Edwin Arthur Burtt (October 11, 1892 – September 6, 1989), usually cited as E. A. Burtt, was an

American philosopher American philosophy is the activity, corpus, and tradition of philosophers affiliated with the United States. The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' notes that while it lacks a "core of defining features, American Philosophy can neverthe ...

who wrote extensively on the

philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known Text (literary theo ...

. His doctoral thesis published as a book under the title ''The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science'' has had a significant influence upon 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 ...

that is not generally recognized, according to H. Floris Cohen.

Biography

He was born on October 11, 1892, in Groton,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. His missionary parents took Burtt to China for several of his teenage years. He was educated at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. He graduated from Yale in 1915, where he was a member of

Skull and Bones Skull and Bones (also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death) is an undergraduate senior Secret society#Colleges and universities, secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior-class ...

. He attended Union Theological Seminary and

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 ...

. He became the Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1941. He died on September 6, 1989, in Ithaca,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Work

Though he maintained throughout his life a sympathy towards religious values and beliefs, he acknowledged that his philosophy had been marked by a reaction towards what he saw as his own father's too narrow outlook. Although Burtt participated in drafting the

Humanist Manifesto I ''A Humanist Manifesto'', also known as ''Humanist Manifesto I'' to distinguish it from later '' Humanist Manifestos'' in the series, was written in 1933 primarily by Raymond Bragg and published with 34 signers. Unlike the later manifestos, this ...

, he did not work on the project further, because he lost interest after his ideas that spiritual experience is the identification with categories of space, time, causality, and other fundamental physical principles were never included in the final publications. However, in 1973 he was one of the signers of the

Humanist Manifesto II ''Humanist Manifesto II'', written in 1973 by humanists Paul Kurtz and Edwin H. Wilson, was an update to the previous ''Humanist Manifesto'' published in 1933, and the second entry in the '' Humanist Manifesto'' series. It begins with a stat ...

Legacy

Based on his own statements,

Thomas Kuhn Thomas Samuel Kuhn (; July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American History and philosophy of science, historian and philosopher of science whose 1962 book ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' was influential in both academic and ...

may very well have been unaware that in building on the philosophy of

Alexandre Koyré Alexandre Koyré (; ; born Alexandr Vladimirovich (or Volfovich) Koyra; 29 August 1892 – 28 April 1964), also anglicized as Alexander Koyre, was a French philosopher of Russian origin who wrote on the history and philosophy of science. ...

, he was in turn building on the philosophy of Burtt whose influence upon Koyré has been demonstrated as substantial.Diane Davis Villemaire, 2002, pp. 3–4

Publications

*''The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science. A Historical and Critical Essay'' (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner; 1924, 1925) *''The Metaphysics of

Sir Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment that followed. His book (''Mathe ...

'' (1925) *''Principles and Problems of Right Thinking'' (1928) *''Religion in an Age of Science'' (1930) *''The English Philosophers, from Bacon to Mill'' (1939) *''Types of Religious Philosophy'' (1939) *''The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha'' (1955) *''Man Seeks the Divine: A Study in the History and Comparison of Religions'' (1957) *''In Search of Philosophic Understanding'' (1965) *''Light, Love and Life'' (1986)

Notes

Sources

* Diane Davis Villemaire
''E.A. Burtt, Historian and Philosopher: A Study of the author of The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science''
(Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science), Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002, .

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burtt, Edwin Arthur 1892 births 1989 deaths American philosophers of science Yale University alumni Union Theological Seminary alumni Cornell University faculty 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American philosophers Members of Skull and Bones