The Hedgehog and the Fox
E80218
The Hedgehog and the Fox is a famous 1953 essay by Isaiah Berlin that contrasts two fundamental types of thinkers through the metaphor of the single-minded hedgehog and the versatile fox, using Tolstoy as its central case study.
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
essay
→
philosophical essay → |
| analyzesWork |
War and Peace
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|
| author |
Isaiah Berlin
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|
| basedOn |
an aphorism by Archilochus
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|
| centralMetaphor |
fox
→
hedgehog → |
| containsCharacterizationOf |
fox as pursuing many ends
→
hedgehog as focused on one big idea → |
| countryOfOrigin |
United Kingdom
→
|
| discusses |
limits of historical explanation
→
moral and intellectual temperament of Tolstoy → role of individuals in history → |
| firstPublishedAs |
separate monograph
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|
| focusesOn |
Tolstoy's intellectual temperament
→
Tolstoy's view of history → |
| genre |
essay
→
intellectual history → literary criticism → |
| hasFormat |
book-length essay
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|
| hasPageCountApprox |
100
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|
| hasReception |
widely cited in humanities and social sciences
→
|
| influenced |
leadership studies
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literary studies → management theory → political theory → popular discourse on expertise → |
| language |
English
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|
| laterIncludedIn |
collections of Isaiah Berlin's essays
→
|
| mainConcept |
fox thinkers
→
hedgehog thinkers → |
| notableFor |
distinction between hedgehog and fox thinkers
→
interpretation of Tolstoy as a fox who wanted to be a hedgehog → |
| philosophicalPositionAssociated |
value pluralism
→
|
| publicationYear |
1953
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|
| publisher |
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
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|
| relatedConcept |
intellectual style typology
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|
| relatedWorkByAuthor |
Four Essays on Liberty
→
Russian Thinkers → |
| setInContextOf |
19th-century intellectual history
→
Russian literature → |
| subject |
Leo Tolstoy
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|
| theme |
monism versus pluralism
→
philosophy of history → types of thinkers → unity versus plurality of vision → |
| titleOrigin |
The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing
→
|
Referenced by (2)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Isaiah Berlin
→
|
notableWork |
|
Russian Thinkers
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|
relatedWorkByAuthor |