story about hegehog nd the fox
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Answer:
The Fox and the Hedgehog
The Fox and the Hedgehog
In his famous essay “The Hedgehog and the Fox,” Isaiah Berlin divided the world into
hedgehogs and foxes, based upon an ancient Greek parable:
“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” The fox is a cunning
creature, able to devise a myriad of complex strategies for sneak attacks upon the
hedgehog. Day in and day out, the fox circles around the hedgehog’s den, waiting for the
perfect moment to pounce. Fast, sleek, beautiful, fleet of foot, and crafty—the fox looks like
the sure winner.
The hedgehog, on the other hand, is a dowdier creature, looking like a genetic mix-up
between a porcupine and a small armadillo. He waddles along, going about his simple day,
searching for lunch and taking care of his home.
The fox waits in cunning silence at the juncture in the trail. The hedgehog, minding his own
business, wanders right into the path of the fox. “Aha, I’ve got you now!” thinks the fox. He
leaps out, bounding across the ground, lightning fast. The little hedgehog, sensing danger,
looks up and thinks, “Here we go again. Will he ever learn?” Rolling up into a perfect little
ball, the hedgehog becomes a sphere of sharp spikes, pointing outward in all directions.
The fox, bounding toward his prey, sees the hedgehog defense and calls off the attack.
Retreating back to the forest, the fox begins to calculate a new line of attack. Each day,
some version of this battle between the hedgehog and the fox takes place, and despite the
greater cunning of the fox, the hedgehog always wins.
Berlin extrapolated from this little parable to divide people into two basic groups: foxes and
hedgehogs. Foxes pursue many ends at the same time and see the world in all its
complexity. They are “scattered or diffused, moving on many levels,” says Berlin, never
integrating their thinking into one overall concept or unifying vision. Hedgehogs, on the
other hand, simplify a complex world into a single organizing idea, a basic principle or
concept that unifies and guides everything. It doesn’t matter how complex the world, a
hedgehog reduces all challenges and dilemmas to simple—indeed almost simplistic—
hedgehog ideas. For a hedgehog, anything that does not somehow relate to the hedgehog
idea holds no relevance.
Princeton professor Marvin Bressler pointed out the power of the hedgehog during one of
our long conversations: “You want to know what separates those who make the biggest
impact from all the others who are just as smart? They’re hedgehogs.”
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