusions, drawn by de to Herzen's ductive means from a collection of self-evident axioms. Central was the notion that the basic problems are thought perhaps not resoluble at all.26 the absolute value of life. Although idea concerned Herzen be The second a social group, lieved in human progress, he rejected the view that a generation, or an indidividual should be sacrified today for the sake of progress and happi ness tomorrow. His skepticism about the meaning of abstract ideals as such was in tune with the value he began to attach to the concrete, short-term, immediate imme reward for the day's work, freedoms, goals of living individuals?specific diate acts of justice. In Berlin's words, He believed
ends that the remote
from abstract
that the ultimate goal of lifewas

not were the a means a dream, immediate and futile to another that and forms faith ends or
life itself; that the day and the hour were

He that believed to sacrifice ends must
in themselves,
or another experience. day a fatal illusion; in them was future sacrifice.27 to these
present lead always
foreseeable of human
distant
to cruel
which
with doctrines fundamentally disagreed revolutionary one or more the sacrifice of for the hypothetical generations required in the future. He distrusted benefit of humankind those who asked for sacrifices now and promised des lendemains qui chantent, a singing tomorrow, for he knew is a day of mourning.28 that almost always the day after tomorrow
This meant
that Herzen
188
The third element consists inHerzen's idea of liberty, a topic to which Berlin re verts time and again to Herzen's and which also is closely linked life experience:
[Herzen's] cleansing, moods alternate sharply storm, [writes Berlin]. even were it Sometimes to take the he believes form of in a great, a barbarian
revolutionary friend that
invasion likely to destroy all the values

his old reproaches not understanding stones of a prison.... and violence haste Bakunin
that he himself holds dear. At other times he

to make cannot Patience the revolution be constructed too soon; of for the out
the gradualism?not a about permanenent bring At such moments to the free, he wonders transformation. whether the future belongs or to the bold or com and ruthless anarchistic [whether peasant, planner capitalist to returns of Then he his moods disillusionment and wonders munist]. again early men a few do so in each in general whether desire freedom; only really perhaps alone most while human generation, beings and he echoes de Maistre's whose hands; Rousseau in chains; less has asked it is as only bitter government, good about Rousseau: epigram are born free are nevetheless who this are born theme. carnivorous, Men desire want no matter "Monsieur everywhere neverthe freedom no at
dwellings has her own tempo. History the Great?can of a Peter
... for wanting for free men
and
everywhere fish in the
it is that men who why to ask if one were why sheep, Herzen nibble grass." develops were of created
more
that below turns
than fish desire to fly. The fact that a few flying fish exist does not demonstrate
general surface earlier the water, optimism or are not to to content fly, quite stay fundamentally sun from the and forever the Then he re away light. and that somewhere?in the thought Russia?there
to his
lives the unbroken

the corruption and
human being,
sophistication
the peasant with his faculties

of the West.29
intact, untainted
by
The middle
"West"
iswhat
garity,
in this case means also the insidious and constant of the growth and of the petit bourgeois character of society, whose main feature in theWest as poshlost', philistinism, Vladimir Nabokov made known vul classes
and nouveau-riche arrogance and bad taste. The petit bourgeois,
kitsch,
writes
"has two talents, prudence and punctuality. The life of the middle Herzen, it is self-restrained, class is full of petty defects and petty virtues; often niggardly, ... a life self-satisfied is extreme, what and shuns what its is superfluous with narrow mediocrity The middle and classes the [and] vulgarity."30 petit bourgeois are neither fighters for liberty nor its guarantors. nor bearers of culture, the middle Neither classes and the pe fighters for liberty are in Herzen's tit bourgeois, aristocratic the and the curse of the scourge eyes new new world. In a memorable face of the West:
All at Tula trade, all on especially quality, as with conventional not allow of
passage,
reminiscent
of our age, he summarizes
this
in England, old-fashioned an English character,
is based
now
Russians trademark everything distinction
pen-knives
and cheapness, and not quantity when imagine they buy reverently on them. a wholesale, has Everything is within or personal at the reach taste. of almost Everywhere every the
on
one,
ready-made, but does
aesthetic
hundred-thousand-headed
round a corner, ready
hydra
to listen
[the petit bourgeoisie]

