John Herman Randall Jr. (February 14, 1899 – December 1, 1980) was an American philosopher, New Thought author, and educator.

Life

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 ...

, the son of a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

minister, he graduated from Morris High School in New York City and obtained his

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 ...

from

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 ...

in 1918. He obtained an A.M. the following year and a PhD in 1922. He married Mercedes Irene Moritz in New York on December 23, 1922, with whom he had two sons, John Herman Randall III and Francis Ballard Randall. He started working as an assistant professor of philosophy at Columbia in 1925. He was a member of the

American Philosophical Association The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarl ...

, the Ethical Culture Society, Alpha Delta Phi and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

. He served as president of the

Metaphysical Society of America The Metaphysical Society of America (MSA) is a philosophical organization founded by Paul Weiss in 1950. As stated in its constitution, "The purpose of the Metaphysical Society of America is the study of reality." The society is a member of the ...

in 1967. For fifteen years at Columbia University, he served as the Chair of the University Seminar on

The Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass idea ...

which he co-founded with

Paul Oskar Kristeller Paul Oskar Kristeller (May 22, 1905 in Berlin – June 7, 1999 in New York, United States) was an important scholar of Renaissance humanism. He was awarded the Haskins Medal in 1992. He was last active as Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Colu ...

. He published ''The Problem of Group Responsibility'' in 1922 and ''The Making of the Modern Mind'' in 1926. He also coauthored ''The Introduction to Contemporary Civilization'' and wrote an influential study of

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

, entitled simply ''Aristotle''. Some of his other books include ''Nature and Historical Experience'', a collection of essays on metaphysics and the philosophy of history, ''How Philosophy Uses Its Past'', ''The Role of Knowledge in Western Religion'', ''Plato: Dramatist of the Life of Reason'', ''Hellenistic Ways of Deliverance and the Making of the Christian Synthesis'', and ''The Career of Philosophy'', a three-volume history of philosophy from the Middle Ages through the twentieth century. He was one of signers of the

Humanist Manifesto ''Humanist Manifesto'' is the title of three manifestos laying out a humanist worldview. They are the original '' Humanist Manifesto'' (1933, often referred to as Humanist Manifesto I), the ''Humanist Manifesto II'' (1973), and ''Humanism and I ...

in 1933.

References

External links

* http://aynrandlexicon.com/ayn-rand-works/aristotle.html (Audio of Ayn Rand reading her review of Randall's book ''Aristotle'') * http://www.pragmatism.org/genealogy/randall.htm
Finding Aid to the John Herman Randall Papers at Columbia University.
* http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9062652/John-Herman-Randall-Jr (requires registration) {{DEFAULTSORT:Randall, John Herman Jr 20th-century American philosophers 1899 births 1980 deaths New Thought writers Presidents of the Metaphysical Society of America Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni

Life

See also

References

External links