It has already become a good tradition to organise an annual Isaiah Berlin Day in Riga on the occasion of his birthday on June 6.
This year the Isaiah Berlin Day in Riga took place on June 4 in the Column Hall of the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation gathering more than 100 guests. All of the events were broadcasted live on the major news internet portal www.delfi.lv.
Isaiah Berlin is a prominent liberal thinker and historian of ideas, whose ideas on freedom and value pluralism we wish to promote in Latvia. We believe that individual freedom and value pluralism are essential elements of a democratic society and culture.
Isaiah Berlin Day in Riga 2015 featured three events:
A Baltic youth debate "This house favors joint EU policy" in cooperation with Latvian Debate Association "Quo Tu Domā". Participants: Tonis Kuusk (Estonia), Carl-Martin Keerberg (Estonia), Helmuts Caune (Latvia), Līva Andersone (Latvia), Edmunds Cepurītis (Latvia)
An episode of BBC2's The Late Show about Isaiah Berlin, with Berlin interviewed by Michael Ignatieff, not about his life, but about nationalism and the fall of Soviet Communism in 1991. David Herman, producer of the BBC2's The Late Shoe, made introductory remarks.
The seventh annual Isaiah Berlin Memorial Lecture "Isaiah Berlin on Human Nature". Lecturer: Henry Hardy, editor of the writings of Isaiah Berlin.
Henry Hardy’s most significant contribution to scholarship has been his editing of the writings of Isaiah Berlin. When Hardy met Berlin in 1972, Berlin was at the height of his fame as an intellectual figure; but he was viewed as not having written very much, and many doubted if he would leave a lasting contribution to scholarship beyond a small number of scattered essays. Hardy’s research revealed that Berlin had published well over 150 pieces by the late 1970s.
His subsequent editing of Berlin’s essays made Berlin’s most important work widely available. In 1990 Hardy abandoned his career in publishing to work full-time on Berlin’s unpublished essays, lectures, and correspondence. He has thus far (co-)edited 17 volumes of Berlin’s writings (plus new editions of 10 of these volumes), as well as a 4-volume edition of Berlin’s letters whose last volume will be published later this year, and 3 books about Berlin.
