Campus Units
Philosophy and Religious Studies
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
2005
Journal or Book Title
Knowing, Living, and Being
First Page
345
Last Page
349
Abstract
Taking his cue from a brief comment by an obscure Greek poet, Isaiah Berlin made a famous taxological distinction between intellectual hedgehogs and foxes. Intellectual hedgehogs know "one big thing." They have a key insight that gives them a perspective from which to view and discuss many different problems. Intellectual foxes "know many things." "Foxes" have many different and sometimes unrelated insights, flashes of insight and understanding that come from many different sources. When you meet a hedgehog, it's a fair bet that you can make an informed prediction about what she or he will say about many different subjects. At least, you may be able to do this if you have an understanding of the Big Underlying Insight that unifies the Hedgehog's thought. But when you meet an intellectual fox, it wiU be difficult to predict his or her perspective or opinion in novel domains. Those who have more tools to choose from have more available options, and the reason the fox is hard to catch is that it is harder to predict.
Copyright Owner
Rowman & Littlefield
Copyright Date
2005
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Wolf, Clark, "A Brief Ode to an Intellectual Otter" (2005). Philosophy and Religious Studies Publications. 19.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/philrs_pubs/19
Included in
Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, Other Philosophy Commons, Philosophy of Mind Commons
Comments
This is a chapter pp. 345-394 from Knowing, Living, and Being edited by G. Allen and M. Allshouse (2005), reproduced by permission of Rowman & Littlefield.