Berlin was a Latvian born, 20^th century Jewish polymath, who resided in England, with skills spanning philosophy, naturalism and writing.  He was both a defender and critic of the Enlightenment.  He discussed ‘Monism’ or the idea that one answer existed for a question.  Berlin believed that Monism was the default cultural belief within Western civilisation, from Plato to modern philosophies.  The Enlightenment for instance, offers up ‘reason’ (however defined), to be the one true guiding principle in life.  But is this true?

Berlin wrote that Monism has 3 components: all questions have one answer, there is a method to determine the answer and the answers are all compatible with each other (or make sense in a larger perspective or view).  Berlin discusses individuals in the context of Monism, citing for example that Plato is a very good ‘Monist’ whilst Machiavelli is not.  This is a heuristic or ordering device for Berlin.  Authors and philosophers can be categorised using ‘Monist’ as a classifier.  Eras as well can be identified as patterns or trends against a Monist standard. 

Berlin criticises the derivative philosophies of The Enlightenment, ‘positivism’ and phenomenalism (physical objects are just things observed by sensory stimuli and are not necessarily real or existing), because both are reductive (or can be reduced to an essence) and they equate meaning with ‘truth’.  Berlin objected that the Enlightenment was often irreducible and had little connection to physical or objective reality.  The progenitors of the Enlightenment, namely, Platonism, Aristotelianism, Scholasticism, Cartesianism, Lockean and Humean forms of empiricism, Kantianism, and Hegelianism all reflect Monist tendency and end in the Enlightenment and its ‘positivist’ philosophy.  

Given human nature, Berlin was convinced that Monism led to a patriarchal political structure, with strictures on human freedom and expression.  These ideas are expressed in ‘The Decline of Utopian Ideas in the West’.  In this work Berlin outlines his view that the Enlightenment Monist theology would lead to a decline in personal liberty, as one form of governance is exalted above all others.  This is basically, ‘what is right for me is right for you’, or in the modern newspeak, ‘what is right for everyone must be right for you’.  In the modern world, if the elite or experts, simply ‘know’ what is best, and you do not, they have the right to coerce your compliance, because it is in everyone’s ‘best interest’ to do so.  This is a materialist-Darwinian concept, in which humans are not individuals, and do not have God-given rights, but are instead, simply material to be shaped and formed

Berlin writes, “In this way, the rationalist argument, with its assumption of the single true solution, has led by steps which, if not logically valid, are historically and psychologically intelligible from an ethical doctrine of individual responsibility and individual self-perfection to an authoritarian State obedient to the directives of an elite of Platonic guardians.”

This is a prescient point.  Berlin is spot on.

In the modern world, ‘Science’ is now the elite guardian of all.  Only ‘The Science’ can be followed, and there is ‘One’ answer.  This Monism is reflected in Corona, Climate ‘change’, Gender fluidity, White racism, and public policy run by ‘experts’, ‘scientists’, and ‘academics who are specialised in the subject area’.  There is no possibility of dissent.  People are censored, pilloried, fired, bullied, threatened and impugned if they declare ideas or positions contrary to those of the Monist elite.  Freedom, individuality, God-given rights and common sense are now sacrificed to political theology and the Enlightenment credo that there is only ‘One’ answer.