The Isaiah Berlin Lecture

The 2014 Isaiah Berlin lecture was given by highly respected philosopher and crossbench peer, Baroness Onora O’Neill. The Lecture was introduced by the President of Wolfson College, Dame Hermione Lee. Baroness O’Neill’s lecture addressed a variety of issues surrounding the difficult philosophical subject of human rights: how can we overcome the conflicts between different cultural values and the lexicon of human rights that has now entered the international legal architecture? How can we strike a fair balance between the competing claims of often contradictory rights e.g. how can we balance the right to freedom of expression with the prohibition on racial hatred? She began her lecture by addressing the arguments Sir Isaiah Berlin had put forwards regarding the value conflicts that plaque the world; he held that the incompatibility of some values are at the base of all social disputes. Baroness O’Neill spoke fondly about her memories of Sir Isaiah, including meeting him when she was 15, and her father and his