Isaiah Berlin
Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997) was a British philosopher and historian of ideas.[1]
Contents
Early Life
Berlin was born 1909 to Russian-speaking Jewish parents in Riga, Latvia, where his father ran a timber business. In 1915 the family moved to Andreopol in Russia, and then to Petrograd where he witnessed the February and October revolutions. The family returned to Latvia in 1920, before moving to England in 1921.[1]
Berlin was educated at St Paul's School and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford where he gained Firsts in Greats and Politics, Philosophy and Economics in 1931 and 1932.[1]
Pre-war Oxford
Richard Crossman gave Berlin his first job as a philosophy lecturer at Corpus Christi College. He was elected to a fellowship at All Souls College, which ran until 1938, when he became a fellow of New College.[1]
Second World War
In 1941, Berlin was sent to new York by the Ministry of Information. From 1942 to 1946, he worked for the Foreign Office in Washington, reporting on US politics.[1]
Post-war
In 1950, Berlin returned to All Souls, where in 1957 he was elected to the Chichele chair of Social and Political Theory.[1]
Berlin served as the first president of Wolfson College from 1966 to 1975. He played a central role in the creation of the College, obtaining funds from the Wolfson and Ford Foundations.[1]
Affiliations, External Resources
Affiliations
- British Friends of the University of Haifa - Trustee from 1975
External Resources
- The Isaiah Berlin Virtual Library, Wolfson College, Oxford.
- Namebase BERLIN ISAIAH
