Sidney Hook
Sidney Hook
Sidney Hookwas an American philosopher of the Pragmatist school known for his contributions to the philosophy of history, the philosophy of education, political theory, and ethics. After embracing Communism in his youth, Hook was later known for his criticisms of fascism and Marxism–Leninism. A pragmatic social democrat, Hook sometimes cooperated with conservatives, particularly in opposing Communism. After World War II, he argued that members of such groups as the Communist Party USA and other Leninist conspiracies could ethically be barred...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth20 December 1902
CountryUnited States of America
If one shoots at a king, one must not miss.
Those who say that life is worth living at any cost have already written an epitaph of infamy, for there is no cause and no person that they will not betray to stay alive.
The mob that hails the man on horseback, the Caesars and conquering heroes, does not retain its freedoms for long.
Russell's prose has been compared by T.S. Eliot to that of David Hume's. I would rank it higher, for it had more color, juice, and humor. But to be lucid, exciting and profound in the main body of one's work is a combination of virtues given to few philosophers. Bertrand Russell has achieved immortality by his philosophical writings.
Philosophy, most broadly viewed, is the critical survey of existence from the standpoint of value.
[A]nti-Semitism was rife in almost all varieties of socialism.
Idealism, alas, does not protect one from ignorance, dogmatism, and foolishness.
No one who accepts the sovereignty of truth can be a foot soldier in a party or movement. He will always find himself out of step.
Stupidity is sometimes the greatest of historical forces.
Religious freedom in an open society has the best prospects of flourishing to the extent that it expresses itself as freedom of religious inquiry.
Religious tolerance has developed more as a consequence of the impotence of religions to impose their dogmas on each other than as a consequence of spiritual humility in the quest for understanding first and last things.
One of the central assumptions of the concept of democracy, perhaps its most central assumption, is that by and large human beings are better judges of their own interests.... The operating maxim of the democratic ideology is, "Whoever wears the shoe knows best where it pinches.
Noam Chomsky skittles and skithers all over the political landscape to distract the reader’s attention from the plain truth.
A liberal education will impart an awareness of the amazing and precious complexity of human relationships. Since those relationships are violated more often out of insensitiveness than out of deliberate intent, whatever increases sensitiveness of perception and understanding humanizes life.