Abraham Wolf (1876 19 May 1948) was a Russian-born English historian, philosopher, writer, and rabbi.

Life

Born to a shopkeeper and his wife, Wolf simultaneously studied

mental Mental may refer to: * of or relating to the mind Films * ''Mental'' (2012 film), an Australian comedy-drama film starring Toni Collette * ''Mental'' (2016 film), a Bangladeshi romantic-action film starring Shakib Khan * ''Mental'', a 2008 docu ...

and

moral philosophy Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied et ...

at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

and

Semitic studies Semitic studies, or Semitology, is the academic field dedicated to the studies of Semitic languages and literatures and the history of the Semitic-speaking peoples. A person may be called a ''Semiticist'' or a ''Semitist'', both terms being equi ...

at the

Jews' College The London School of Jewish Studies (commonly known as LSJS, originally founded as Jews' College) is a London-based organisation providing adult educational courses and teacher training to the wider Jewish community. Many leading figures in Brit ...

. He later attended St John's College on a Jews' College scholarship and his dissertation was published by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

in 1905. Wolf is credited with introducing the

history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, where he lectured as Professor of Logic and Scientific Method from 1920 to 1941. Wolf was a scientific rationalist who embraced ideas held by

Baruch 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 ...

—many of whose works Wolf translated into English—and

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

. Wolf's 1915 collection of lectures on

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...

was "one of the earliest English discussions of the thinker". Wolf was the co-editor of the 14th edition of the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

'', published in 1929. Two volumes of his ''

A History of Science, Technology, and Philosophy in the 16th and 17th Centuries ''A History of Science, Technology, and Philosophy in the 16th and 17th Centuries'' is a book by Abraham Wolf first published in 1935 by George Allen and Unwin. A survey of the history of science in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it rece ...

'', written with the assistance of University College astronomer Angus Armitage, were published in 1935; two further volumes, '' A History of Science, Technology, and Philosophy in the 18th Century'', were published two years later. He was also a rabbi at the

Manchester Reform Synagogue The Manchester Reform Synagogue is a Reform Jewish congregation based in Central Manchester, England, in the United Kingdom. The congregation, founded in 1857 as the Manchester Congregation of British Jews, is one of the oldest Reform communiti ...

and a frequent contributor to the ''

Jewish Quarterly Review ''The Jewish Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering Jewish studies. It is published by the University of Pennsylvania Press on behalf of the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies (University of P ...

''. However, he would experience a tension between his beliefs in

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish religious movements, Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its Jewish ethics, ethical aspects to its ceremo ...

and science, and he eventually resigned from the rabbinate in 1907. By 1933, Wolf had ceased to write anything noteworthy on Judaism, having devoted himself to philosophy and secular scholarship. From 1942 until his death in 1948, he was an honorary associate of the

Rationalist Press Association The Rationalist Association was a charity in the United Kingdom which published '' New Humanist'' magazine between 1885 and 2025. Since 2025, the Rationalist Press has been the publishing imprint of Humanists UK. The original Rationalist Press ...

. In 1950, Wolf's private collection of books by and about

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 ...

—which took forty-five years to amass and was then the largest collection of its kind in the world—was transferred to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

References

Citations

Sources

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf, Abraham 1876 births 1948 deaths British historians of science British philosophers of science Jewish historians Jewish philosophers 20th-century British historians 20th-century English male writers Alumni of the University of London Alumni of the University of Cambridge 20th-century British Jews British male non-fiction writers 20th-century English historians Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge