Abraham Edel (6 December 1908 – 22 June 2007) was a North American

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and ethicist. He was the younger brother of the North American

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

and

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

Leon Edel Joseph Leon Edel (9 September 1907 – 5 September 1997) was an American/Canadian literary critic and biographer. He was the elder brother of North American philosopher Abraham Edel. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' calls Edel "the foremo ...

, and the uncle of the composer

Joel Mandelbaum Mayer Joel Mandelbaum (born October 12, 1932) is an American music composer and teacher, best known for his use of microtonal tuning (notably just intonation and 19 equal temperament and the 31 equal temperament). He wrote the first Ph.D. disserta ...

. He was married three times; his first two wives were fellow academics and co-authors, the anthropologist

May Mandelbaum Edel May Mandelbaum Edel (1 December 1909 – 23 May 1964) was an American anthropologist known for her fieldwork among the Okanagan in Washington, the Tillamook in Oregon, and the Kiga in Uganda. Edel's linguistic research of the Tillamook serves a ...

, and the philosopher Elizabeth Flower respectively. Born in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, he grew up in

Yorkton, Saskatchewan Yorkton is a city located in south-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is about 450 kilometres north-west of Winnipeg and 300 kilometres south-east of Saskatoon and is the sixth largest city in the province. As of 2017 the census population of the ...

. Edel attended

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He taught at

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

for more than 40 years, and then held a research appointment at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

until his death. He was the recipient of numerous academic honors.

Selected bibliography

* ''Ethical Judgment: The Use of Science in Ethics'' (1955) * ''Method in Ethical Theory'' (1963) * ''Anthropology and Ethics'' (1959) (with

) * ''Exploring Fact and Value'' (1980) * ''Analyzing Concepts in Social Science'' (1979) * ''The Struggle for Academic Democracy: Lessons from the 1938 "Revolution" in New York's City Colleges'' (1990) * ''Critique of Applied Ethics: Reflections and Recommendations'' (1994) (with Elizabeth Flower and Finbarr W. O'Connor) * ''Ethical Theory and Social Change'' (2001)

References

External links

Obituary at the CUNY Graduate Center
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070828114521/http://www.phil.upenn.edu/faculty/edel/ University of Pennsylvania faculty listingbr>Abraham Edel Papers, 1925-1974
at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Special Collections Research Center 1908 births 2007 deaths Moral philosophers {{US-philosopher-stub