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
In contrast to totalitarianism, democracy can face and live with the truth about itself.
It still remains true that as a set of cognitive beliefs about the existence of God in any recognizable sense continuous with the great systems of the past, religious doctrines constitute a speculative hypothesis of an extremely low order of probabil
Where an intelligent grasp of principles requires a knowledge of mathematics, its fundamental ideas should be presented in such a way that students carry away the sense of mathematics not only as a tool for the solution of problems but as a study of types of order, system, and language.
Wisdom is a kind of knowledge. It is knowledge of the nature, career, and consequences of human values.
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.
Life has meaning for anyone who takes an interest in it.
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.
Everyone recognizes a distinction between knowledge and wisdom. . . Wisdom is a kind of knowledge. It is knowledge of the nature, career, and consequences of human values. Since these cannot be separated from the human organism and the social scene, the moral ways of man cannot be understood without knowledge of the ways of things and institutions.
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.