Sidney Hook

Sidney Hook
Hook in late life
Born	(1902-12-20)December 20, 1902 New York City, US
Died	July 12, 1989(1989-07-12)(aged 86) Stanford, California,US
Alma mater	City College of New York Columbia University
Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Pragmatism Marxism(early)
Main interests	Political philosophy,philosophy of education
Notable ideas	Ethics of controversy

Sidney Hook(December 20, 1902 – July 12, 1989) was an American philosopher ofpragmatismknown for his contributions to thephilosophy of history,thephilosophy of education,political theory,andethics.After embracingcommunismin his youth, Hook was later known for his criticisms oftotalitarianism,bothfascismandMarxism–Leninism.Asocial democrat,Hook sometimes cooperated withconservatives,particularly in opposing Marxism–Leninism. AfterWorld War II,he argued that members of such groups as theCommunist Party USAandLeninistslikedemocratic centralistscould ethically be barred from holding the offices of public trust because they called for the violent overthrow of democratic governments.

Background

Albert Einstein,Sidney Hook et al. signed a 4 December 1948 letter published in theNew York Times

Sidney Hook was born on December 20, 1902, inBrooklyn,New York City,to Jennie and Isaac Hook,AustrianJewishimmigrants. He became a supporter of theSocialist Party of Americaduring theDebsera when he was in high school.

In 1923, he earned aBAat theCity College of New Yorkand in 1927Ph.D.atColumbia University,where he studied underpragmatistphilosopherJohn Dewey.

Career

In 1926, Hook became a professor of philosophy atNew York Universityand was head of theDepartment of Philosophyfrom 1948 to 1969. He retired from the University in 1972.

In 1931, Hook began teaching at theNew School for Social Researchthrough 1936, after which he taught night school there until the 1960s.By 1933, Hook and New School colleagueHorace M. Kallenwere serving also on theACLU's academic freedom committee.

Marxist

At the beginning of his career, Hook was a prominent expert onKarl Marx's philosophy and was himself aMarxist.He attended the lectures ofKarl Korschin Berlin in 1928 and conducted research at theMarx-Engels InstituteinMoscowin the summer of 1929.At first, he wrote enthusiastically about theSoviet Union,and, in 1932, supported theCommunist Party's candidate,William Z. Foster,when he ran forPresident of the United States.However, Hook broke completely with theCominternin 1933, holding its policies responsible for the triumph ofNazisminGermany.He accusedJoseph Stalinof putting "the needs of the Russian state" over the needs of the international revolution.

However, Hook remained active in some of the causes of the Marxist left during theGreat Depression.In 1933, withJames Burnham,Hook was one of the organizers of theAmerican Workers Party,led by the Dutch-bornpacifistministerA.J. Muste.Hook also debated the meaning of Marxism with radicalMax Eastmanin a series of public exchanges.Eastman, like Hook, had studied under John Dewey at Columbia University. In the late 1930s, Hook assistedLeon Trotskyin his efforts to clear his name in a specialCommission of Inquiryheaded by Dewey, which investigated charges made against Trotsky during theMoscow Trials.

Anti-communist

TheGreat Purgeencouraged Hook's increasing ambivalence toward Marxism. In 1939, Hook formed the Committee for Cultural Freedom, a short-lived organization that set the stage for his postwar politics by opposing "totalitarianism" on the left and right. By theCold War,Hook had become a prominentanti-Communist,although he continued to consider himself both ademocratic socialistand asecular humanistthroughout his life. He was, therefore, an anti-Communist socialist. In 1973, he was one of the signers of theHumanist Manifesto II.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Hook helped found Americans for Intellectual Freedom, theCongress for Cultural Freedom(CCF), and theAmerican Committee for Cultural Freedom.These bodies—of which the CCF was most central—were funded in part by theCentral Intelligence Agencythrough a variety of fronts and sought to dissuade American leftists from continuing to advocate cooperation with theSoviet Unionas some had previously.Hook later wrote in his memoirs that he, "like almost everyone else," had heard that "the CIA was making some contribution to the financing of the Congress."

On February 6, 1953, Hook discussed "The Threat to Academic Freedom" withVictor Rieseland others in the evening onWEVDradio (a Socialist radio station whose call letters referred to SPA founderEugene V. Debs).In May 1953, theJohn Day CompanypublishedHeresy, Yes–Conspiracy, No,a 283-page book expanded from a 1952 pamphlet (Heresy, Yes–Conspiracy, No!), itself expanded from a 1950New York Timesarticle called "Heresy, Yes–But Conspiracy, No."

