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

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

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 explanation, interpretatio ...

Early life and education

Fullerton was born in Fatehgarh,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, the son of the Rev. Robert Stuart Fullerton and Martha White Fullerton, American

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

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 (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

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 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 tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of philosophy at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, and served as head of the department. In 1890, Fullerton was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. He was the host of the first annual meeting of the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...

in 1892 at the

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

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

, 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.

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 (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...

'' (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 American expatriates in British India Suicides by hanging in New York (state) Members of the American Philosophical Society {{US-psychologist-stub