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Isaiah Berlin, "Politics and Philosophy," The Pursuit of Ideals (New York:The New York Review of Books, 1988).

 

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Translation:

What is clear is that values can clash. Values may easily clash within the breast of a single individual. And it does not follow that some must be true and others false...The notion of the perfect whole, the ultimate solution in which all good things coexist seems to me not merely unobtainable- that is a truism- but conceptually incoherent. Some along the great goods cannot live together. That is a conceptual truth. We are doomed to choose, and every choice may entail an irreparable loss.

Suggested Discussion Questions:

1. Can you think of an instance in your life where you felt that values clashed?
2. How did you know which value to choose?
3. Can you think of a difficult situation in which you felt like there were two truths and you were forced to pick one? How did you choose?

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Isaiah Berlin, "Politics and Philosophy," The Pursuit of Ideals (New York:The New York Review of Books, 1988).

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