Morris Raphael Cohen

Liberalism, on the other hand, regards life as an adventure in which we must take risks in new situations, in which there…

— Morris Raphael Cohen

By no amount of reasoning can we altogether eliminate all contingency from our world. Moreover, pure speculation alone will not enable us…

— 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…

— Morris Raphael Cohen

Liberalism is an attitude rather than a set of dogmas - an attitude that insists upon questioning all plausible and self-evident propositions,…

— 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…

— 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…

— Morris Raphael Cohen

The business of the philosopher is well done if he succeeds in raising genuine doubt.

— Morris Raphael Cohen

Conservatism clings to what has been established, fearing that, once we begin to question the beliefs that we have inherited, all the…

— Morris Raphael Cohen

The picture which the philosopher draws of the world is surely not one in which every stroke is necessitated by pure logic.

— Morris Raphael Cohen

If a philosophic theory is once ruled out of court, no one can tell when it will appear again.

— Morris Raphael Cohen

In thus pointing out certain respects in which philosophy resembles literature more than science, I do not mean, of course, to imply…

— Morris Raphael Cohen

Inertia is the first law of history, as it is of physics.

— Morris Raphael Cohen

A creative element is surely present in all great systems, and it does not seem possible that all sympathy or fundamental attitudes…

— 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…

— Morris Raphael Cohen

Again, both literature and philosophy work by appealing to certain reigning idols.

— Morris Raphael Cohen

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

— Morris Raphael Cohen

If religion cannot restrain evil, it cannot claim effective power for good.

— Morris Raphael Cohen

Law is a formless mass of isolated decisions.

— Morris Raphael Cohen

This open eye for possible alternatives which need to be scrutinized before we can determine which is the best grounded is profoundly…

— Morris Raphael Cohen

Cruel persecutions and intolerance are not accidents, but grow out of the very essence of religion, namely, its absolute claims.

— Morris Raphael Cohen

Law must be viewed as a formless mass of isolated decisions.

— 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

Small groups or communities may be far more oppressive to the individual than larger ones. Men are in many ways freer in…

— Morris Raphael Cohen

Wisdom is not to be obtained from textbooks, but must be coined out of human experience in the flame of life.

— 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…

— Morris Raphael Cohen