Ruth Nanda Anshen (June 14, 1900 – December 2, 2003) was an American philosopher, author and editor. She was the author of several books including ''The Anatomy of Evil'', ''Biography of An Idea'', ''Morals Equals Manners'' and ''The Mystery of Consciousness: A Prescription for Human Survival''.

Life

Anshen was born on June 14, 1900 in Lynn,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

to Jewish Russian immigrants. She studied at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

under

Alfred North Whitehead Alfred North Whitehead (15 February 1861 – 30 December 1947) was an English mathematician and philosopher. He is best known as the defining figure of the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which today has found applicat ...

. During her education, she developed a desire to unite scholars from all over the world from varying fields. In 1941, she put together the Science of Culture Series, hoping to develop a "unitary principle under which there could be subsumed and evaluated the nature of man and the nature of life, the relationship of knowledge to life."

Death

Ruth Nanda Anshen died at age 103 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on December 2, 2003.

Affiliations and Legacy

She was a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, 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 scholarly ...

, the

History of Science Society The History of Science Society (HSS) is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science. It was founded in 1924 by George Sarton, David Eugene Smith, and Lawrence Joseph Henderson, primarily to support the public ...

, and 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 1958, she established the Anshen-Columbia University Seminars on the Nature of Man. In the 1990s, the Council for the Anshen Transdisciplinary Lectureships in Art, Science and the Philosophy of Culture included

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

Fred Hoyle Sir Fred Hoyle FRS (24 June 1915 – 20 August 2001) was an English astronomer who formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and was one of the authors of the influential B2FH paper. He also held controversial stances on other sci ...

, Paul O. Kristeller,

Edith Porada Edith Porada (22 August 1912, Vienna – 24 March 1994, Honolulu) was an Austrian-born art historian and archaeologist, a leading authority on ancient cylinder seals and a professor of art history and archaeology at Columbia University. About P ...

Meyer Schapiro Meyer Schapiro (23 September 1904 – 3 March 1996) was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for developing new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art. An expert on earl ...

, Hugh Thomas,

John A. Wheeler John Archibald Wheeler (July 9, 1911April 13, 2008) was an American theoretical physicist. He was largely responsible for reviving interest in general relativity in the United States after World War II. Wheeler also worked with Niels Bohr in e ...

, and

C. N. Yang Yang Chen-Ning or Chen-Ning Yang (; born 1 October 1922), also known as C. N. Yang or by the English name Frank Yang, is a Chinese Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to statistical mechanics, integrab ...

Career

Anshen was the editor of several series of books, including the World Perspectives Series, published by

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

, of which two volumes were by

Erich Fromm Erich Seligmann Fromm (; ; March 23, 1900 – March 18, 1980) was a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was a German Jew who fled the Nazi regime and settled in the U ...

: ''

The Art of Loving ''The Art of Loving'' is a 1956 book by psychoanalyst and social philosopher Erich Fromm. It was originally published as part of the '' World Perspectives'' series edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen. In this work, Fromm develops his perspective on huma ...

'' (Volume 9) and ''

To Have or to Be? ''To Have or to Be?'' is a 1976 book by psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, in which he differentiates between having and being. It was originally published in the World Perspectives book series edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen for Harper & Row publishing fir ...

'' (Volume 50). Another notable was ''

Deschooling Society ''Deschooling Society'' is a 1971 book written by Austrian author Ivan Illich that critiques the role and practice of education in the modern world. Summary ''Deschooling Society'' begins as a polemical work that then proposes suggestions for ...

'' (Volume 44) by

Ivan Illich Ivan Dominic Illich ( , ; 4 September 1926 – 2 December 2002) was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher, and social critic. His 1971 book '' Deschooling Society'' criticises modern society's institutional approach to edu ...

.''Deschooling Society,'' Ivan Illich, Harper & Row, 1971 She also edited the ''Religious Perspectives Series'' (

), ''Perspectives in Humanism Series'' (

World Publishing Company The World Publishing Company was an American publishing company. The company published genre fiction, trade paperbacks, children's literature, nonfiction books, textbooks, Bibles, and dictionaries,Seabury Press HarperOne is a publishing imprint of HarperCollins, specializing in books that aim to "transform, inspire, change lives, and influence cultural discussions." Under the original name of Harper San Francisco, the imprint was founded in 1977 by 13 em ...

), and '' The Convergence Series'' (

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fiel ...

Selected works

*''Freedom: Its Meaning'' (1940) *''Beyond Victory'' (1943) *''The Family: Its Function and Destiny'' (1949) *''Moral Principles of Action: Man's Ethical Imperative (1952) *''Language : an enquiry into its meaning and function'' (1957) *''The Reality of the Devil: The Evil in Man'' (1974) *''The Anatomy of Evil'' (1985), Revised edition of ''The Reality of the Devil: Evil in Man'' (1974) *''Biography of An Idea'' (1986) *''Morals Equals Manners'' (1992) *''The Mystery of Consciousness: A Prescription for Human Survival'' (1994)

References

External links

World Perspectives Series
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anshen, Ruth Nanda 1900 births 2003 deaths American centenarians American people of Russian-Jewish descent Philosophers from Massachusetts Jewish philosophers American women editors American women philosophers Members of the American Philosophical Society Women centenarians 20th-century American women 21st-century American women