To the Editor:

It has taken me all this time to get myself to comment on Meyer Liben’s reply—in his “C.C.N.Y.—A Memoir” [September 1965]—to those who accused Morris Cohen of cruelty in the classroom, of humiliating a student and enjoying his discomfiture. “Perhaps,” said Mr. Liben, “like Socrates, he took pleasure in exposing contradictions . . . but this was not basically a personal matter, so how could it be cruel? . . . I suppose he did not see every easy or thoughtless answer as reflecting a personality problem. . . .” I write as one who was lucky enough not to be humiliated myself by Cohen, but who for a couple of years (1919—21) watched him humiliate others. And these included some who in fact were not guilty of the contradictions, the easy or thoughtless answer, that Cohen, like Socrates, was obligated to deal with ruthlessly—but whom, like Cohen, he answered as though they had been guilty of those contradictions, that easy or thoughtless answer. I cannot give specific examples of this; but I do still remember every word of the following exchange in a Philosophy 1 class, which will give an idea of how Cohen operated:

Cohen (to the captain of the water-polo team) : “Mr. Menkes, tell us about Epictetus.”

Menkes: “Well, he believed—”

Cohen (interrupting) : “You don’t know what he believed. Sit down.”

B. H. Haggin
New York City