Sidney Hook Quotes
The mob that hails the man on horseback, the Caesars and conquering heroes, does not retain its freedoms for long.
Hook, Sidney. The Hero in History: A Study in Limitation and Possibility. John Day Company, 1943, p. 235.
The Fascists almost fulfilled Spengler’s prediction.
Bartolo was the most famous legal expert of his day and for many years thereafter as he died at the age of 44—the height of his career. In Italy, Spain and other nations of Europe there were statutes passed that said if there was no precedent in Roman Law, the writings of Bartolo should dictate the law.
This is the argument—an essence of Fascism—of every dictator from Julius Caesar onward. See {640792} for more of his views on dictators.
Sidney Hook was 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 totalitarianism, both fascism and Marxism–Leninism. A pragmatic social democrat, Hook sometimes cooperated with conservatives, particularly in opposing Marxism–Leninism. After World War II, he argued that members of such groups as the Communist Party USA and Leninists like democratic centralists could ethically be barred from holding the offices of public trust because they called for the violent overthrow of democratic governments.