to look
lies in wait
everything
close at hand crowd of
to everything, (to use everything. Stuart The
indiscriminately, which
to be dressed
'conglomerated
in anything,
mediocrity' so dominates
to be fed on anything?this
Mill's crowd
is the all-powerful
expression) is without
and everything, without culture.
purchases but also ignorance,
Berlin,
Herzen,
and Russia's
Elusive
189
is the caf? chantant, "an amphibious The zenith of the crowd's cultural creation and half the boulevard between beer-cellar the theatre."31 way product, sense is of his The fourth key element of Herzen's thought reality. His initial man in of the innate becomes less and less faith goodness Rousseau-inspired secure as he grows older, both because of the tragedies in his family life,32 and as a result of his acute sense of reality: His sense of reality [writes Isaiah Berlin] is too strong. For all his efforts, and the ef forts of his socialist friends, he cannot deceive himself entirely. He oscillates between
pessimism and optimism, scepticism, and suspicion of his own scepticism, and is
kept morally alive only by his hatred of all injustice, all arbitrariness, all mediocrity as such?in particular by his inability to compromise in any degree with either the brutality of reactionaries or the hypocrisy of bourgeois liberals. He is preserved by this, buoyed up by his belief that such evils will destroy themselves, and by his love for his children and his devoted friends, and his unquenchable delight in the variety
of life and the comedy of human character.33
At
"sense of reality," a qual Berlin underlines Herzen's least twice in his writings on it the status of a philosoph so commendable that he confers which he finds ity it as the criterion which should guide people faced with ical notion, and proposes In values and irreconcilable the above quotation Berlin empha goals. conflicting sense one sense of in of another he writes: "Herzen's sizes Herzen's strong reality; ... is own in in his and the Given any age."34 unique [age], perhaps impor reality to the sense of reality in individual decisions tance that Berlin attributed and in the in this one short life of society, one can fully understand the high praise contained
sentence on Herzen.
and reaction, with his sense of reality in a period of turmoil, revolution, a nor a proponent but neither of the Enlightenment, of the Counter disciple in the Russian that were of little substance (notions setting), Enlightenment Alexander Herzen Berlin's central idea that there are conflicts with re anticipated and that in states and society there gard to values and goals that are irreconcilable, should be structures and processes that allow these conflicting interests to coexist in peace. Herzen did not express this idea in these words, but of all his contempo was the one closest to the spirit and to later thinkers?he raries?and compared content of this quintessential vision of Isaiah Berlin. Armed
Notes
and "Vico and the Ideal of the "The Counter-Enlightenment" in the Current. Against Essays in theHistory of Ideas, ed. Henry Enlightenment," an introduction with Hausheer (New York: Viking, 1980). by Roger Hardy, 2. Michael A Isaiah Berlin. York: Life (New Henry Holt, 1998). Ignatieff, 3. With the exception of Soviet historiography (which held that there was a full in Russia), most historians progressive fledged Western-style Enlightenment in various tend to qualify the and /or character existence of the degrees cases as a in "Russian Enlightenment" this many expression (using metaphor in rather than as awell-defined concept). See Marc Raeff, "The Enlightenment in the Enlightenment," in The Eighteenth Century Russia and Russian Thought in Russia, ed. J.G. Garrard Press, 1973), pp. 25-47; James (Oxford: Clarendon F. Brennan, Enlightened Despotism in Russia: The Reign of Elisabeth, 1741-1762 1. Isaiah Berlin,
