
Two Enemies of the Enlightenment: 3 – Joseph de Maistre
Isaiah Berlin
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I Think He Is a Protothasist
In short, fwe only read the encyclopaedis, wee ought to be unable to explain the phenomena of the fais. If we read the master we can at least explain it, whatever our attitude towards it might be. His merits are that he is genuinely capable of seeing through hollow abstractions and understands the role which myths and the irrational play in human life. He contradicts himself a thousand times. They cannot be written, because whatever is written perishes. And thus the english constitution is the best, because ithas not been wrtten down. Everything which is written down in laws and enactments must perish because tit is done by human intelligence,. By people who use feeble categories of
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