The first and the last / by Isaiah Berlin ; introduced by Henry Hardy ; tributes by Noel Annan ... [and others].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Berlin, Isaiah, 1909-1997.

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Annan, Noel Gilroy Annan, Baron, 1916-2000.

Standardized Title:

Purpose justifies the ways

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Berlin, Isaiah, 1909-1997.

Berlin, Isaiah.

Soviet Union--History--Revolution, 1917-1921--Personal narratives.

Soviet Union.

History.

Genre:

Personal narratives.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

141 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : New York Review of Books, 1999.

Summary:

The first of the two pieces by Isaiah Berlin is a short story written in 1922 at the age of 12 in English just one year steer his family immigrated to London from St. Petersburg. The story is important because it points forward to Berlin's repeated later insistence in his writing and teaching that one can never justify present suffering as a route to some future state of bliss.

The second was written in 1996. A professor of philosophy at Wuhan University in China wrote and asked Sir Isaiah to provide a summary of his ideas for translation into Chinese. The piece would be included in a volume intended to introduce Chinese philosophers and students of philosophy to Anglo-American philosophy, hitherto largely unavailable in Chinese. Berlin agreed to the project because he felt this new audience in China was important. This piece forms the bulk of the book.

Contents:

The purpose justifies the ways

My intellectual path.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Local Notes:

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy has dustjacket retained.

Contains:

Berlin, Isaiah, 1909-1997. My intellectual path.

ISBN:

0940322099

OCLC:

41176676