From Nikhil Krishnan’s (excellent) A Terribly Serious Adventure: Philosophy at Oxford 1900-60 pg 89:
‘Temperamentally’, Berlin later said, ‘some people like mending the wall and some people like knocking holes in it. Austin was … a hole-knocker, and Freddie was a mender”.
What I particularly about this is that it opens up four categories, each with a distinct intellectual style:
This is a quick taxonomy produced with Claude 3.5 about the intellectual style for each of these categories:
- Fox Menders:
- Versatile thinkers who use their broad knowledge to reinforce and improve existing systems
- Tend to see nuances and apply diverse ideas to strengthen established frameworks
- Might be seen as reformers who work within the system, using varied approaches
- Hedgehog Menders:
- Focused intellectuals who deeply understand and reinforce a central idea or system
- Use their specialized knowledge to fortify and expand upon core principles
- Often seen as traditionalists or experts who refine and perfect established theories
- Fox Knockers:
- Multidisciplinary thinkers who challenge established ideas from various angles
- Use their wide-ranging knowledge to identify weaknesses in different systems
- Often innovators or critics who draw connections between disparate fields to question norms
- Hedgehog Knockers:
- Focused intellectuals who use their deep understanding of a single idea to challenge broader systems
- Apply their specialized knowledge to expose flaws in established thinking
- Might be seen as revolutionaries or iconoclasts who overturn paradigms based on a central insight
Mark Carrigan 