Sir Isaiah Berlin was one of the most formidable defenders of philosophical liberalism and distinguished practitioners of the history of ideas. Renowned all over the world for his analysis of ideologies which have influenced or transformed society, Berlin discusses, in these eight essays, the meaning and significance of utopianism, cultural history, relativism, Fascism, romanticism, nationalism, and explores the conditions which have allowed these ideals to flourish and those which have threatened them. A staunch advocate of pluralism during a century in which totalitarians and utopians claimed title to the one, single truth, Berlin questions the notion that there can be one final answer to organizing human society which would not lead to bloodshed, coercion, and deprivation of liberty. In line with his political and philosophical positions, these essays are bound together by a firm rejection of tidy answers to the great social and political problems of the twentieth-century which continue to loom so largely today.

以赛亚·伯林(1909-1997)，英国哲学家和政治思想史家，20世纪最著名的自由主义知识分子之一。主要著作有《卡尔·马克思》(1939)、《自由四论》(1969，后扩充为《自由论》)、《维柯与赫尔德》(1976)、《俄国思想家》(1978)、《概念与范畴》(1978)、《反潮流》(1979)、《个人印象》(1980)、《扭曲的人性之材》(1990)、《现实感》(1997)等。