190
Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment (New York:
II: The Republican P. Lang, "Catherine 1987); D. Griffiths, 21 Geschichte (1973), pp. 323-34; Gary Jahrb?cher f?r Osteuropas Empress," in A History, ed. G. L. Russia. of "The 1740-1801," Marker, Age Enlightenment, and Oxford New York: Freeze Press, 1997), pp. 114-42. (Oxford University and by John T. II by Isabel de Madariaga And see also the books on Catherine in note 6 below. indicated Alexander in Historical Perspective Economic Backwardness 4. See Alexander Gerschenkron, Press, 1962). (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University in Against the Current, p. 191; and His Memoirs," "Herzen 5. Isaiah Berlin, added. emphasis of 22 "The Great Instruction" 6. Grandly entitled (Bol'shoi nakaz), it consisted were from of them 294 and 655 articles; Montesquieu pillaged chapters from Beccaria, others plagiarized Jacob (most of them misrepresented); it "the Bielfeld, Johann Justi, and Diderot's Encyclop?die; Voltaire proclaimed on it a rather acerbic wrote Diderot of the age," while finest monument in the Russia de See Isabel Age of Catherine the Great commentary. Madariaga, Yale and London: Haven Press, 1981), pp. 151-63; John T. (New University and the Great. Catherine Alexander, Legend (New York and Oxford: Oxford Life Instruction writes that the Great 1989), pp. 100-102, the of title first bid for [Catherine's] philosopher-sovereign." "signified see Anatole G. Mazour, 7. For a sample of views on the Decembrist movement, Its Origins, Development Movement: Decembrist The First Russian Revolution?the and Significance Press, 1962); Hans Lemberg, (Stanford: Stanford University der Dekabristen Die nationale Gedankenwelt 1963); George (K?ln-Graz: B?hlau, de Universit? 1823-1825 La Soci?t? des Slaves Unis, Luciani, (Bordeaux: Cliffs: Bordeaux, 1963); Marc Raeff, ed., The Decembrist Movement (Englewood Prentice-Hall, 1966) (documents); Glynn Barratt, Voices in Exile. The Decembrist Memoirs Press, 1974). The (Montreal and London: McGill-Queen's University was: Dekabristov V. Dvizhenie Militsa version Soviet orthodox Nechkina, see "The volumes 2 J.Gooding, Movement], (Moscow, 1955); [The Decembrist a For 196-209. 40 Studies in Soviet the Soviet Union," Decembrists (1988), pp. University Press, see Nathan 14 dekabrja 1825 i and critical re-evaluation, Eidelman, post-Soviet Its and 1825 14th December 1994); (Moscow, ego istolkovateli [The Interpreters] v svete sovremennykh mifa. Dekabrizm "Razoblachenie Valerii Senderov, a in the light of contemporary diskussii" myth. Decembrism [Unmasking October 12-18 Russkaia 1995, p. 3. discussions], mysl [Paris], as "intellectuals in the Decembrists defined for 8. Leonard instance, Schapiro, in and the "The Pre-Revolutionary uniform": Legal Order," Intelligentsia Richard Pipes, ed., The Russian Intelligentsia (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961), p. 461. came the shock at the 9. Several events greatly affected Herzen's family. First an old regiment comrade of news that General Nikolai Miloradovich, the insurrection. Herzen's father, was killed on the Senate Square during Herzen's Then, during the following months, family shared the anguish and families. arrest the sorrow of the Moscow of sons of respected upon nobility were of Herzen's relatives brothers the them aunt, Obolensky, Among see Martin Malia, Alexander Herzen For more details, Princess Khovanskaia. Mass.: Harvard 1812-1855 And the Birth of Russian Socialism, (Cambridge,
