Morris Raphael Cohen Quotes
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Wisdom is not to be obtained from textbooks, but must be coined out of human experience in the flame of life.
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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.
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The business of the philosopher is well done if he succeeds in raising genuine doubt.
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A creative element is surely present in all great systems, and it does not seem possible that all sympathy or fundamental attitudes of will can be entirely eliminated from any human philosophy.
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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.
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Small groups or communities may be far more oppressive to the individual than larger ones. Men are in many ways freer in large cities than in small villages.
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Law must be viewed as a formless mass of isolated decisions.
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If religion cannot restrain evil, it cannot claim effective power for good.
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Cruel persecutions and intolerance are not accidents, but grow out of the very essence of religion, namely, its absolute claims.
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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.