22+ Morris Raphael Cohen Quotes On Education, World And Philosophical Analysis

Morris Raphael Cohen was a Russian-born American philosopher and legal scholar. He was an important figure in the development of pragmatism and is known for his work on the philosophy of law and his defense of liberalism. He was a professor at the City College of New York from 1902 until his death in 1947. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Morris Raphael Cohen on love, education, life.

Top 10 Morris Raphael Cohen Quotes

1. 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.
2. Cruel persecutions and intolerance are not accidents, but grow out of the very essence of religion, namely, its absolute claims.
3. Law must be viewed as a formless mass of isolated decisions.
4. 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.
5. Let philosophy resolutely aim to be as scientific as possible, but let her not forget her strong kinship with literature.
6. 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.
7. The picture which the philosopher draws of the world is surely not one in which every stroke is necessitated by pure logic.
8. Wisdom is not to be obtained from textbooks, but must be coined out of human experience in the flame of life.
9. Again, both literature and philosophy work by appealing to certain reigning idols.
10. If a philosophic theory is once ruled out of court, no one can tell when it will appear again.

Morris Raphael Cohen Short Quotes

• The business of the philosopher is well done if he succeeds in raising genuine doubt.
• Inertia is the first law of history, as it is of physics.
• Law is a formless mass of isolated decisions.
• If religion cannot restrain evil, it cannot claim effective power for good.

Morris Raphael Cohen Famous Quotes And Sayings

By no amount of reasoning can we altogether eliminate all contingency from our world. Moreover, pure speculation alone will not enable us to get a determinate picture of the existing world. We must eliminate some of the conflicting possibilities, and this can be brought about only by experiment and observation. — Morris Raphael Cohen

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. — Morris Raphael Cohen

It is not impossible to think that the minds of philosophers sometimes act like those of other mortals, and that, having once been determined by diverse circumstances to adopt certain views, they then look for and naturally find reasons to justify these views. — Morris Raphael Cohen

The method of exposition which philosophers have adopted leads many to suppose that they are simply inquiries, that they have no interest in the conclusions at which they arrive, and that their primary concern is to follow their premises to their logical conclusions. — Morris Raphael Cohen

Liberalism regards life as an adventure in which we must take risks in new situation, 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. — Morris Raphael Cohen

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

All logic texts are divided into two parts. In the first part, on deductible logic, the fallacies are explained; in the second part, on inductive logic, they are committed. — Morris Raphael Cohen

To be sure, the vast majority of people who are untrained can accept the results of science only on authority. — Morris Raphael Cohen

Life Lessons by Morris Raphael Cohen

1. Morris Raphael Cohen taught that knowledge should be used to pursue truth and justice, and that we should be open to new ideas and strive to understand the world around us.
2. He believed that critical thinking and analysis were essential for understanding the complexities of the world, and that we should strive to be tolerant and respectful of different perspectives.
3. He argued that we should be willing to challenge accepted beliefs, and that we should strive to use our knowledge to create a better society.