Berlin,
Herzen,
and Russia's
Elusive
191
Press, 1961), p. 31-2. This book remains the best one on the early University life. years of Herzen's the title of an essay by the lit 10. "A Remarkable Decade" (1838-1848): originally critic Pavel Annenkov (Zamechatelnoe desiatiletie, 1838-1848) erary published in those in 1880; it contains his reminiscences of the intellectual movement its knew well. and of whom Annenkov Berlin borrowed this years participants in in Encounter in serial title for four essays which form 1955-1956 appeared in Berlin, Rus and are now included Decade"), (then entitled "A Marvellous sian Thinkers, ed. Henry Hardy and Aileen Kelly with an introduction by Kelly "German (New York: Viking, 1978); "The Birth of the Russian Intelligentsia"; in Petersburg and Moscow"; "Visarion Belinsky"; Romanticism and "Alexan on p. 114-5 Sir Isaiah explains why he chose this title. der Herzen"; 11. A good book on the subject is Andrzej Walicki's The Slavophile Controversy. Russian Thought (Oxford: History of a Conservative Utopia inNineteenth-Century Clarendon Press, 1975). 12. Walicki, The Slavophile Controversy, p. 3. review of the Hebrew translation of Isaiah Berlin, The Crooked 13. Joseph Mali, trans. A. Ophir Timber of Humanity, (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1995), in Yediot added. Aharonot, 31.3.1995 (in Hebrew); emphasis 14. Isaiah Berlin, "The Pursuit of the Ideal," in The Crooked Timber of Humanity. (New York: Viking, 1992), p. 17. Chapters in theHistory of Ideas, ed. Henry Hardy 196. 15. Berlin, "Herzen and His Memoirs," p. 16. Berlin, "Herzen and His Memoirs", p. 207. see E. Lampert, Studies in Rebellion (London: 17. For more details on this episode, and Kegan Paul, 1957), p. 67-81. Routledge 18. Berlin, "Herzen and His Memoirs," p. 198. 19. Berlin, "Herzen and His Memoirs," p. 206. 20. Berlin, "Herzen and His Memoirs", open letter to p. 205-6; for Herzen's see in in written French and "Le peuple Michelet, 1852, originally published russe et le socialisme in ? A. Textes Herzen, Jules Michelet)," (Lettre version: The Russian choisis 501-39; (Moscow, 1948), p. philosophiques English with an introduction People and Socialism, trans. R. Wollheim, by Isaiah Berlin and Nicolson, (London: Weidenfeld 1956). 21. Franco Venturi, II populismo russo, 2 volumes (Turin; J. Einaudi, 1952); English translation: Roots of Revolution. A History of the Populist and Socialist Movements trans. F. Haskell in Nineteenth-Century and Russia, (London: Weidenfeld Alexander Herzen and the Birth of Russian Nicolson, 1960). See also Malia, Socialism quoted above. 22. Berlin, "Herzen and His Memoirs," p. 206. 23. Berlin, "Herzen and His Memoirs," 24. Iwill add below some qualifications 25. Berlin, "Herzen and His Memoirs," p. 188. to this analysis of Berlin. p. 196. in Russian Thinkers, pp. 202, 205. 26. Isaiah Berlin, "Alexander Herzen," 27. Berlin, "Alexander Herzen," 194-5. p. 28. "Des lendemains qui chantent" was a major slogan of the French Communist in and 1950s 1960s. the The then and irony of the message, Party's propaganda now, will not be lost to the astute reader.
