The Steeple Times examines Archilochus’ concept of ‘foxes’ and ‘hedgehogs and applies such to modern day personalities
According to the Greek poet Archilochus: “The fox knows many things, but a hedgehog one important thing.” Isaiah Berlin explored this premise in greater detail in his 1953 essay The Hedgehog and the Fox and identified ‘hedgehogs’ as those that “view the world through the lens of a single defining idea” and ‘foxes’ as those that “draw on a wide variety of experiences and for whom the world cannot be boiled down to a single idea.”
Berlin’s examples of ‘hedgehogs’ numbered Friedrich Nietzsche, Henrik Ibsen and Marcel Proust whilst for ‘foxes’ he chose such individuals as James Joyce, Aleksandr Pushkin and William Shakespeare.
Here, below, we apply the same analysis and chose fifteen modern day figures that are representative of each characteristic and curiously reveal a ‘third way’ that for once isn’t connected to Tony Blair: ‘The Neither Nors’ that sadly dominate our society.
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I’d like a bit of each!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Send Taylor Swift, Alexa Chung and Katie Price Down Under!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sick!!!!!!!!!!!! Yet yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’ll out fox them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great analysis though I’d argue Prince Charles is more of a fox given his forward thinking on the environment, housing, etc. Yes, he’s a selfish individual and he’s a my-way-or-the-highway kind of guy, he is certainly not a middle-ground kind of guy of the school of the pathetic wet wazzock David Cameron.
Another irrelevant article by Steeples — the person who with the dreadful Gina Miller took the great aristocratic gentleman Viscount St Davids from the arms of his loving wife and child and got him locked up completely wrongly. You should be very ashamed of yourselves you are a disgrace.
Oh you mean the abuser? Anna Soubry is suffering the same abuse and threats Gina suffered . You seem to think criminal behavour is acceptable. Both Gina and Anna could Keep the Great in Britain The public will soon learn that Brexit is a disaster waiting to happen.
Another irrelevant article Stacey?
I wonder why you persist in reading and posting on here, if it’s all so irrelevant? St Davids is a racist pig who also offered money to anyone who would kill Gina Miller. You will notice he has dropped his appeal over his sentence. Scum like him really believe they are above the law. If I had my way, he would have got 5 years, just to give him time to think about his actions.
I had never heard of this concept before. Great that you find these things to contrast with the crazy people and wacky homes and cars. I do enjoy checking in here each day. Keep up the good work sir!
Putting Victoria and David Beckham at opposite spectrums highlights the genius of that union but putting the Monster Mugabe, Bungling Bernie Ecclestone and the Megalomaniac Murdoch on the same line in different categories is your cleverest choice I would argue.
The male and female Clintons and male and female Beckhams are the finest contrasting Foxes and Hedgehogs.
It is stupid to try and put people into boxes
And I always USED to think of hedgehogs as rather sweet little creatures……………..(!)