His gift for observation allowed him to see the infinite, "multiform" diversity of life and individual experience in unparalleled detail.
He desperately sought a single, all-embracing explanation for history and human existence, leading him to reject his own "fox-like" artistic insights in favor of a rigid moral system in his later life. The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy's...
Berlin uses this metaphor to divide thinkers into two categories: His gift for observation allowed him to see
Pursue many ends , often unrelated or even contradictory, viewing the world through a variety of lenses rather than a single system (e.g., Shakespeare, Aristotle, Goethe). Tolstoy’s Paradox often unrelated or even contradictory
Relate everything to a single, central vision or universal organizing principle (e.g., Plato, Dante, Dostoevsky).