Enlightenment versus Counter-Enlightenment: Isaiah Berlin's account on the sciences and the humanities

Isaiah Berlin, one of the most renowned liberal intellectuals of the twentieth century, dedicated his life to the study of ideas, demonstrating how their power influenced and changed world history. A defender of value pluralism, Berlin was against a priori, absolute truths and axiomatic premises safeguarded by the empiricist philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This being said, in this paper I intend to give account of Isaiah Berlin’s ideas in regards to the divorce between the sciences and the humanities, which started with the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries’ champions of reason whose sole purpose was ‘to bring everything before the bar of reason’. Berlin gives us a very acute and precise lesson on how this growing tension and great divorce became clear since the seventeenth century up to the present day. An admirer of the Counter-Enlightenment philosophers – Vico, Herder and Hamann – Berlin denies the existence of a perfect world so much sought by the Enlightenment philosophes. This dichotomy will therefore be highlighted as a means to present Berlin’s position, that of agonistic liberalism and value-pluralism, always struggling for the importance of both the sciences and the humanities

Living the British dream? Immigration, identity and the idea of citizenship in 21st century Britain

Based on the assumption that everyone should have the opportunity to live the British dream, Michael Howard’s 2005 Conservative Manifesto outlines a sense of nationhood, admiring excellence and encouraging ambition, whatever the background or colour of people’s skin. Would this be possible? Can’t we perceive in it a utopian desire to create a monoculture society? Would the same chances be given to everyone? Nonetheless, one of the main projects of the Conservative party is to set a limit on immigration in Britain. This paper’s main purpose is to reflect upon the causes and consequences of immigration in Britain and what the government intends to do to integrate multicultural and multiethnic societies in the mainstream culture. Special focus will be put on a specific community in Britain: the Pakistanis. The central concern of this paper is basically to highlight similarities and differences in the concept and exercise of citizenship in Britain.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi

Liberal imperialism and the origins of Israel: the position of Isaiah Berlin

Isaiah Berlin, a British philosopher and historian of ideas,positioaed in favour oftfae creation ofthe State of Israel in 1948. Himself a Russian Jew, yet confessedly an anglophile, Berlin accounted for the advantages for the Jews ofhaving a place which they could call home. Claiming that Jews had no geography, only history, Berlm saw fhe creation of Israel as the emancipation of Jewish slavery and as the chance for the Jews to have their own nation, with coinmon national and cultural pattems, despite the difficulties it implied. Even though the state of Israel emerged with attributes quite different from those which anyone had previously mtended, there were by the time of its formation, several positions which were anticipated by the Jewish Diaspora in the world. On the one side, there were the Westem Jews and on the other the Bastem European Jews.Based on Berlia's own defence of Israel, it is this paper's main objective to analyse these distinct positions, focusing mainly on the British liberal conception of Israel, in its attempts to establish a civilising mission in the rather barbarous and undeveloped communities of the East

Transformations of citizenship: politics of membership in Britain

Dating back from the French revolution, citizenship means a status that confers entitlements and benefits as well as obligations towards the state. Being a citizen is the legal state requirement to become part of the nation. National identity means inclusiveness and identifying oneself with a collective whole. Nonetheless, one can argue that concept has somehow transformed itself in its basic core. What is now the status of citizenship, in a world of gradually more deterritorialised politics? How is citizenship being reconfigured under contemporary conditions? Is postnational cosmopolitan solidarity, so proclaimed nowadays, really possible to attain? As a consequence of the world’s latest terrorist attacks, both in London and in Madrid, European governments are instigating a more controlled defence of the national territory. Therefore, new immigration laws are created within this new social and political context. This paper’s main purpose is to reflect on the politics of membership in Britain and the steps immigrants and ethnic minorities have to take in their journey to citizenship. Special emphasis will thus be put on the law and system of control which governs immigration and asylum in the UK. We will also make reference to the politics of membership carried on in other European countries, such as Portugal, Spain and France, in order to try to understand and compare the theory and practice of citizenship in different European countries