192
29. Berlin, "Herzen and His Memoirs," p. 206-7; see also Berlin, "Herzen and Bakunin on Individual Liberty," in Russian Thinkers, p. 82-113. 30. [A.I. Herzen], My Past and Thoughts. The Memoirs trans. of Alexander Herzen, an Constance with revised introduction Garnett, by Humphrey Higgens, by on June Isaiah Berlin, vol. 4 (New York: Knopf, 1968), p. 10 (an essay written 10,1862 in the Isle of Wight). 31. Herzen, My Past and Thoughts, p. 15-16. Similar indictments of the petty bour can in found be Herzen's Letters the Avenue (1847) and geoisie from Marigny Letters from Via del Corso (1847-1848), writings known from 1854 on as Letters from France and Italy. 32. Herzen's to the many misfortunes memoirs form arresting that testimony struck him and his family. See also Edward Hallet Carr, The Romantic Exiles. A Portrait Gallery (London: V. Gollancz, 1933), a portrait Nineteenth-Century more with and without the benefit of most painted irony than empathy, source material even before the 1930s; following of the editions published in the light of the abundant book were not updated evidence documentary since its first edition. See also Michael Confino, Daughter of a Revolu Natalie Herzen the Bakunin-Nechaev and Circle Press, (London: Alcove tionary. includes also the diary of "Tata," found and published for the 1974), which first time by the author in 1969 in Michael "Un document in?dit: Confino, Le Journal de Natalie Herzen, Cahiers du monde russe et sovi?tique 1869-1870," X (1) (1969), pp. 52-149 and an (Russian original with a French translation introduction). 33. Berlin, "Herzen and His Memoirs," added. p. 207; emphasis 34. Berlin, "Alexander Herzen," p. 207. available
Sndex
of Mames
Hans Aarsleff, 16-17, 20 Theodor 9, 46 Adorno, 21 Anna Akhmatova, Ivan -182 Aksakov, Konstantin -182 Aksakov, Alembert, 5, 6, 7, 21 Jean d' Alexander of Russia I, Emperor abb? d'- 93 14, 23-24 Perry Gabriele d' -117,123 Annunzio, Aristotle 37, 59, 61 Antoine 66 Arnauld, Karl Joachim 42 Arnim, Allamand, Anderson, Gottfried-111 Arnold, Attila -138 St. 6-7,11, Augustine, Austin, 20, 35 John L. 35 Ayer, Alfred
54-60;
intellectual
career
of: vii-x,
13-25,
35-36, 51-53, 73-74, 178,182-185,187-189; vii, 21-25, 34-35,124; of Liberalism: history 45,106-115,118,139; 180
92,133-134,163-175, and Jewish identity: on theory and viii-ix, 14-15, 23-25, on liberty: 14,17-18, and Marxism: 24, 17, 37-38, on nationalism:
34,43,133-134,140,143; on monism: 34-38,163-175; 40-42, 60-61, 91-92,127;
57, 80, 96,126
Bacon, Francis 2, 4, 5 93 Baker, Keith Bakunin, Mikhail 123,182,184,186,188 Honor? de 34 Balzac, de Barante, Prosper 147,150,152 Barrett, William Barres, Maurice -13 -123 - 96 Barruel, Augustin - 2 Barth, Karl
Alexander Gottlieb 23 Baumgarten, Pierre 83-84,134 20, 22, 66, 80, Bayle, Beccaria, Cesare 5, 76,180 108 Beck, Christian August Becker, Carl 18-19, 23 van 22 Beethoven, Ludwig - 22 Begin, Menachem Vissarion 182,183-184 Belinsky, -123 Belloc, Hilaire Benjamin, Bentham, Saul -15-16 - 2 Walter 5,133,145,180 Jeremy 38 Bergson, Henri Isaiah Berlin, on the v, 4,13-16, Counter-Enlightenment: 41- 48, 62-67, 73-75, 91-93, 99,105-115, on the 164-175,177-189; Enlightenment: Bellow, 18-25, 33-48, 64-65, 73-74, 79-80, 91-93, ix and Fascist 164-175,177-189; ideology: x, 14-17,43-44, 52, 61, 71, 74, 92,117-128, sciences: 173; on the human 15,19, 36-48,
