THE GRAYING OF BERLIN

In Isaiah Berlin,John Gray interprets Berlin as having made value plur alism the basis of an anti-rationalist, ''agonistic'' liberalism. Gray argues that Berlin's value pluralism actually stands in;tension with his liberalism, and that a whole-hearted affirmation of value pluralis m should have led him to reject the claim that liberal institutions ar e morally superior. But Berlin's pluralism is more moderate than that ascribed to him by Gray in that it does not allow for diminishing the value of liberty beyond a certain point. This version of pluralism is move compatible with the objectivity Gray claims for pluralism than is his own version.