George Stuart Fullerton (August 18, 1859 – March 23, 1925) was an 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

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

Early life and education

Fullerton was born at

Fatehgarh Fatehgarh is a cantonment town in Farrukhabad district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located on the south bank of the Ganges River. It is the administrative headquarters of Farrukhabad District. Fatehgarh derives its name from a ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, the son of the Rev. Robert Stuart Fullerton and Martha White Fullerton, American Presbyterian missionaries. He moved to Philadelphia with his widowed mother and his siblings, after his father's death in 1865. He graduated in 1879 from 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 ...

and in 1884 from

Yale Divinity School Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...

Career

Fullerton returned to the University of Pennsylvania to be an instructor, adjunct professor, and

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of the department of philosophy, dean of the college, and vice provost of the university. In 1904 he was appointed

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of philosophy 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 ...

, and served as head of the department. He was the host of the first annual meeting of the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...

in 1892 at the

, and the APA's fifth president, in 1896. In 1914, while he was exchange professor at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

, World War I broke out. He was lecturing at Munich, Germany when interned. Fullerton was imprisoned as a civilian enemy national. He remained imprisoned for four years, until the end of the war, and conditions were so harsh that he returned to the U.S. with his health permanently damaged. (Scottish psychologist Henry J. Watt suffered a similar fate.)

Personal life

In 1884 Fullerton married Miss Rebekah Daingerfield Smith of Alexandria, Virginia; she died in 1892. Five years later he married Julia Winslow Dickerson of Philadelphia, his widow. There were no children. Nearly an invalid for the last decade of his life, Fullerton died by suicide on March 23, 1925, at the age of 66. He was survived by his sisters in India, teacher Mary Fullerton, and physician

Anna Martha Fullerton Anna Martha Fullerton (August 16, 1853 – September 16, 1938) was an American physician and medical educator, born in India. Early life and education Anna Martha Fullerton was born in Agra, the eldest of the seven children of American Presb ...

Selected publications

Fullerton's philosophy was realist. His writings include: *''The Conception of the Infinite'' (1887)
''A Plain Argument for God''
(1889) *''On Sameness and Identity'' (1890) *''On the Perception of Small Differences'', with Cattell (1892) *''The Philosophy of

Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, b ...

'' (1894) *''On Spinozistic Immortality'' (1899) *''A System of Metaphysics'' (1904) *''An Introduction to Philosophy'' (190
''An Introduction to Philosophy''
Reprint. Publisher: Ruby Press & Co.First Edition: 2015 *''The World We Live in, or Philosophy and Life in the Light of Modern Thought'' (1912)
''Germany of to-day.''
by George Stuart Fullerton, Ph. D. LL.D. Professor of Philosophy in Columbia University, New York. Honorary Professor in the University of Vienna. First American Exchange Professor in Austria. Publisher: The Bobbs-Merrill Company Indianapolis, 1915 *''A Handbook of Ethical Theory'' (1922
''A Handbook of Ethical Theory.''
Reprint. Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (September 2, 2013)

References

1859-1925 Life and Obituaries *

External links

* * * 1859 births American psychology writers American male non-fiction writers Columbia University faculty University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty 1925 deaths Presidents of the American Psychological Association Yale Divinity School alumni 1925 suicides {{US-psychologist-stub