Sidney Hook (December 20, 1902 – July 12, 1989) was an American philosopher of

pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that views language and thought as tools for prediction, problem solving, and action, rather than describing, representing, or mirroring reality. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics� ...

known for his contributions to the

philosophy of history Philosophy of history is the philosophy, philosophical study of history and its academic discipline, discipline. The term was coined by the French philosopher Voltaire. In contemporary philosophy a distinction has developed between the ''specul ...

, the

philosophy of education The philosophy of education is the branch of applied philosophy that investigates the nature of education as well as its aims and problems. It also examines the concepts and presuppositions of education theories. It is an interdisciplinary fiel ...

political theory Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and legitimacy of political institutions, such as states. This field investigates different forms of government, ranging from d ...

, and

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

. After embracing

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

in his youth, Hook was later known for his criticisms of

totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public s ...

, both

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

and

Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism () is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the History of communism, communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most communist gov ...

. A

social democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

, Hook sometimes cooperated with

conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

, particularly in opposing Marxism–Leninism. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he argued that members of such groups as the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

and

Leninists Leninism (, ) is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary vanguard party as the political prelude to the estab ...

like democratic centralists could ethically be barred from holding the offices of public trust because they called for the violent overthrow of democratic governments.

Background

Sidney Hook was born on December 20, 1902, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, to Jennie and Isaac Hook,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

immigrants. He became a supporter of the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America ...

during the Debs era when he was in high school. In 1923, he earned a BA at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

and in 1927 Ph.D. at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, where he studied under pragmatist philosopher

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and Education reform, educational reformer. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the first half of the twentieth century. The overridi ...

Career

In 1926, Hook became a professor of philosophy at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and was head of the Department of Philosophy from 1948 to 1969. He retired from the university in 1972. In 1931, Hook began teaching at the

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR), previously known as The University in Exile and The New School University, is a graduate-level educational division of The New School in New York City, United States. NSSR enrolls more than 1,000 stud ...

through 1936, after which he taught night school there until the 1960s. By 1933, Hook and New School colleague

Horace M. Kallen Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC),Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman Lyric poetry, lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Oc ...

were serving also on the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

's academic freedom committee.

Marxist

At the beginning of his career, Hook was a prominent expert on

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

's philosophy and was himself a

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

. He attended the lectures of Karl Korsch in Berlin in 1928 and conducted research at the Marx-Engels Institute in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in the summer of 1929. At first, he wrote enthusiastically about the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, and, in 1932, supported the Communist Party's candidate, William Z. Foster, when he ran for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

. However, Hook broke completely with the

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

in 1933, holding its policies responsible for the triumph of

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He accused

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

of 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 the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. In 1933, with

James Burnham James Burnham (November 22, 1905 – July 28, 1987) was an American philosopher and political theorist. He chaired the New York University Department of Philosophy. His first book was ''An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis'' (1931). Bur ...

, Hook was one of the organizers of the

American Workers Party The American Workers Party (AWP) was a socialist organization established in December 1933 by activists in the Conference for Progressive Labor Action, a group headed by A. J. Muste. Formation The American Workers Party was established in De ...

, led by the Dutch-born

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

minister A.J. Muste. Hook also debated the meaning of Marxism with radical

Max Eastman Max Forrester Eastman (January 4, 1883 – March 25, 1969) was an American writer on literature, philosophy, and society, a poet, and a prominent political activist. Moving to New York City for graduate school, Eastman became involved with radica ...

in a series of public exchanges. Eastman, like Hook, had studied under John Dewey at Columbia University. In the late 1930s, Hook assisted

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

in his efforts to clear his name in a special Commission of Inquiry headed by Dewey, which investigated charges made against Trotsky during the Moscow Trials.

Anti-communist

The

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

encouraged 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 the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, Hook had become a prominent

anti-Communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

, although he continued to consider himself both a

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-mana ...

and a

secular humanist Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system, or life stance that embraces human reason, logic, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism, while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basi ...

throughout his life. He was, therefore, an anti-Communist socialist. In 1973, he was one of the signers of the

Humanist Manifesto II ''Humanist Manifesto II'', written in 1973 by humanists Paul Kurtz and Edwin H. Wilson, was an update to the previous ''Humanist Manifesto'' published in 1933, and the second entry in the '' Humanist Manifesto'' series. It begins with a stat ...

. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Hook helped found Americans for Intellectual Freedom, the

Congress for Cultural Freedom The Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) was an anti-communist cultural organization founded on 26 June 1950 in West Berlin. At its height, the CCF was active in thirty-five countries. In 1966 it was revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency w ...

(CCF), and the American Committee for Cultural Freedom. These bodies—of which the CCF was most central—were funded in part by the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

through a variety of fronts and sought to dissuade American leftists from continuing to advocate cooperation with the

as 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" with Victor Riesel and others in the evening on WEVD radio (a Socialist radio station whose call letters referred to SPA founder Eugene V. Debs). In May 1953, the

John Day Company The John Day Company was a New York City-based publishing firm that specialized in illustrated fiction and current affairs books and pamphlets from 1926 to 1968. It was founded by Richard J. Walsh (publisher), Richard J. Walsh in 1926 and named a ...

published '' Heresy, Yes–Conspiracy, No'', a 283-page book expanded from a 1952 pamphlet (''Heresy, Yes–Conspiracy, No!''), itself expanded from a 1950 ''New York Times'' article called "Heresy, Yes–But Conspiracy, No." In the 1960s, Hook was a frequent critic of the

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

. He was opposed to a unilateral withdrawal of U.S. forces from the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

and defended California Governor

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

's removal of

Angela Davis Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of ...

from her professorship at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

because of her leadership role in the

. Hook was elected a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1965 and ended his career in the 1970s and 1980s as a fellow of the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and formerly The Hoover Institute and Library on War, Revolution, and Peace) is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic ...

