The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy's View of History
Categories: History, Literature & Fiction
Philosopher Isaiah Berlin borrows a line from the Greek poet Archilochus, "the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing," to divide thinkers and writers into two types. He applies the idea to Leo Tolstoy, arguing that Tolstoy was a fox by nature who believed in being a hedgehog. The essay explores Tolstoy's view of history in War and Peace.
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- Shane Parrish: “Isaiah Berlin – You don’t need to have read War and Peace for this book to be interesting. In a short 80 pages, it explores two timeless questions: How does one find truth in history? And what do you do when what you observe doesn’t match what you believe?”