George Crowder
Biographic Data
| ID | 700476 |
|---|---|
| NAME | George Crowder |
| GIVEN NAMES | George |
| FAMILY NAME | Crowder |
| SIGNATURE | CROWDER G |
| AFFILIATIONS | Flinders University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9332-9416 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 32 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 67 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1988 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Isaiah Berlin and International Relations
Isaiah Berlin is a classic name in political theory, but does he have anything to teach us about international relations? In the Cold War he was a realist disciple of the containment doctrine, indeed a more hawkish container than his friend George Kennan, at least until he saw what was happening in Vietnam. In the aftermath of the Cold War, confronted with an outburst of resurgent nationalism, he seemed more like a utopian idealist, dreaming with…
Isaiah Berlin and Feminism
Isaiah Berlin's account of freedom is more useful for feminists than is generally recognized, especially when seen in the context of his value pluralism. Focusing on the work of Nancy Hirschmann and Sharon Krause, I argue, first, that Berlin's concept of negative liberty can be used to resist patriarchy when his notion of the 'conditions' of negative liberty is taken into account. Second, positive liberty is also useful to feminists, but Berlin d…
Populism
How would Isaiah Berlin assess the current wave of authoritarian populism? The question is worth asking both for the light it casts on populism and for what it tells us about Berlin. In several respects, his view of populism is ambivalent: he is surprisingly sympathetic to the Russian populists of the nineteenth century, sharing their concern for genuine democracy and their reservations about elite leadership; he is especially troubled by the pos…
Beyond the Cold War
Isaiah Berlin’s “Two Concepts of Liberty” is clearly set within a Cold War context. However, its framework of ideas is also applicable to a range of twenty-first century social and political issues. First, Berlin’s “inversion thesis” concerning liberty captures a salient pattern of thought in radical Islamism. Second, his understanding of the power of belonging and recognition bears significantly on the rise of authoritarian nationalism and popul…
Value Pluralism vs Realism in the Political Thought of Bernard Williams
Value Pluralism
Discussing the crucifix case, Beata Polanowska-Sygulska concludes that the decision on appeal fits with Berlinian value pluralism, while the initial judgement was ethically monist. Her assumption is that pluralism favours cultural diversity against uniform law. This assumption is too simple and needs to be qualified by several considerations. First, we should be clear that, under pluralism, a moral question may have ‘one right answer’ if this is …
Pluralism, Kant and Progress
Vittorio Hösle’s reply helpfully clarifies his ethical position but raises three questions from a value-pluralist point of view. First, is the Kantian starting point he proposes a monist position that undercuts the value pluralism to which he says he is committed? Second, in what sense does he accept the central pluralist idea of the incommensurability of values? In particular, what kind of constraint does he believe this places on the rank order…
Value Pluralism, Constitutionalism, and Democracy
Jeremy Waldron claims that Isaiah Berlin wrongly neglects, and is hostile to, constitutional and democratic institutions. I argue that although Berlin offers no extended discussion of constitutionalism or democracy, he is not hostile to them. Moreover, the logic of Berlin's value pluralism is strongly supportive of these ideas—for example, it fits well with constitutionalist notions such as the separation of powers and checks and balances. On the…
B erlin, I saiah
Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997) was a British philosopher, historian of ideas, and political theorist. He lectured and published on many subjects, including rival conceptions of liberty, the plurality of values, the nature of history, Enlightenment versus Counter‐Enlightenment, Russian thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, nationalism, and cultural belonging. Today, he is still best known for his lecture, “Two Concepts of Liberty” (1958),…
The Philosophy of History
Vittorio Hösle’s evaluation of the Soviet Revolution on the ground of the philosophy of history can be usefully examined from the value-pluralist perspective of Isaiah Berlin. Although Berlinwould agree with most ofHösle’s judgements on the Revolution, he would do so for very different reasons. Most importantly, Berlin would not accept the teleology that lies at the heart of the philosophy of history. For Berlin, the notion of a human telos to be…
