Perhaps the hardest task for humanism in our time is to keep some terms from being co-opted, being bought and brought into the service of the enemy. Constructive critiques of culture, that central humanistic enterprise, requires us to focus us both on the cultural changes we desire and on those who would nullify changes by co-opting and corrupting discourse. Part of this stemmed from the prejudice many intellectuals have acquired against religion. If they had really studied their Marx they should have known that the critique of religion is the beginning of any cultural criticism. A key example is the role of voluntary organizations in modern Western history.
Stable democracies require much more than voting.
He argued there that neither idealism nor materialism were necessarily connected with any particular social or political doctrines. In other words, take nothing for granted. The successes of neither science nor technology will automatically produce more desirable social attitudes. And it is there that plausibilities must be adduced. Not only logic but rhetoric and polemic are needed.