In the 1960s, Hook was a frequent critic of theNew Left.He was opposed to a unilateral withdrawal of U.S. forces from theVietnam Warand defended California GovernorRonald Reagan's removal ofAngela Davisfrom her professorship atUCLAbecause of her leadership role in theCommunist Party USA.

Hook was elected a fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciencesin 1965and ended his career in the 1970s and 1980s as a fellow of theconservativeHoover InstitutioninStanford,California.

Later years

TheNational Endowment for the Humanitiesselected Hook for the 1984Jefferson Lecture,the U.S. government's highest honor for achievement in thehumanities.Hook's lecture was entitled "Education in Defense of a Free Society."

Personal life and death

Hook was a lifelong agnostic.

He married Carrie Katz in 1924, with whom he had one son. The couple separated in 1933.Katz had studied at theRand Schoolin the early 1920s. There, she studied underScott Nearingand came to write a chapter in his bookThe Law of Social Revolutionentitled "The Russian Revolution of 1917" (1926). Friends from the Rand School included Nerma Berman Oggins, wife ofCy Oggins.She was a Communist Party member who was a "Fosterite" (i.e., she supportedWilliam Z. Fosteramidst Party factionalism in the last 1920s). She went on to work at theLabor Defense Council.In 1935, Hook married Ann Zinken, with whom he had two children.

Hook died age 86 on July 12, 1989, in Stanford, California.

Awards

• 1984:In Praise of Reason Awardfrom theCommittee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP).awarded by CSICOP ChairmanPaul Kurtz
• 1985:Presidential Medal of Freedomby PresidentRonald Reagan(May 23, 1985)

Legacy

Hook's memoir,Out of Step,recounts his life, his activism for a number of educational causes, his controversies with other intellectuals such asNoam Chomsky,and his recollections ofMortimer J. Adler,Bertolt Brecht,Morris Cohen,John Dewey,Max Eastman,Albert EinsteinandBertrand Russell.

In October 2002, a conference marking the centennial of Hook's birth was organized by Matthew Cotter andRobert Talisseand held at theCity University of New YorkGraduate Center inManhattan.

In April 2011 theCommittee for Skeptical Inquiry(CSI) (formerly known as CSICOP) again honored Hook. At a meeting of its executive council inDenver,Coloradohe was selected for inclusion in their Pantheon of Skeptics. The Pantheon of Skeptics was created by CSI to remember the legacy of deceased fellows of CSI and their contributions to the cause of scientific skepticism.

Hero in History

Sidney Hook's bookThe Hero in Historywas a noticeable event in the studies devoted to the role of thehero,theGreat Manin history and the influence of people of significant accomplishments.

Hook opposed all forms ofdeterminismand argued, as hadWilliam James,that humans play a creative role in constructing the social world and to transforming their natural environment. Neither humanity nor its universe is determined or finished. For Hook this conviction was crucial. He argued that when a society is at the crossroads of choosing the direction of further development, an individual can play a dramatic role and even become an independent power on whom the choice of the historical pathway depends.

In his book, Hook provided a great number of examples of the influence of great people, and the examples are mostly associated with various crucial moments in history, such as revolutions and crises. Some scholars have critically responded because, as one of them claims, "he does not take into account that an individual's greatest influence can be revealed not so much in the period of the old regime's collapse, but in the formation period of a new one. [...] Besides, he did not make clear the situation when alternatives appear either as the result of a crisis or as the result of Great Man's plan or intention without [a] manifested crisis".

Hook introduced a theoretical division of historic personalities and especially leaders into the eventful man and the event-making man, depending on their influences on the historical process.For example, he considersLeninas having been an event-making man, because of his having acted in an important circumstance to change the developmental direction not only ofRussiabut also of the whole world in the 20th century.

Hook attached great importance to accidents and contingencies in history,thus opposing, among others,Herbert Fisher,who made attempts to present history as "waves" of emergencies.

"Ethics of Controversy"

In 1954, Hook published an essay titled "The Ethics of Controversy" in which he set down ten ground rules for democratic discourse within a democracy.