Value Pluralism, Diversity and Liberalism
Why We Need Positive Liberty
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Australian Public Policy
Islam, Islamism, and Post‐Islamism
Over the past twenty years, an influential body of conservative scholarship has focused on the alleged conflict between Islam and the West. Following widespread criticism of this scholarship, a number of commentators have revived its core assumptions to claim that the real conflict is between liberal democracy within Muslim societies and the political ideology of Islamism. In this article we trace the evolution of this scholarship, and suggest th…
Conflicting pluralisms
Value Pluralism and Monotheism
How far can monotheism be reconciled with the pluralism characteristic of modern societies? In this article, I focus on the “value pluralism” of Isaiah Berlin, which I suggest captures a deeper level of plurality than Rawls's more familiar version of pluralism. However, some critics have objected that Berlinian pluralism is too controversial an idea in which to ground liberalism because it is profoundly at odds with the monotheism professed by so…
Justification and Psychology in Liberal Pluralism
It is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to respond to Alex Zakaras's thoughtful and stimulating article. Although Zakaras takes my work (together with that of William Galston) as a critical target, much of what he says is common ground between us. That includes his basic understanding of value pluralism, his evident support for that idea, and his broadly liberal approach to politics. Moreover, I think that he makes a significant contributi…
Thunder versus Enlightenment
Berlin, value pluralism and the common good
Brian Trainor argues that the current hostility of political theorists towards the idea of the common good is in part due to the influence of Isaiah Berlin's concept of `value pluralism', or the incommensurability of basic human values. I agree with Trainor's opposition to the `agonistic' interpretation of pluralism, associated with thinkers like Chantal Mouffe. However, it is not the case that the only alternative to the pluralism— agonism thesi…
Pluralism and Multiculturalism
Two Concepts of Liberal Pluralism
Is the liberal state entitled to intervene in the internal affairs of its nonliberal minorities to promote individual autonomy as a public ideal, or should it tolerate the nonliberal practices of such groups in the name of legitimate diversity? This problem can be fruitfully approached from the perspective of Isaiah Berlin's notion of “value pluralism.” According to William Galston, value pluralism privileges a form of liberalism that is maximall…
Gray and the Politics of Pluralism
John Gray has played a leading role in reinterpreting the political implications of Isaiah Berlin’s notion of value‐pluralism. While Berlin saw pluralism as intimately linked to liberal values and institutions, Gray questions that connection. At most, he argues, pluralism – the idea that human values are irreducibly multiple, potentially conflicting, and sometimes incommensurable – implies an ‘agonistic’ form of liberalism, conscious of its limit…
Value Pluralism and Communitarianism
Two Value-pluralist Arguments for Liberalism
John Gray has argued that Berlinian value pluralism undermines the traditional claims of liberalism to universal authority, rendering it at best no more than one legitimate political form among others. That view is mistaken; value pluralism implies a distinctive case for liberalism as a universal project by way of two principal lines of argument. First, pluralism implies the desirability within a given political arena of a diversity of goods and …
John Gray’s Pluralist Critique of Liberalism
John Gray claims that ‘value pluralism’, or the plurality and incommensurability of basic values, undermines any attempt to make a reasoned case for the superiority of liberalism (or any other ideology) over its rivals. Incommensurable values, he says, cannot be subjected to a rational ranking, except in particular cases, yet liberalism appears to advocate the promotion of certain values rather than others in general terms. I argue that Gray’s cr…
Pluralism and Liberalism
Meta-ethical pluralism, as developed in the work of writers like Isaiah Berlin, is the idea that ethical values cannot be reduced to a single hierarchy or system but are irreducibly multiple. It has often been argued that simply to recognize this fact is to have a reason to favour liberal institutions. On the contrary, the plurality of values in itself gives us no reason to support liberalism, indeed no reason to prefer any particular political a…
Two Concepts of Liberal Pluralism
