Sam Perry’s Reviews > Isaiah Berlin: a life > Status Update
Sam Perry
is on page 237 of 356
'All serious political choice involved loss, not merely trade-offs or compromises but genuine sacrifice of desirable ends' ignatieff on p.228 but good Berlin quote there too
'The original aspect of his political philosophy lay in his psychology of the divided human self and his insight into the human susceptibility to utopias promising release from the burden of moral choice.' p.231
— Feb 23, 2026 01:56PM
'The original aspect of his political philosophy lay in his psychology of the divided human self and his insight into the human susceptibility to utopias promising release from the burden of moral choice.' p.231
Like flag
Sam’s Previous Updates
Sam Perry
is on page 237 of 356
Interesting thought to add to review:
P.226 - negative liberty (freedom from - '[liberals] want to curb authority') Vs positive liberty (freedom to - 'want it placed in their own hands') - the 'strange reversal' of positive liberty is 'to begin with the idea of freedom as self-mastery and to end with the dictatorship of the proletariat and Stalin's engineers of human souls'. Chimes with dad's idea of moral licence.
— Feb 23, 2026 01:51PM
P.226 - negative liberty (freedom from - '[liberals] want to curb authority') Vs positive liberty (freedom to - 'want it placed in their own hands') - the 'strange reversal' of positive liberty is 'to begin with the idea of freedom as self-mastery and to end with the dictatorship of the proletariat and Stalin's engineers of human souls'. Chimes with dad's idea of moral licence.
