Friday, June 07, 2019

Splendid Sentences, Part 18: John Dewey on International Cooperation

In Intelligence in the Modern World: John Dewey's Philosophy, American educational philosopher John Dewey writes this interesting 33-word sentence: 
No intelligent person, apart from party politics or the exigencies of consistency with some position taken in the past, favors isolation for its own sake, or is cold to the idea of cooperation.
What makes this sentence so interesting is not merely that Dewey separates his subject (person) from the first part of his predicate (favors) by 16 words, causing some suspense. More remarkably, he gives two excuses for favoring isolation for its own sake and for being cold to the idea of cooperation—excuses that contradict his premise and nearly obliterate his position. After all, aren't isolation and cooperation the provinces of party politics and political positions?

 Those 16 contrasting words concede a point, which is a hallmark of persuasion. They also accurately depict the actions of elected officials. Yet Dewey is not interested so much in diplomacy as he is in his readers using their intellect and conscience in his argument that follows.

 Read previous installments of  "Splendid Sentences" in WORDS ON THE LINE:
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