Joseph Maistre’s (1753-1821) Prophecy According to Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997)

Abstract

In a strange twist of fate, Joseph de Maistre’s appeal affected Isaiah Berlin. The article focuses on this domain of interest and on its reasons. About this domain, the essay aims to show the Berlinian interpretation of Maistre’s thought through his exploratory and provisional essays; about its reasons, it discloses a meaningful link between counter-Enlightenment and totalitarianism. This link explains his role as an ultra-modern prophet and why 20th-century interpreters show an interest (not only a historical one) in him. His anthropology and his idea of history shed light on totalitarianism: Carl Schmitt calls him to give evidence to his concept of sovereignty, and Isaiah Berlin calls him to elucidate the human passion for self-sacrifice in (totalitarian) society. However, the history of totalitarianism makes understanding Maistre’s thought core difficult. Decisionism (Schmitt) and irrationalism (Berlin) are maybe enough to account for totalitarianism, but they are not enough to account for Maistre’s political theology.