Biografía de Sidney Hook

¿Quién fue Sidney Hook?

Sidney Hook was an American philosopher and educator. He wrote extensively on epistemology and reached a wide audience with his works on the Marxist critique of Soviet communism.

Born in Brooklyn, New York on December 20, 1902, Sidney Hook was the son of Isaac and Sarah Hook, both of whom were Polish-Jewish immigrants. He was educated in the New York City public schools and at the City College of New York. He went on to earn a PhD in philosophy from Columbia University in 1927.

Hook’s first academic position was at the University of Minnesota, where he taught from 1927 to 1929. He returned to Columbia in 1929, where he taught for over two decades. In 1952, he moved to New York University, where he remained until his retirement in 1977.

Hook’s early work was in the area of pragmatism. He later turned to critical realism, a philosophical position that attempted to synthesize elements of realism and idealism. Hook also wrote extensively on epistemology, the philosophy of history, and the philosophy of science.

In addition to his scholarly work, Hook was a public intellectual who wrote for a general audience on a variety of topics. He was a sharp critic of Soviet communism and an advocate for the United States’ intervention in the Vietnam War. He also wrote on the civil rights movement and race relations in the United States.

Hook was critical of many leftist intellectuals in the United States, including the writer and activist Noam Chomsky. However, he later had a falling out with the conservative movement in the United States, and he became a vocal critic of the policies of President Ronald Reagan.

Hook died in New York City on July 12, 1989..