vi, 21-22,43-45, 60-61,120,125-126, 173-175; on pluralism: viii-x, 15-18, 35, and Russian 40-42,44-45, 61-67,118; intellectual tradition ix, 21, 33,177-189; on Romanticism and its legacy 15-16,18, 42-47,105-115,119,123-124,134,164-166, and Zionism: 169-175,184-185; viii, 21-24 -178 Betskoi, Alexander 110 Biester, Johann Erich Blanc, Louis -184 111 Boehme, Jakob Otto Friedrich 39 Bollnow, 92,122 Bonald, Louis de 3, 92 Bosch, Hieronymus Bossuet, 19,122-123 Jacques B?nigne Bos well, 185 James 120,125,127 Bradley, Owen Ernst -109 Brandes, Brecht, Berthold 23, 24 - 151 duc de Broglie, comte de 6 Buffon, Burke, Edmund 64, 97,121-123,133 Burke, Peter 51, 59 -19 Burney, Charles Byron, Lord -180 Calvin, John-113 abb? de 94 Cambac?r?s, -138 Cambyses -181 Camus, Albert Thomas 43,123 Carlyle, Gershom Carmichael, 83, 84 Ernst 75 Cassirer, 23, Catherine of Russia 178-180 II, Empress Isabelle de Charrri?re, 149,152 77, 98 Chartier, Roger vicomte de 180 Chateaubriand, Louis Mayeul 93 Chaudon, Nikolai -186 Chernyshevsky, - 24 Winston Churchill,
193
194
Index ofNames
Galipeau, Gardiner, Gassendi, Claude -134 Patrick -16 Pierre 80 abb? 93-94
Emile M. Cioran, 124,126-127 Bernard 97 Cl?ment, Jean-Marie William-123 Cobbett, viii Cole, G.D.H. Robin G. 41, 54, 55 Collingwood, 95 Collins, Anthony Comte, Auguste 35, 38 de Condorcet, 7,18, 21, 35, 75,180 marquis Constant, vii, xi, 7,14,45,133-153, Benjamin
Gabriel Gauchat, 74 Gay, Peter Gedike, Gellner,
180
7 of Rome Constantine, Emperor 3 Cortes, Donoso abb? de 96 Crillon, Benedetto Croce, 10, 51, 52, 53, 57 -171 Alighieri -126-127 Jean-Louis Robert Darnton, 74, 77, 93 Paul -123 Deroulede, 20 Derrida, Jacques Ren? 2, 4, 5, 38, 54, 60 Descartes, Denis Diderot, 5,19, 21, 34, 62, 93,179 38,41, 53, 47 Dilthey, Wilhelm 83 Doria, Paolo Mattia 21 Dostoyevsky, Fyodor Darcel, Drumont, Dunn, John Edouard 59 -123 Dante
-110 Friedrich Ernest -14 Khan -138 Genghis Antonio 84-85 Genovesi, Giovanni 52 Gentile, -105 Friedrich Gentz, abb? 96 G?rard, 179 Alexander - 41 Heinrich Wilhelm Gerstenberg, Pietro Giannone, 62, 79 Edward 64 Gibbon, Goethe, 22,41,135 Johann Wolfgang 77 Dena Goodman, 24 Ernst Gombrich, Gerschenkron, Mikhail -180 Gorbachev, -152 Goya, Francisco Antonio 52 Gramsci, Timofei 182,186 Granovsky, 20 John-18, Gray, 23 Gropius, Walter 61 Grotius, Hugo Hans-Dietrich 98 Grumbrecht, -133 Guizot, Fran?ois Habermas, 46, 77 J?rgen Hamann, vii, ix, xi, 2,14,15, Johann Georg 20, 23,41^2,44, 51, 61, 62, 64, 92, 99, 106-114,118,133,183 Knut -117 Hamsun, 14,15,17 Hardy, Henry von - 24 Friedrich Hayek, - 93 J-N-H Hayer, Friedrich 4, 7-10,13, Hegel, Georg Wilhelm 16, 38, 53, 92,121,164-170,172-173, 183-184,186 Martin 2, 20, 38, 39 Heidegger, - 22 Heine, Heinrich Claude Adrien Helv?tius, 5,18, 37 Gottfried Herder, vii, ix, xi, 2,14,15, Johann 17, 20, 38, 42,43, 61, 62, 64, 92, 99,106-114, 164,169,183-185 99 Herrero, Javier Alexander Herzen, 21,45,134,169,179, 182-189 Hess, Moses Hirschman, x, 23,169,174 Albert 75
108 Eberhard, Johann August 185 Eckermann, Johan Peter -111 Christian Edelmann, 23 Einstein, Albert - 110 Johann Jacob Engel, Friedrich 169,172 Engels, 80, 83, 84, 92 Epicurus Klaus 99 Epstein, -134 Desiderius Erasmus, of Caesarea Eusebius, 6, 7 Bishop - 24 Hans Eysenck, Adam 20, 85,135,138,139,140, Ferguson, 145,146,147 -167 Feuerbach, Ludwig Fichte, Johann Gottlieb 42-43,118,137,164,
172
- 85 Gaetano Filangieri, 163 Fischer, H. A. L. -151 Flaubert, Gustave 83 Fletcher, Andrew 93 Jean-Omer Fleury, Fontenelle,