Works

Books

• The Metaphysics of PragmatismChicago, TheOpen Court Publishing Company,1927.
• Towards the Understanding of Karl Marx: A Revolutionary InterpretationNew York City:John Day Company,1933.
• Christianity and Marxism: A SymposiumNew York City: Polemic Publishers, 1934.
• The Meaning of Marx,an edited collection, 1934.
• From Hegel to Marx,1936.
• John Dewey: An Intellectual Portrait,1939.
• Reason, Social Myths, and Democracy,1940.
• The Hero in History: A Study in Limitation and Possibility,1943.
• Education for Modern Man,1946.
• John Dewey: Philosopher of Science and Freedom,Hook, editor, 1950.
• Heresy, Yes–Conspiracy, No,1953 (originally published as soft-back in 1952 byAmerican Committee for Cultural Freedom)
• Marx and the Marxists: The Ambiguous Legacy,1955.
• Common Sense and the Fifth AmendmentNew York City: Criterion Books, 1957.
• Political power and personal freedom: critical studies in democracy, communism, and civil rights,New York City: Criterion Books, 1959.
• The Quest for Being, and Other Studies in Naturalism and Humanism,1961.
• The Fail-Safe Fallacy,1962.
• The Paradoxes of Freedom,1963.
• The Place of Religion in a Free Society,1968.
• Academic Freedom and Academic Anarchy,1970.
• Pragmatism and the Tragic Sense of Life,1974.
• Marxism and Beyond,1983.
• Out of Step,1987.
• Convictions,1990.
• Sidney Hook on Pragmatism, Democracy, and Freedom: The Essential Essays,Robert B. Talisse and Robert Tempio (eds.), Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2002.
• World communism: key documentary material,1990.

Articles

• "Karl Marx and Moses Hess"(December 1934),New International,via Marxists Internet Archive
• "Marx's Criticism of 'True Socialism'"(January 1935),New International,via Marxists Internet Archive
• "Marx and Feuerbach"(April 1936),New International,via Marxists Internet Archive
• "Academic Integrity and Academic Freedom",Commentary Magazine(1949)
• "Heresy, Yes—But Conspiracy, No",The New York Times(1950)
• "A Reply to the Editors' 'In Justice to Mr. Conant'",New York Times(typescript March 15, 1953)

Articles forNew Leader

Hook's papers at Stanfordinclude the following articles:

• "Where the News Ends" (November 26, 1938)
• "John Deweyat Eighty "(October 28, 1939)
• "Socialists Face Need of Unified Action" (March 9, 1940)
• "Social Change and Original Sin" (November 8, 1941)
• "Russia's Military Successes Do Not Whitewash Crimes at Home" (January 31, 1942)
• "An Apologist for St. John's College" (November 25, 1944)
• "The Degradation of the Word" (January 27, 1945)
• "Freedom and Socialism: Reply toMax Eastman"(March 3, 1945)
• "Reflections on the Nuremberg Trial: A Summary Court-Martial for Nazi Criminals" (November 17, 1945)
• "Fin du Mondisme: The Birth of a New World Mood in Face of Atombomb" (January 23, 1946)
• "An Unanswered Letter to theAmerican Jewish Congress"(July 5, 1947)
• "Mr. Fly's Web of Confusions: An Analysis of a Befuddled Decision" (October 18, 1947)
• "Mr. Fly Entangles Himself More Deeply" (November 22, 1947)
• "The State: Servile or Free?" (March 13, 1948)
• "John Dewey at Ninety: The Man and His Philosophy" (October 22, 1949)
• "Communists in the Colleges" (May 6, 1950)
• "Encounter in Berlin" (October 14, 1950)
• "Russia by Moonshine" Part 1 (November 12, 1951)
• "Russia by Moonshine" Part 2 (November 19, 1951)
• "Is America in the Grip of Hysteria?" (Editorial reply toBertrand Russell) (March 3, 1952)
• "Letter to an English Friend" (October 13, 1952)
• "Fall of the Town of Usher", (October 27, 1952)
• "Lattimoreon the Moscow Trials "(November 10, 1952)
• "A Trans-Atlantic Dialogue" (December 8, 1952)
• "Should We Stress Armaments or Political Warfare?" (February 23, 1953)
• "Indoctrination and Academic Freedom" (March 9, 1953)
• "Freedom in American Culture" (April 6, 1953)
• "The Party Line in Psychology" (May 25, 1953)
• "The Ethics of Controversy" (February 1, 1954)
• "The Techniques of Controversy" (March 8, 1954)
• "Robert HutchinsRides Again "(April 19, 1954)
• "The Substance of Controversy" (May 24, 1954)
• "Uncommon Sense about Security and Freedom" (June 21, 1954)
• "The Ethics of Controversy Again" (January 16, 1956)
• "The Strategy of Truth" February 13, 1956)
• "Six Fallacies of Robert Hutchins" (March 19, 1956)
• "Hutchins" (April 23, 1956)
• "Prospects for Cultural Freedom" (May 7, 1956)
• "The AAUP and Academic Integrity" (May 21, 1956)
• "Academic Freedom" (June 4, 1956)
• "Logic and the Fifth Amendment" (October 1, 1956)
• "Psychology and the Fifth Amendment" (October 8, 1956)
• "Ethics and the Fifth Amendment" (October 15, 1956)
• "Politics and the Fifth Amendment" (October 22, 1956)
• "Logic, History and Law" (November 5, 1956)
• "Abraham Lincoln,American Pragmatist "(March 18, 1957)
• "The Fifth Amendment: A Crucial Case" (April 22, 1957)
• "The Atom and Human Wisdom" (June 3, 1957)
• "The Old Liberalism: The New Conservative" (July 8, 1957)
• "Marx, Dewey and Lincoln" (October 21, 1957)
• "Justice Black's Illogic" (December 2, 1957)
• "Pragmatism" (December 9, 1957)
• "A Debate on Pragmatism: Marx, Dewey and Eastman" (February 10, 1958)
• "A Foreign Policy for Survival" (April 7, 1958)
• "A Free Man's Choice" (May 26, 1958)
• "Bertrand Russell Retreats" (July 1958)
• "Education in Japan" (November 24, 1958)

