Morris Raphael Cohen Quotes

Morris Raphael Cohen — Russian Philosopher born on July 25, 1880, died on January 28, 1947

Morris Raphael Cohen was an American philosopher, lawyer, and legal scholar who united pragmatism with logical positivism and linguistic analysis. He was father to Felix S. Cohen and Leonora Cohen Rosenfield... (wikipedia)

It has generally been assumed that of two opposing systems of philosophy, e.g., realism and idealism, one only can be true and one must be false; and so philosophers have been hopelessly divided on the question, which is the true one.

Liberalism, on the other hand, regards life as an adventure in which we must take risks in new situations, in which there is no guarantee that the new will always be the good or the true, in which progress is a precarious achievement rather than inevitability.

Conservatism clings to what has been established, fearing that, once we begin to question the beliefs that we have inherited, all the values of life will be destroyed.

Cruel persecutions and intolerance are not accidents, but grow out of the very essence of religion, namely, its absolute claims.

Liberalism is an attitude rather than a set of dogmas - an attitude that insists upon questioning all plausible and self-evident propositions, seeking not to reject them but to find out what evidence there is to support them rather than their possible alternatives.

Morris Raphael Cohen Quotes

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