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Four Essays on Liberty (Oxford University Press, 1969): Two Concepts of Liberty (1958)

Isaiah Berlin · c. 1958–1969

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  1. Everything is what it is: liberty is liberty, not equality or fairness or justice or culture, or human happiness or a quiet conscience.
  2. The necessity of choosing between absolute claims is then an inescapable characteristic of the human condition.
  3. Political liberty in this sense is simply the area within which a man can act unobstructed by others.
  4. Coercion implies the deliberate interference of other human beings within the area in which I could otherwise act.

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