Occasional papers

• Lecture by Sidney Hook on "Freedom, Determinism and Sentimentality" (annual Horace M. Kallen Lectureship) (November 21, 1957)

See also

• American philosophy
• List of American philosophers
• Heresy, Yes–Conspiracy, No

Further reading

• Cotter, Matthew J., ed.,Sidney Hook Reconsidered,Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2004.
• Diggins, John Patrick,Up From Communism,New York City:Columbia University Press,thenHarper & Row,1975.
• Kurtz, Paul,ed.,Sidney Hook and the Contemporary World,New York: John Day and Co., 1968.
• Kurtz, Paul, ed.,Sidney Hook: Philosopher of Democracy and Humanism(afestschrift,for Hook's 80th birthday, containing four essays on his person and writings by Nicholas Capaldi,Milton R. Konvitz,Irving Kristol,and Paul Kurtz), Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books, 1983.
• Levine, Barbara, ed.,Sidney Hook: A Checklist of Writings,Carbondale: Southern Illinois University, 1989.
• Phelps, Christopher(1997).Young Sidney Hook: Marxist and Pragmatist.Cornell University Press.ISBN0801433282.Retrieved14 October2018.
• Sidorsky, David, "Charting the Intellectual Career of Sidney Hook: Five Major Steps",Partisan Review,vol. 70, no. 2, pp. 324–342, 2003.
• Robert B. Talisseand Robert Tempio, eds.,Sidney Hook on Pragmatism, Freedom, and Democracy: The Essential Essays,Amherst, New York:Prometheus Books,2002.

External links

• Works by or about Sidney Hookat theInternet Archive
• Book review of new edition ofTowards the Understanding of Karl Marx(1933)
• "The Inevitability Of Communism" by Paul Mattick, 1936.
• "Sidney Hook’s Attack on Trotskyism" inFourth International,July 1943, via Marxists Internet Archive.
• "Revising the History of Cold War Liberals"by Julius Jacobson fromNew Politics,winter 2000, via William Paterson University
• "Sidney Hook, an Intellectual Street Fighter, Reconsidered",Chronicle of Higher Education,November 8, 2002, by Danny Postel
• Christopher Phelps, "Left Hook, Right Hook: The Rules of Engagement",July 12, 2002,The Chronicle Review.
• ReviewofLetters of Sidney Hookby David Gordon (Fall 1998), via Ludwig von Mises Institute.
• "New Palestine Party - Visit of Menachen Begin and Aims of Political Movement Discussed",December 4, 1948,The New York Times
• John Patrick Diggins,Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred Dycus Miller, Jeffrey Paul, eds., "Sidney Hook, Robert Nozick, and the Paradoxes of Freedom",Natural Rights Liberalism from Locke to Nozick(Social Philosophy and Policy,vol. 22, no. 1, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 200–220, 2005.ISBN978-0-521-61514-3
• David Sidorsky, essay on Sidney Hook,Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,online
• Sidney Hook papersat theHoover Institution Archives.
• A film clip"The Open Mind - An Unquiet Life, Part I (1987)"is available for viewing at theInternet Archive
• A film clip"The Open Mind - An Unquiet Life, Part II (1987)"is available for viewing at theInternet Archive
• "Sidney Hook Papers"at Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University