idealist philosopher at Harvard University
. He continued the work of his philosophical teacher Josiah Royce
in revising idealism
to integrate and fit into empiricism
, naturalism
and pragmatism
. He said that metaphysics
has to make inductions from experience: "that which does not work is not true." His major field of study was the philosophy of religion, but his 22 books included discussions of philosophy and human rights, world politics, freedom of the press, the philosophical psychology of human nature; education; and more.
Only the man who has enough good in him to feel the justice of the penalty can be punished; the others can only be hurt.
I find that a man is as old as his work. If his work keeps him from moving forward, he will look forward with the work.
For those who have only to obey, law is what the sovereign commands. For the sovereign, in the throes of deciding what he ought to command, this view of law is singularly empty of light and leading. In the dispersed sovereignty of modern states, and especially in times of rapid social change, law must look to the future as well as to history and precedent, and to what is possible and right as well as to what is actual.
Principle I : Legal rights are presumptive rights.
Principle III : Presumptive rights are the conditions under which individual powers normally develop.