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Later years

The

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

selected Hook for the 1984

Jefferson Lecture The Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities is an honorary lecture series established in 1972 by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). According to the NEH, the Lecture is "the highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished ...

, the U.S. government's highest honor for achievement in the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

. Hook's lecture was entitled "Education in Defense of a Free Society."Jefferson Lecturers
at NEH Web site (retrieved January 22, 2009).

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 the Rand School in the early 1920s. There, she studied under Scott Nearing and came to write a chapter in his book ''The Law of Social Revolution'' entitled "The Russian Revolution of 1917" (1926). Friends from the Rand School included Nerma Berman Oggins, wife of Cy Oggins. She was a Communist Party member who was a "Fosterite" (i.e., she supported William Z. Foster amidst Party factionalism in the last 1920s). She went on to work at the Labor 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 Award'' from the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). awarded by CSICOP Chairman

Paul Kurtz Paul Kurtz (December 21, 1925 – October 20, 2012) was an American scientific skeptic and secular humanist. He has been called "the father of secular humanism". He was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Bu ...

* 1985:

Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...

by President

(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 as

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

, and his recollections of

Mortimer J. Adler Mortimer Jerome Adler (; December 28, 1902 – June 28, 2001) was an American philosopher, educator, encyclopedist, popular author and lay theologian. As a philosopher he worked within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. He taught at ...

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

, Morris Cohen,

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

and

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

. In October 2002, a conference marking the centennial of Hook's birth was organized by Matthew Cotter and Robert Talisse and held at the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

Graduate Center in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. In April 2011 the

Committee for Skeptical Inquiry The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is a program within the U.S. non-profit organization Center for Inquiry (CFI), which seeks to " ...

(CSI) (formerly known as CSICOP) again honored Hook. At a meeting of its executive council in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

he 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 book ''The Hero in History'' was a noticeable event in the studies devoted to the role of the

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

, the Great Man in history and the influence of people of significant accomplishments. Hook opposed all forms of

determinism Determinism is the Metaphysics, metaphysical view that all events within the universe (or multiverse) can occur only in one possible way. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes ov ...

and argued, as had

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th c ...

, 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 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 considers

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

as having been an event-making man, because of his having acted in an important circumstance to change the developmental direction not only of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

but 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.

"The 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 Pragmatism''
Chicago, The

Open Court Publishing Company The Open Court Publishing Company is a publisher with offices in Chicago and LaSalle, Illinois. It is part of the Carus Publishing Company of Peru, Illinois. History Open Court was founded in 1887 by Edward C. Hegeler of the Matthiessen-Hege ...

, 1927. *''Towards the Understanding of Karl Marx: A Revolutionary Interpretation'' New York City:

, 1933.
''Christianity and Marxism: A Symposium''
New 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 by American Committee for Cultural Freedom) *''Marx and the Marxists: The Ambiguous Legacy'', 1955.
''Common Sense and the Fifth Amendment''
New 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

(December 1934), ''New International'', via Marxists Internet Archive

(January 1935), ''New International'', via Marxists Internet Archive

(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 for ''New Leader''

Hook's papers at Stanford include the following articles: * "Where the News Ends" (November 26, 1938) * "

at 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 to

" (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 the

American Jewish Congress The American Jewish Congress (AJCongress) is an association of American Jews organized to defend Jewish interests in the US and internationally through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts. History The idea for a ...

" (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 to

) (March 3, 1952) * "Letter to an English Friend" (October 13, 1952) * "Fall of the Town of Usher", (October 27, 1952) * " Lattimore on 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 Hutchins Rides 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 Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

, 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)

References

External links

*
Book review of new edition of ''Towards the Understanding of Karl Marx'' (1933)

*" ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060721082114/http://www.wpunj.edu/newpol/issue28/jacobs28.htm Revising the History of Cold War Liberals by Julius Jacobson from ''New 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''.
Review
of ''Letters of Sidney Hook'' by 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.
David Sidorsky, essay on Sidney Hook, ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', online

Sidney Hook papers
at th
Hoover Institution Archives.
* *
Sidney Hook Papers
at Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University {{DEFAULTSORT:Hook, Sidney 1902 births 1989 deaths American agnostics American Marxists Anti-Stalinist left American male non-fiction writers American people of Austrian-Jewish descent City College of New York alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Critics of dialectical materialism New York University faculty Jewish agnostics Jewish American non-fiction writers Jewish anti-communists Jewish philosophers Jewish socialists Marxist theorists People from Brooklyn Pragmatists Members of Social Democrats USA Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Philosophers of history 20th-century American historians Secular humanists Former Marxists Activists from New York (state) Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Counter-revolutionaries 20th-century American philosophers American anti-communists