The twelfth Isaiah Berlin Day will take place at the National Library of Latvia in Riga on June 17th, 2022. The central event of the day will be the Isaiah Berlin Memorial Lecture, delivered by the Israeli academic and former politician Yuli Tamir.
The Isaiah Berlin Day in Riga is traditionally dedicated to the eminent liberal philosopher Isaiah Berlin to commemorate his birth in Riga in 1909. This year, it will happen for the twelfth time, and for the first time since 2018 will take place at a physical location instead of being an online event.
Yuli Tamir is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Oxford and the President of Beit Berl College in Israel. During her career in politics, she has been a member of the Knesset, as well as Minister of Immigrant Absorption and Education. She wrote her PhD at Oxford under the supervision of Berlin himself. Her academic interests revolve around the ideological connection between nationalism and liberalism, and the possibility of both coexisting peacefully. She addresses these topics in both her most famous book “Liberal Nationalism” (1993) and the newest one – “Why Nationalism” (2019). Her lecture, titled "Uncertainty and Freedom", will begin at 6 p.m. at the Ziedonis Hall of the Library.
The Humanities and Social Sciences
Reading Room, on the 2nd floor of the Library, is already the home of the
Isaiah Berlin Centre, a joint project of the National Library and the Isaiah
Berlin Society. Before the lecture, at 4 p.m., a small ceremony will take place on the 2nd floor to rename the Reading Room after Isaiah Berlin.
Then, before the lecture at 5 p.m. in the Ziedonis Hall guests will have the opportunity to view the 1981 interview with Isaiah Berlin from the BBC series “The Levin Interview”. In the interview, the British journalist Bernard Levin talks to Isaiah Berlin about his childhood, his witnessing the 1915 Russian revolution in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg), his family’s move to London, his integration into British society and the influence these events had on his beliefs and ideas.
Attendance
of the events is free by showing the free ticket accessible here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jesajas-berlina-diena-riga-2022-tickets-353631369947
The Isaiah Berlin Day in Riga is
organized by the Isaiah Berlin Society and the National Library of Latvia.
Programme of the Isaiah Berlin
Day 2022 on June 17th:
16:00
2nd floor of the Library
Ceremonial renaming of the
Humanities and Social Sciences Reading Room after Sir Isaiah Berlin
(Please bear in mind that the 2nd
floor is accessible only with a valid library reading card or guest card!)
17.00
Ziedonis Hall
The 1981 interview with Isaiah Berlin from the BBC series
“The Levin Interview”
18:00
Ziedonis Hall
Isaiah Berlin Memorial Lecture "Uncertainty and Freedom" delivered by Yuli Tamir
