Introduction

A 1957 BBC Third Programme talk by Isaiah Berlin on the distinctiveness of the understanding and judgement we deploy in human affairs, especially in the field of politics 'What is it to have good judgement in politics? What is it to be politically wise, or gifted, to be a political genius, or even to be no more than politically competent, to know how to get things done?' These are the opening words of this 1957 BBC Third Programme talk, from the series 'Thinking about Politics', in which the celebrated political theorist Isaiah Berlin discusses the distinctive capacities we deploy in our understanding of human affairs, and especially in assessing political situations and making decisions about how to act politically. The talk is included in Berlin’s collection 'The Sense of Reality: Studies in Ideas and Their History', edited by Henry Hardy (London, 1996: Chatto and Windus; 2nd ed., Princeton, 2019: Princeton University Press).