de Bernard 19,134 Michel 64 Foucault, Fourier, Charles 5,123,184 -111 Franck, Sebastian -111 Francke, August -180 Benjamin 17, 92 Freud, Sigmund Friedrich II, King of Prussia - 22 Frost, Robert Franklin, Furet, Galanti, Galiani, Galileo Fran?ois -180 85
107-112
Hitler, Adolf-45,117 Thomas Hobbes, 3,4, 61, 83,127 E.T.A-42-43 Hoffman, 94 Arnos Hofman, baron d' Holbach, 5,18, 20, 37 145,146,152 Holmes, Stephen Homer 63 Max - 9,46 Horkheimer, von - 134,141,142,147 Wilhelm Humboldt, David Hume, 5, 6, 7,14, 20, 55, 59, 64-65, 84-85,140,142 Edmund Husserl, Hutcheson, Francis 38 5, 84
78,
Maria Giuseppe - 76 Ferdinando Galilei-2,4,
37, 56
Index of Names
21,163,178 Ignatieff, Michael - 79 Israel, Jonathan xi, 14, 39, 92, Jacobi, Friedrich Heinrich 106-115 Ramin 18, 23 Jahanbegloo, of Austria 108,109 Joseph II, Emperor 52-53 Joyce, James 108 Justi, Johann Heinrich 23 Kandinsky Wassily Kant, Immanuel 2, 5, 6,10-11,13,16,38,47, 59, 75, 77,80-81,91,98,111-112 Nikolai -180 Karamzin, 34 Keats, John 57 Kelley, Donald 146 Kelly, George Armstrong 178 John Maynard Keynes, Aleksei -182 Khomiakov, S0ren 2 Kierkegaard, Ivan -182 Kireevsky, 108 Klein, Ernst Ferdinand 24 Klein, Melanie von - 42 Kleist, Heinrich Maximilian 41 Friedrich Klinger, Reinhart 9 Kosellek, Alexander -182 Koshelev, 111 Kraus, Christian Jacob Wilhelm -182 K?chelbecker, Labriola, Antonio 52 Paul 52 Karl xi, 17, 22, 35-6,38,43,45,53, 163-175,178,184 Charles Maurras, 117,123 Friedrich Meinecke, 38,41,47 84 Melon, Jean-Fran?ois 22 Felix Mendelssohn, Moses Mendelssohn, 5, 6, 7,13, 22, 91,109 Maurice 38 Merleau-Ponty, Michelet, 52-53,149,184 Jules Nikolai -186 Mikhailovsky, Marx, James -133 viii, 14, 45,142,146,188 John Stuart 85 Millar, John Moser, 92,105,109,133 Justus Arnaldo 16,17, 62 Momigliano, Albert -100 Monod, Michel de 134 Montaigne, baron de 5, 6,19, 20, 75,125, Montesquieu, Mill, Mill, 136,137,140,142,179 Daniel 77 Mornet, Nabokov, Namier,
195
-188 21, 24 134-136,138,143, Napoleon Bonaparte 145-146,180,181 Isaac Newton, 2,4, 37, 48, 54,59, 65, 95 Nicholas of Russia I, Emperor 180,181,182 Friedrich HO Nicolai, Harold -135 Nicolson, Friedrich Nietzsche, 33, 52,117, 2,10-11,17, Lewis
Vladimir -
123
Novalis Novikov, O'Brien, Ockham, Ogarev, Ortega 7, 9,137 Nikolai -178 Cruise 133 of 113 -182 134 Jos?
Lafargue, de 134 Lafayette, Madame - 3 F?licit? Robert de Lamennais, La Mettrie, 5, 20 Julien de Adrien Antoine 96-97 Lamourette, Harold -18 Laski, D.H. Lawrence, 117,123 -127 Lebrun, Richard 23 Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm 22 Leibowitz, Yeshayahu - 41 Leisewitz, Johann Anton - 41 Reinhold Lenz, Jakob Michael Gotthold 2, 5, 62,109, Lessing, Ephraim
Connor William Nikolai y Gasset,
111
97 Liger, abb? 63 Lilla, Mark Locke, John 5,13,22, 64, 95 57 L?with, Karl Louis XVI, King of France - 180 - 24 Luk?cs, Georg Luther, Martin 11,111,113 Gabriel Bonnot 98,137 Mably, Niccol? Machiavelli, 4,40, 52, 55, 62,126,136,
183
Alasdair 13,106 Maclntyre, de Maistre, ix, xi, 14,15,16,44, Joseph Marie 52, 61, 74, 92,117-128,133,188 80 Nicholas Malebranche, Bronislaw 24 Malinowski, Louis 25 Malle, Bernard Mandeville, 80, 83-84 Thomas Mann, 23, 24
Francesco Mario 85 Pagano, Palmer, Robert -100 84 Palmieri, Giuseppe Pareto, Vilfredo 52,117,123 Pascal, Blaise-11, 59, 80 Paul, St. -11 Peter I, Emperor of Russia 186,188 Nicholas 76 Phillipson, Pico della Mir?ndola 62 Plato 37, 61,172 Plekhanov, 169,172 Georgi Pocock, 24-25, 57, 59, 64, 76, 93 John Leon 56 Pompa, -17 Pope, Alexander 24 Popper, Karl 76-77 Porter, Roy abb? -19 Pr?vost, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, 123,184 Purchas, Pushkin, -19 Samuel Aleksander -181
