Noah Thomas Porter III (December 14, 1811 – March 4, 1892)''Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University'', Yale University, 1891-2, New Haven, pp. 82-83. was an American Congregational minister, academic, philosopher, author, lexicographer and an outspoken anti-slavery activist.

Porter Mountain Porter Mountain is one of the Adirondack High Peaks. It is number 38 in order of height, and one of the easier hikes of the Adirondack Forty-Sixers. It is named after Noah Porter, one of the first to climb it, later president of Yale University. ...

, of the Adirondack Mountains, was named for him after he was the first to climb it in 1875. He was

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of Yale College (1871–1886).

Biography

He was born to Noah Porter Jr. (1781–1866) (one of the first ministers of First Church of Christ, Congregational in Farmington, Connecticut) and his wife, born Mehitable Meigs, in Farmington, Connecticut, on December 14, 1811. His younger sister was

Sarah Porter Sarah Porter (August 16, 1813 – February 18, 1900) was the American educator who founded Miss Porter's School, a private college preparatory school for girls. Biography She was born in Farmington, Connecticut, to Rev. Noah Porter (1781 & ...

, founder of Miss Porter's School, a college preparatory school for girls. He graduated in 1831 from Yale College, where he was a member of the Linonian Society. On April 13, 1836, in New Haven, he married Mary Taylor, daughter of Nathaniel Taylor (who presided over the creation of the Yale Divinity School and created what came to be known as "

New Haven theology New England theology (or Edwardsianism) designates a school of theology which grew up among the Congregationalists of New England, originating in the year 1732, when Jonathan Edwards began his constructive theological work, culminating a little b ...

") and his wife Rebecca Marie Hine. They had several children, and two daughters survived them. He was ordained as a Congregational minister in New Milford, Connecticut, from 1836 to 1843. He served as pastor at a Congregational Church in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, th ...

, from 1843 to 1846. He was elected professor of

moral philosophy Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ...

and

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

at Yale in 1846. Porter was inaugurated as President of Yale College on Wednesday, October 11, 1871. He continued to serve as head of the college until 1886. Porter edited several editions of Webster's Dictionary, and wrote on education. Influenced by the German refugee writer and philosopher

Francis Lieber Francis Lieber (March 18, 1798 or 1800 – October 2, 1872), known as Franz Lieber in Germany, was a German-American jurist, gymnast and political philosopher. He edited an ''Encyclopaedia Americana''. He was the author of the Lieber Code duri ...

, Porter opposed slavery and integrated an antislavery position with religious liberalism. He was a frequent visitor to the

Adirondack Mountains The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular ...

of New York, and in 1875 was among the first recorded to make an ascent of the peak later named

in his honor. His best-known work is ''The Human Intellect'', with an ''Introduction upon Psychology and the Human Soul'' (1868), comprehending a general history of philosophy, and following in part the "common-sense" philosophy of the Scottish school, while accepting the Kantian doctrine of intuition, and declaring the notion of design to be ''

a priori ("from the earlier") and ("from the later") are Latin phrases used in philosophy to distinguish types of knowledge, justification, or argument by their reliance on empirical evidence or experience. knowledge is independent from current ex ...

''. Of great importance were two other works, ''Elements of Intellectual Science'' (1871) and ''Elements of Moral Science'' (1885). He died on March 4, 1892, in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

, and was buried in the Grove Street Cemetery there.

Notes

References

* Kelley, Brooks Mather. (1999)
''Yale: A History.''
New Haven:

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univers ...

.
OCLC 810552
* Levesque, George. “Noah Porter Revisited,” ''History of Higher Education Annual,'' 26 (2007), 29–66. * Welch, Lewis Sheldon and Walter Camp. (1899)
''Yale, Her Campus, Class-rooms, and Athletics.''
Boston: L. C. Page and Co
OCLC 2191518

External links

from the Antislavery Literature Project
The Human Intellect: With an Introduction upon Psychology and the Soul
via Google Books. * Peirce, C. S. (1869), "Professor Porter's ''Human Intellect''" (review), ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'' 8, 211–13 (March 18, 1869). Peirce Edition Projec
Eprint
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Noah 1811 births 1892 deaths Yale College alumni Presidents of Yale University People from Farmington, Connecticut Burials at Grove Street Cemetery American lexicographers American philosophers Burials in Connecticut American Congregationalist ministers 19th-century American clergy 19th-century lexicographers