MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY
Suitably scathing description of the overrated windbag.
(Thanks to Phil Gasper for the pointer.)
UPDATE: Longtime reader John Rapko writes:
Thanks for posting Ali's bit about Caute on Isaiah Berlin; I had overlooked it. I share your view on Isaiah Berlin. I think you'll be amused by this anecdote: 20 or so years ago, I was looking at recent arrivals at Moe's Books in Berkeley, a store where I've passed a few thousand pleasant hours. There were quite a few battered old philosophy books from the 1930s through the 60's, some of which I had never seen. As I flipped through them, I quickly realized that this was part of the library of Paul Grice, who had recently died, as there were various identifying documents stuck in the books. So I got to see a number of Grice's lecture notes and annotations. There was also an unopened (!) letter from around 1960 from Isaiah Berlin to Grice. Of course I opened it, and read Berlin informing Grice that he, Berlin, had no objection to admitting the dim-witted son of some Tory MP to Oxford. The tone of the letter was very chummy--'Oh you know, Paul, I have no problem with that sort of thing'. I took the letter, and a couple of years later showed it to Richard Wollheim, who suggested that I send it to Henry Hardie, who was then editing Berlin's letters. Alas, I simply forgot to do so, and I'm pretty sure I've got it stuck in a volume of Berlin's selected writings. But perhaps it's for the best, as Hardie may well have chosen not to print it. If by chance you ever know of someone who's writing on Berlin's shady Cold War shenanigans, please let me know and I'll send them a copy of the letter.
You can reach Professor Rapko at: johnrapko-at-yahoo-dot-com
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