Is the liberal state entitled to intervene in the internal affairs of its nonliberal minorities to promote individual autonomy as a public ideal, or should it tolerate the nonliberal practices of such groups in the name of legitimate diversity? This problem can be fruitfully approached from the perspective of Isaiah Berlin's notion of “value pluralism.” According to William Galston, value pluralism privileges a form of liberalism that is maximall…
From value pluralism to liberalism
(1998). From value pluralism to liberalism. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy: Vol. 1, Pluralsim and Liberal Neutrality, pp. 2-17
Value Pluralism and Communitarianism
Communications
Berlin, value pluralism and the common good
Brian Trainor argues that the current hostility of political theorists towards the idea of the common good is in part due to the influence of Isaiah Berlin's concept of `value pluralism', or the incommensurability of basic human values. I agree with Trainor's opposition to the `agonistic' interpretation of pluralism, associated with thinkers like Chantal Mouffe. However, it is not the case that the only alternative to the pluralism— agonism thesi…
Gray and the Politics of Pluralism
John Gray has played a leading role in reinterpreting the political implications of Isaiah Berlin’s notion of value‐pluralism. While Berlin saw pluralism as intimately linked to liberal values and institutions, Gray questions that connection. At most, he argues, pluralism – the idea that human values are irreducibly multiple, potentially conflicting, and sometimes incommensurable – implies an ‘agonistic’ form of liberalism, conscious of its limit…
Two Value-pluralist Arguments for Liberalism
John Gray has argued that Berlinian value pluralism undermines the traditional claims of liberalism to universal authority, rendering it at best no more than one legitimate political form among others. That view is mistaken; value pluralism implies a distinctive case for liberalism as a universal project by way of two principal lines of argument. First, pluralism implies the desirability within a given political arena of a diversity of goods and …
Isaiah Berlin and International Relations
Isaiah Berlin is a classic name in political theory, but does he have anything to teach us about international relations? In the Cold War he was a realist disciple of the containment doctrine, indeed a more hawkish container than his friend George Kennan, at least until he saw what was happening in Vietnam. In the aftermath of the Cold War, confronted with an outburst of resurgent nationalism, he seemed more like a utopian idealist, dreaming with…
Populism
How would Isaiah Berlin assess the current wave of authoritarian populism? The question is worth asking both for the light it casts on populism and for what it tells us about Berlin. In several respects, his view of populism is ambivalent: he is surprisingly sympathetic to the Russian populists of the nineteenth century, sharing their concern for genuine democracy and their reservations about elite leadership; he is especially troubled by the pos…
Pluralism and Multiculturalism
Negative and Positive Liberty
Negative and Positive Liberty
Classical anarchism
Pluralism and Liberalism
Meta-ethical pluralism, as developed in the work of writers like Isaiah Berlin, is the idea that ethical values cannot be reduced to a single hierarchy or system but are irreducibly multiple. It has often been argued that simply to recognize this fact is to have a reason to favour liberal institutions. On the contrary, the plurality of values in itself gives us no reason to support liberalism, indeed no reason to prefer any particular political a…
Communications
John Gray’s Pluralist Critique of Liberalism
John Gray claims that ‘value pluralism’, or the plurality and incommensurability of basic values, undermines any attempt to make a reasoned case for the superiority of liberalism (or any other ideology) over its rivals. Incommensurable values, he says, cannot be subjected to a rational ranking, except in particular cases, yet liberalism appears to advocate the promotion of certain values rather than others in general terms. I argue that Gray’s cr…
Justice and Difference
Native Title, Liberalism, and Limits of ‘Difference’
From value pluralism to liberalism
(1998). From value pluralism to liberalism. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy: Vol. 1, Pluralsim and Liberal Neutrality, pp. 2-17
Two Value-pluralist Arguments for Liberalism
John Gray has argued that Berlinian value pluralism undermines the traditional claims of liberalism to universal authority, rendering it at best no more than one legitimate political form among others. That view is mistaken; value pluralism implies a distinctive case for liberalism as a universal project by way of two principal lines of argument. First, pluralism implies the desirability within a given political arena of a diversity of goods and …
Gray and the Politics of Pluralism
