Morris Raphael Cohen Quotes

Lastly, literature and philosophy both allow past idols to be resurrected with a frequency which would be truly distressing to a sober scientist.

Literature and philosophy both allow past idols to be resurrected with a frequency which would be truly distressing to a sober scientist.

I think there are different ways of being rigorous, and I am asking people to be as rigorous in their pleasure as in their criticism.

The modern mind tends to be more and more critical and analytical in spirit, hence it must devise for itself an engine of expression which is logically defensible at every point and which tends to correspond to the rigorous spirit of modern science.

Philosophy has to be enquiring; it can take nothing on faith, and its methods are based not on the blind acceptance of authority, but on establishing truths by reason and argument.

We grow up being told about great figures in our society, and as you get older you have to question the stories you've been told and decide if these great figures are indeed as great as you've been told.

To be a real philosopher all that is necessary is to hate some one else's type of thinking.

Any critic is entitled to wrong judgments, of course. But certain lapses of judgment indicate the radical failure of an entire sensibility.

Intellectuals are people who believe that ideas are of more importance than values. That is to say, their own ideas and other people's values.

I like the concept of teenagers and philosophy.

The greater part of critics are parasites, who, if nothing had been written, would find nothing to write.

Academics don't normally manage to alter people's way of thinking through their strength of argument.

Philosophers, as things now stand, are all too fond of offering criticism from on high instead of studying and understanding things from within.

Philosophy likes to keen common sense on the run.

The true function of philosophy is to educate us in the principles of reasoning and not to put an end to further reasoning by the introduction of fixed conclusions.

Let philosophy resolutely aim to be as scientific as possible, but let her not forget her strong kinship with literature.

It is a very great thing to be able to think as you like; but, after all, an important question remains: what you think.

When we reason upon general subjects, one may justly affirm, that our speculations can scarce ever be too fine, provided they be just.

This society is in tough shape when it comes to philosophy.

It seems this is an age of clever critics who keep bewailing the fact that there are no works worthy of criticism.

My profession is I'm a dissident philosopher.

Intellectuals are people who manage the world in their head. They look at life and try to see some kind of truth, and if they cannot find it, they attempt to create it.

I'm a fan of robust debate, and I'm not averse to engaging in the odd ad hominem attack myself.

I enjoy a good reasoned argument. I love the power of logic.

There's a really high emphasis on having good taste in my household and having nuanced opinions. We're always critically analyzing stuff.