Conclusions American philosophy, then, may still not have climbed out of the ditch into which the McCarthy Era plunged it. This is not to say that the defensive posture it adopted after World War II had no good results. Once philosophy had been removed from concrete questions, it gained a certain sort of freedom. It was, for example, only after the McCarthy Era, with its obvious anti-Semitism, that Jews were really free to pursue careers …showed first 75 words of 550 total…

…showed last 75 words of 550 total…their strange silence on the subject. Such discussion, whatever its result, can be argued to be absolutely [End Page 47] necessary if American philosophers, analytic and other, are to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their own traditions--and if they, and intellectuals in general, are to enjoy intellectual freedom today. True intellectual freedom must be fought for, not presumed, and part of the fight must be exactly what American philosophy so studiously avoids: critical Word Count: 551