Abraham Cornelius Benjamin (25 August 1897 – 19 October 1968) was an American philosopher of science who taught at University of Chicago and University of Missouri. A. C. Benjamin was born in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

. He attended the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, graduating with a B.A. in 1920. Continuing there, he studied "the

logical atomism Logical atomism is a philosophical view that originated in the early 20th century with the development of analytic philosophy. Its principal exponent was the British philosopher Bertrand Russell. It is also widely held that the early works of his ...

of Bertrand Russell", submitted his thesis on the topic, graduating Ph.D. in 1924. The

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

employed him as assistant professor of philosophy from 1925 to 1932. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1930. Then

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

employed him similarly until 1945 when he became department chairman in philosophy at

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

. While in Chicago he wrote three books, first positing a logical structure to science, then a beginning description of the philosophy of science, and a course on values, methods, and concepts. In 1950 he presented "a history of philosophical systems" for an anthology on philosophy of the sciences. He described operationalism in a book in 1955, and a decade later a consideration of sciences related to human values and technology. Benjamin retired from the department chair in 1956 and from teaching in 1966. He died 19 October 1968 in Columbia, Missouri.

Works

* 1936: ''The Logical Structure of Science'' * 1937:
Introduction to the Philosophy of Science
' via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

* 1940: ''Methods, Values and Concepts'' course * 1950: "A History of Philosophical Systems" * 1955:
Operationism
' via HathiTrust * 1965: ''Science, Technology and Human Values''Reviews of ''Science, Technology, and Human Values'': * * * * * *

References

Irving Anellis Irving H. Anellis (1946 to 2013) was a historian of philosophy. Anellis began his study of philosophy in Boston, Massachusetts at Northeastern University, gaining his B.A. in 1969. He continued in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at Duquesne Universit ...

(2005) "Abraham Cornelius Benjamin" in '' The Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers''.
A. Cornelius Benjamin
at

PhilPapers PhilPapers is an interactive academic database of Academic journal, journal articles in philosophy. It is maintained by the Centre for Digital Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, and as of 2022, it has "394,867 registered users, incl ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin, Abraham Cornelius 1897 births 1968 deaths Philosophers of science University of Michigan alumni University of Chicago faculty University of Missouri faculty Writers from Grand Rapids, Michigan 20th-century American philosophers