Frederick James Eugene Woodbridge (March 26, 1867 – June 1, 1940) was a teacher at various American universities. Woodbridge considered himself a naïve realist, deeply impressed with Santayana. He spent much of his career as a dean (of the Faculties of Political Science, Philosophy, and Pure Science) at

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 ...

, where a residence hall and a professorship in philosophy are named in his honor. He was editor of th
Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods
David and Lillian Swenson, translators of some of the works of Søren Kierkegaard, dedicated ''

Concluding Unscientific Postscript ''Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments'' ( da, Afsluttende uvidenskabelig Efterskrift til de philosophiske Smuler) is a major work by Søren Kierkegaard. The work is an attack against Hegelianism, the philosophy of He ...

'', (1941) to Professor Woodbridge.

Biography

He was born on March 26, 1867, in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the southe ...

, to James Woodbridge and Melissa Ella Bingham. In 1869 his family moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan. In 1885 he enrolled at Amherst College where he studied philosophy and religion under Charles Edward Garman. He graduated from Amherst with an

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in 1889 and then he enrolled at the Union Theological Seminary. In 1892 he left Union on a fellowship and went to Germany to study philosophy at the

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

, where he received the

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

He returned to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1894. He took a teaching position at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

. He married Helena Belle Adams of

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...

, on June 25, 1895, in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. They had 4 children, Frederick James Woodbridge,

John Woodbridge John Woodbridge VI (1613–1696) was an English nonconformist, who emigrated to New England. He had positions on both sides of the Atlantic, until 1663, when he settled permanently in New England. Life John Woodbridge VI was born at Stanton, ne ...

, Donald Woodbridge, and Helena Woodbridge. In 1902 Woodbridge left the

for

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and a position at

. In 1904 he co-founded with James McKeen Cattell, The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods. Woodbridge taught philosophy at Columbia from 1902 until 1912 when he became the university's Dean of the Faculties of Political Science, Philosophy, and Pure Science. In 1929 he retired as Dean but continued to teach. He retired from teaching in 1937, but he continued to edit The Journal of Philosophy until his death in 1940. He died on June 1, 1940, in Manhattan, New York City. His funeral was at St. Paul's Chapel.

Legacy

Woodbridge Hall, a Columbia University dormitory located at 431 Riverside Drive, is named in his honor.

Works

*''The Purpose of History'' (1916) *''The Realm of Mind'' (1926) *''The Son of Apollo: Themes of Plato'' (1929) *''Nature and Mind: Selected Essays'' (1937) *''An Essay on Nature'' (1940) *''Aristotle's Vision of Nature'' (ed. John H. Randall Jr., 1965)

References

External links

* *
''The Purpose of History''
Lectures delivered at University of North Carolina 1916
''Metaphysics''
Columbia University 1908

by J. A. Woodbridge {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodbridge, James Eugene 1867 births 1940 deaths Columbia University faculty 20th-century American philosophers People from Windsor, Ontario People from Manhattan Amherst College alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Union Theological Seminary (New York City) alumni University of Minnesota faculty