Isaiah Berlin and the role of education: from Riga to Oxford

Being the result of a lecture to Latvian students in May 2011, this article aims at introducing Isaiah Berlin, who was born in Riga in 1909. The focus will be on the man and the intellectual, how his life experience (his childhood in Russia and the fact that he was an emigrant in Britain) affected his intellectual route, and how he became a defender of liberalism and value-pluralism. Furthermore, special attention will also be given to Berlin’s opinions on Education, the way he regarded the educational problems of his time and how education should be enhanced in order to escape from obscurantism and dogmatism towards a freer intellectual life and also to develop capacities for thought and feeling. Berlin believed education, and particularly university education, could be a powerful means to achieve these ends

On India de John Stuart Mill: barbárie versus civilização e a política de não intervenção

A defender of free-trade and an opponent of monopoly, John Stuart Mill advocated direct rule by the British in India and intended, like his father, to promote good and useful government. In his belief, the Indian native states needed someone who could guide them towards civilization. However, by the mid 1840s, Mill changed to a more moderate position. He thus defended non-intervention and indirect rule by the British in India. This paper’s main aim is therefore to assess Mill’s views on Indian society and on the nature and progress of British rule in India. Furthermore, we intend to highlight some contradictions on Mill’s defence of liberty in India and of his political ideas namely his liberal imperialism. John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) afigura-se um dos representantes máximos do liberalismo e um dos pensadores mais influentes do século XIX. Defendendo uma perspectiva política liberal da sociedade e assumindo-se como um utilitarista (Mill, Autobiography 181), Mill acreditava na importância fundamental da liberdade individual para o alcance da felicidade de cada um e para o progresso do conhecimento humano. Mill guiava-se igualmente por um espírito empirista, influenciado por Locke (1632-1704) e Hume (1711-1776), na prossecução da descoberta das verdades (Mill Autobiography 233). Contudo, distanciava-se do racionalismo calculista e desprovido de emoções em que o pai, James Mill (1773-1836), o educara. Todavia, deve ao pai o facto de lhe ter incutido valores morais como a justiça, a moderação, a perseverança, a preocupação com o bem público (Mill, Autobiography 49), que iriam guiá-lo ao longo da sua vida. Além disso, a possibilidade ilimitada do progresso da condição intelectual e moral da humanidade através da educação constitui talvez a doutrina mais importante herdada de seu pai e que Mill aplicou sempre nas suas teorias políticas e filosóficas (Mill, Autobiography 111).Fundação para a Ciência e para a Tecnologi

Cosmopolitanism and patriotism: questions of identity, membership and belonging

Must we choose between cosmopolitanism and patriotism or, as A. Kwame Appiah defends, can we be cosmopolitan patriots or rooted cosmopolitans? This paper’s main purpose is to reflect upon the similarities and differences of cosmopolitanism and patriotism, focussing on the problems of world citizenship and accounting for the role of local identities, nowadays

John Stuart Mill on education and progress

John Stuart Mill, a supporter of state provision of popular and secular education at a national scale in Victorian England, believed education was a means to foster human mind development, accounting also for the future progress of mankind. Unlike other utilitarian thinkers, like Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill believed that the state, in specific circumstances, should supervise education, therefore guaranteeing its quality and not only quantity. The reforms in popular and general education throughout the nineteenth century accompanied the discussion of what should be included in the curriculum of school or university studies, and of the terms defining compulsory attendance. In this context, this paper intends to explore Mill’s position on education and progress in line with his approach to liberalism and to the problems of his time. We will argue that his concept of liberal education transcended formal instruction in schools. Instead, it should continuously strive for the moral and mental well-being of humankind. By largely delving into periodicals and other writings produced during the Victorian era, we shall describe the changes popular education suffered under the sway of political reform and utilitarianism, bearing witness to the spirit of the age and to Mill’s approach to education.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Irregular plurals: an ingenious way of teaching grammar

The main purpose of our paper is to focus on the intrinsic nature of irregular plurals in order to understand the evolution of English throughout the centuries. We intend to show how teaching and learning the irregular plurals can be not only of the utmost importance, but also good fun. By presenting creative activities, we wish to make teachers aware of these issues in the teaching of English as a foreign language