Sidney Hook 1902 – 1989
Sidney Hook was an American philosopher, long-time professor at New York University, and one of the most prominent American public intellectuals of the twentieth century. A pupil of John Dewey, he produced his Towards the Understanding of Karl Marx in 1933, the first serious American philosophical study of Marx, and remained throughout his career a defender of an experimental, democratic, and anti-Stalinist socialism that gradually moved him toward Cold War liberalism. His The Hero in History, Heresy, Yes, Conspiracy, No, and the late memoir Out of Step shaped American debates on political agency, civil liberties, and the role of the philosopher in public life.
Key facts
- Nationality
- American
- Era
- Contemporary
- Movements
- Pragmatism, Analytic
Selected quotes
-
Attributed to Sidney Hook:
“Democracy without dissent is tyranny in disguise.”
-
Attributed to Sidney Hook:
“Marx is best understood as a philosopher of practice, not of dogma.”
-
Attributed to Sidney Hook:
“The hero in history is the one whose actions are not merely effects.”
-
Attributed to Sidney Hook:
“A free society is one in which we agree to disagree by reasoning.”
-
Attributed to Sidney Hook:
“What is worth defending must be defended in plain speech.”