From: Commonweal | Date: June 2, 1995| Author: O'Brien, Dennis | COPYRIGHT 1995 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Isaiah Berlin shrewdly divided deep thinkers into two basic categories: hedgehogs and foxes. The hedgehog (who rolls himself in a ball when in doubt) knows one BIG thing; the fox knows many (different) things. Despite similar titles, we have here one hedgehog book and one foxy book. Hedgehogs first.

Hedgehogs, knowing something BIG, are the grandest of philosophers: Plato, Spinoza, Nietzsche. The certain mark of the hedgehog is "things are not as they seem." The world, after...