John Gray has played a leading role in reinterpreting the political implications of Isaiah Berlin’s notion of value‐pluralism. While Berlin saw pluralism as intimately linked to liberal values and institutions, Gray questions that connection. At most, he argues, pluralism – the idea that human values are irreducibly multiple, potentially conflicting, and sometimes incommensurable – implies an ‘agonistic’ form of liberalism, conscious of its limit…
Value Pluralism and Communitarianism
Two Concepts of Liberal Pluralism
Is the liberal state entitled to intervene in the internal affairs of its nonliberal minorities to promote individual autonomy as a public ideal, or should it tolerate the nonliberal practices of such groups in the name of legitimate diversity? This problem can be fruitfully approached from the perspective of Isaiah Berlin's notion of “value pluralism.” According to William Galston, value pluralism privileges a form of liberalism that is maximall…
Berlin, value pluralism and the common good
Brian Trainor argues that the current hostility of political theorists towards the idea of the common good is in part due to the influence of Isaiah Berlin's concept of `value pluralism', or the incommensurability of basic human values. I agree with Trainor's opposition to the `agonistic' interpretation of pluralism, associated with thinkers like Chantal Mouffe. However, it is not the case that the only alternative to the pluralism— agonism thesi…
Pluralism and Multiculturalism
Thunder versus Enlightenment
Justification and Psychology in Liberal Pluralism
It is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to respond to Alex Zakaras's thoughtful and stimulating article. Although Zakaras takes my work (together with that of William Galston) as a critical target, much of what he says is common ground between us. That includes his basic understanding of value pluralism, his evident support for that idea, and his broadly liberal approach to politics. Moreover, I think that he makes a significant contributi…
Australian Public Policy
Islam, Islamism, and Post‐Islamism
Over the past twenty years, an influential body of conservative scholarship has focused on the alleged conflict between Islam and the West. Following widespread criticism of this scholarship, a number of commentators have revived its core assumptions to claim that the real conflict is between liberal democracy within Muslim societies and the political ideology of Islamism. In this article we trace the evolution of this scholarship, and suggest th…
Conflicting pluralisms
Value Pluralism and Monotheism
How far can monotheism be reconciled with the pluralism characteristic of modern societies? In this article, I focus on the “value pluralism” of Isaiah Berlin, which I suggest captures a deeper level of plurality than Rawls's more familiar version of pluralism. However, some critics have objected that Berlinian pluralism is too controversial an idea in which to ground liberalism because it is profoundly at odds with the monotheism professed by so…
Value Pluralism, Diversity and Liberalism
Why We Need Positive Liberty
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
B erlin, I saiah
Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997) was a British philosopher, historian of ideas, and political theorist. He lectured and published on many subjects, including rival conceptions of liberty, the plurality of values, the nature of history, Enlightenment versus Counter‐Enlightenment, Russian thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, nationalism, and cultural belonging. Today, he is still best known for his lecture, “Two Concepts of Liberty” (1958),…
The Philosophy of History
Vittorio Hösle’s evaluation of the Soviet Revolution on the ground of the philosophy of history can be usefully examined from the value-pluralist perspective of Isaiah Berlin. Although Berlinwould agree with most ofHösle’s judgements on the Revolution, he would do so for very different reasons. Most importantly, Berlin would not accept the teleology that lies at the heart of the philosophy of history. For Berlin, the notion of a human telos to be…
Pluralism, Kant and Progress
Vittorio Hösle’s reply helpfully clarifies his ethical position but raises three questions from a value-pluralist point of view. First, is the Kantian starting point he proposes a monist position that undercuts the value pluralism to which he says he is committed? Second, in what sense does he accept the central pluralist idea of the incommensurability of values? In particular, what kind of constraint does he believe this places on the rank order…
Political science (32 works) · Sociology (30 works) · Law (29 works) · Philosophy (26 works) · Epistemology (25 works) · Politics (24 works) · Law (20 works) · Philosophy (19 works) · Political Philosophy and Ethics (18 works) · Pluralism (philosophy (16 works)