Racine, Jean -150 Alexander Radishchev, Rasputin-178 abb? 19, 98 Raynal,
-178
196
R?camier,
Index ofNames
Juliette de 151 105,109 Benedict 22, 66, 79, 83 Spinoza, de -133,135,151 Stael, Madame Stalin, Josef-45,173 Nikolai -182 Stankevich, 84 Steuart, James Strauss, Suarez, Leo -16-17 -122 Francisco 108 Svarez, Carl Gottlieb 19, 62 Swift, Jonathan Tacitus 21, -136 Tagliacozzo, Giorgio Talmon, Jacob -18 Charles 64 Taylor, 52
August Rehberg, Reichhardt,Rolf-98 Karl Leonhard Reinhold,
Wilhelm
13 Charles-Louis 97-98 Richard, - 47 Rickert, Heinrich de Juvigny, 98 J-A Rigoley 85 William Robertson,
Maximilien -138 Robespierre, - 77 Roche, Daniel 24 Franklin Roosevelt, 18-19,106 Rorty, Richard Rousseau, 2,10,15,16,19, Jean Jacques 34, 52, 79, 80, 98,101,137,140,145,172, 188,189 Kondratii -182 60 Ryle, Gilbert Ryleev, 99 James 5 de Sade, Marquis Henri de Saint-Simon, 5,184 Gaetano 51-52 Salvemini, Iurii -182 Samarin, -184 Sand, George 38 Sartre, Jean-Paul -180 Say, Jean-Baptiste 41 Scheler, Max Wilhelm Friedrich 47, 53,164 Schelling, Friedrich Schiller, 42,150 47 Friedrich Schlegel, Thomas 98 Schleich, 47 Friedrich Schleiermacher, 92 Schmidt, Jochen 2 Schmitt, Carl -17 Arthur Schopenhauer, Sack, -111 Schwenkfeld, Caspar -16-17 Scouten, Arthur 93-94 S?guier, Antoine-Louis Earl of 84 5, Shaftesbury, William 34 Shakespeare, - 41 Simmel, Georg 14, 25, 59, 93 Skinner, Quentin 5, 84-85,135,140,142,145,147, Smith, Adam
Tertullian-11,113 Thomas Aquinas, St. 10-11, 57,122,123 42-43 Tieck, Ludwig 23 Tillich, Paul 95 Tindal, Matthew Alexis de 3, 7,144 Tocqueville, 79 Toland, John Leo 16, 21,120,179 Tolstoy, Ernst 38,41,47 Troeltsch, Ivan 21,182,186,187 Turgenev, - 7 Turgot, Robert Jacques Franco Venturi, Vico, Giambattista 76,185 vii,
ix, 2,14,15-17, 38, 40^2,44, 47, 51-67, 80, 83-85, 92,169,183 Voltaire 2, 5, 7,18,19, 21, 22, 55, 64, 75, 93, 98, 101,124,136,164,179 Walicki, Walker, Walsh, Walter, Weber, Andrzej Alexander 182,187 -134
William-16,17 Bruno 23 Max - 41, 53,124 -111 Valentin Weigel, Chaim x, 24 Weizmann,
180
SocratesSonnenfels, - 108 Josef von Sorel, Georges 51, 52, 61,117,123 93 Soret, Jean - 111 Jakob Spener, Philipp 10,11
-16 White, Hayden Martin Wieland, 5,13 Christoph Wilhelm Windelband, 38,41,47 - 24 Wittgenstein, Ludwig 59 Wolff, Christian-23, Dennis -135 Wood, Young, Zagorin, Brian Perez 76 56

Isaiah Berlin&#39;s Counter-Enlightenment

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Isaiah Berlin&#39;s Counter-Enlightenment

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Isaiah Berlin's Counter-Enlightenment Author(s): Joseph Mali, Robert Wokler, Mark Lilla, Roger Hausheer, John Robertson, Darrin

AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

Edited by Joseph Mali and Robert Wokler

Philosophical Society 2003 Philadelphia

2003 by the American Copyright? All rights reserved.

for its Transactions

(pbk.) Sir. 2. Philosophy.

1 Chapter Mark Lilla Chapter 2 Robert Wokler

Isaiah Berlin's Enlightenment

3 Enlightening the Enlightenment 33

Roger Hausheer Chapter 4

Joseph Mali Chapter 5

and the Principles

The Case Approach

for the Enlightenment:

Chapter 6 Darrin M. McMahon

The Real Counter-Enlightenment: Case of France

7 Chapter Frederick Beiser 8 Garrard 9

and the German