On the record
But as a thinker he was little more than an optimistic trifler, too content with the conditions of his time to question its assumptions.
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Harold J. Laski
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gutenberg.orgHarold J. Laski: “But as a thinker he was little more than an optimistic trifler, too content with the conditions of his time to question…”
Editor's note · Context
Laski critiques a thinker's lack of critical engagement with their societal context.
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More from Harold J. Laski
The essence of the persecuting position is always that the persecutor has hold of truth and that he would betray its service by allowing it to be questioned.
Ultimately, that denial is always made upon the same ground: it is insisted that the doctrines or practices attacked are subversive of the civil order.
It has been the historic character of persecution always to degrade the persecutor and to strengthen the persecuted by drawing attention to their claims.
When attacks on liberty are political or economic, it is their motive rather than their nature that changes.
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