The Faith of a LiberalThe Faith of a Liberal is in part a misnomer, for the volume reflects the sentiments of a classical philosopher, one with intense curiosities about subjects onging from American literary tradition to the history of the physical sciences. The essays on liberalism as such do, however, bracket the volume--giving life to the title. While Cohen shared many of the political persuasions of such other notables as John Dewey and Ralph Barton Perry, it was the distinctive spin that he gave to the iberal outlook that defines his work. His is a viewpoint stamped by the Jewish condition as a search for justice at one end, and the scientific effort at problem solving at the other. Indeed, the effort to link the two is the essence of "The Faith of a Liberal" Whatever the subject matter or figures covered, the dorsal spine of the work is setting forth an agenda for liberalism that would clearly set it apart from the rising tides of left and right authoritarianism. The essay "Why I Am Not a Communist" remains to this day a blistering indictment of the Soviet regime and its Leninist presumptions. He saw the choice between fascism and communism as a "choice between being shot and being hanged." The final essay, "The Future of American Liberalism," remains of wide current importance. For in it he attempts a synthesis of political individualism and economic collectivism. And even if issues have moved in different directions since that point, the emphasis on liberalism as a process rather than as a structure provides a philosophical basis to the liberal imagination that has rarely been equalled. This is a basic text for students of normative theory in politics and social thought in twentieth-century America. |
From inside the book
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... teachers , including Judge Hinton , an authority on the law of evidence with judicial experience of his own , publicly and emphatically declared that Sacco and Vanzetti did not have a fair trial . Mr. Fraenkel has had to restrict his ...
... teacher , scholar , and philosopher was foully condemned , branded as a criminal , and ignominiously deprived of his posi- tion as a professor by a proceeding which had not the barest resemblance to a trial . The reader will find in The ...
... teachers of philosophy throughout the country , and all the educational authorities of the institutions with which Russell had been connected , publicly protested and endorsed his quali- fications . The Board of Higher Education then ...
... teachers shall be graduates of normal schools and hold licenses , which no college professor is ever required to do . Even in the public schools the law allows an alien to teach if he declares his intention to become a citizen ...
... teachers from the usual immigration quotas . To deprive our students of the best available teachers would ob- viously be to impoverish our country intellectually . Only petty ward politicians , ignorant of the essentially international ...
Contents
213 | |
Section 2 | 234 |
Section 3 | 256 |
Section 4 | 273 |
Section 5 | 288 |
Section 6 | 292 |
Section 7 | 296 |
Section 8 | 307 |
Section 11 | 337 |
Section 12 | 365 |
Section 13 | 398 |
Section 14 | 408 |
Section 15 | 417 |
Section 16 | 420 |
Section 17 | 425 |
Section 18 | 430 |
Section 9 | 320 |
Section 10 | 334 |
Section 19 | 437 |