Francis Ellingwood Abbot (November 6, 1836 – October 23, 1903)
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 ...
and
theologian
Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...
who sought to reconstruct theology in accordance with the
scientific method
The scientific method is an Empirical evidence, empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and ...
.
His lifelong romance with his wife, Katharine Fearing Loring, forms the subject of ''
If Ever Two Were One'', a collection of his correspondence and diary entries.
Biography
Abbot was born to Joseph Hale Abbot and Fanny Ellingwood Larcom on November 6, 1836 in
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
. He married Katherine Fearing on August 3, 1859 in
Nashua, New Hampshire
Nashua () is a city in southern New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 91,322, the second-largest in northern New England after nearby Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester. It is on ...
. The couple had three children: Everett Vergnies, Fanny Larcom, and Edward Stanley Abbot.
As a spokesman for "free religion", he asserted that
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
, understood as based on the lordship of
Christ
Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...
, is no longer tenable. He rejected all dogma and reliance on
Scripture
Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and ...
s or creeds, teaching the truth is open to every individual.
Abbot graduated from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
and the
Meadville Theological School.
He served
Unitarian churches in
Dover, New Hampshire
Dover is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 32,741 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the most populous city in the New Hampshire Seacoast Region (New Hampshire), Seacoast region and ...
, and
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...
, but his ministry proved controversial, and in 1868 New Hampshire's highest court ruled that the Dover, New Hampshire, First Unitarian Society of Christians' chosen minister was insufficiently "Christian" to serve his congregation. ''See Hale v. Everett,'' 53 N.H. 9 (1868). The Rev. Abbot had, it said, once preached that:
::Whoever has been so fired in his own spirit by the overwhelming thought of the Divine Being as to kindle the flames of faith in the hearts of his fellow men, whether Confucius, or Zoroaster, or Moses, or Jesus, or Mohammed, has thereby proved himself to be a prophet of the living God; and thus every great historic religion dates from a genuine inspiration by the Eternal Spirit.
In another sermon, the court noted, Rev. Abbot had even declared that
::America is every whit as sacred as Judea. God is as near to you and to me, as ever he was to Moses, to Jesus, or to Paul. Wherever a human soul is born into the love of truth and high virtue, there is the "Holy Land." Wherever a human soul has uttered its sincere and brave faith in the Divine, and thus bequeathed to us the legacy of inspired words, there is the "Holy Bible."
"If Protestantism would include Mr. Abbot in this case," New Hampshire's highest court concluded,
::it would of course include Thomas Jefferson, and by the same rule also Thomas Paine, whom Gov. Plumer of New Hampshire called "that outrageous blasphemer," that "infamous blasphemer," "that miscreant Paine," whose "Age of Reason" Plumer had read "with unqualified disapprobation of its tone and temper, its coarse vulgarity, and its unfair appeals to the passions and prejudices of his readers."
''Hale v. Everett,'' 53 N.H. 9, 87-88 (1868).
But opinions concerning Abbot diverged widely.
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...
, for example, praised Frank Abbot for doing "much to break the fetters of religious superstition, for which he is entitled to gratitude." ''Letter from Hon. Frederick Douglass to Rev. M.J. Savage'' (June 15, 1880), published in ''Farewell Dinner to Francis Ellingwood Abbot, on Retiring from the Editorship of "The Index"'' 48 (George H. Ellis, 1880).
Following the controversy in New Hampshire, Abbot left the ministry in 1868 to write, edit, and teach. Abbot's theological position was stated in ''Scientific Theism'' (1885) and ''The Way Out of Agnosticism'' (1890). In the latter book,
Josiah Royce
Josiah Royce (; November 20, 1855 – September 14, 1916) was an American Pragmatism, pragmatist and objective idealism, objective idealist philosopher and the founder of American idealism. His philosophical ideas included his joining of pragmatis ...
wrote an article so scathing that Abbot took it as an unfair attempt to destroy his reputation, and eventually responded publicly with ''Mr. Royce's Libel'' (1891 October) in which he sought redress from Royce's employer Harvard University. The debate moved to the pages of ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly 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 ...
'', where
Charles Sanders Peirce
Charles Sanders Peirce ( ; September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American scientist, mathematician, logician, and philosopher who is sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism". According to philosopher Paul Weiss (philosopher), Paul ...
took Abbot's side;
William James
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th c ...
and Joseph Bangs Warner, less so. In his 1903 obituary of Abbot, Peirce praised Abbot's philosophical work and love of truth, and wrote that, in the introduction to ''Scientific Theism'' (wherein Abbot criticized
nominalism
In metaphysics, nominalism is the view that universals and abstract objects do not actually exist other than being merely names or labels. There are two main versions of nominalism. One denies the existence of universals—that which can be inst ...
and traced it through Kant among others), Abbot "put his finger unerringly
..upon the one great blunder of all modern philosophy." (For the full texts of the public controversy and the obituary, see "External links" below.)
Abbot committed
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death.
Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
in 1903 by taking sleeping pills at his wife's gravesite in Central Cemetery, Beverly, Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of her death.
See also
*
American philosophy
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 ...
*
List of American philosophers
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 ...
Notes
External links
*
** Abbot, F. E. (1891), ''A Public Appeal for Redress to the Corporation and Overseers of Harvard University'', Geo. H. Ellis, 141 Franklin Street, 48 pages, Gutenber
Eprint
*
* Abbot, F. E. (1885) ''Scientific Theism'', University Press, John Wilson and Son, Cambridge (MA).
via ''Arisbe''. Third Edition (1888) xvii + 219 pages.
**, 3rd edition (1888), via Google Books.
1
Eprint 3rd edition (1888) via ''Internet Archive''.
* Abbot, F. E. (1906), ''The Syllogistic Philosophy or Prolegomena to Science'', Little, Brown, and Company, Boston, two vols., vol. 1, xiii + 317 pages, vol. 2, vi + 374 pages.
:
* Abbot, F. E. (1890),
The Way Out of Agnosticism, or the Philosophy of Free Religion', London: MacMillan and Co, and Cambridge, USA: University Press: John Wilson and Son, via Internet Archive
1
**
Royce, Josiah (1890),
Dr. Abbot's 'Way Out of Agnosticism, ''International Journal of Ethics'' v. 1, n. 1, October, Philadelphia: International Journal of Ethics and London: T. Fisher Unwin, pp. 98–113 via Google Books.
1.
** Abbot, F. E. (1891),
Professor Royce's Libel: Public Appeal for Redress to the Corporation and Overseers of Harvard University', public letter (dated October 1, 1891) published as pamphlet, Boston: G. H. Ellis, via ''Internet Archive''.
**
Peirce, C. S. (1891 November 12),
Abbot against Royce (letter in support of Abbot), ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly 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 ...
'' v. 53, n. 1376, New York: The Evening Post Publishing Company, p. 372 via Google Books.
1
**
James, William (1891 November 19),
Abbot against Royce (letter dated November 15, 1891), ''The Nation'', v. 53, n. 1377, pp. 387–388 via Google Books.
1
** Warner, Joseph Bangs (1891 November 26),
The Suppression of Dr. Abbot's Reply (letter dated November 20, 1891), ''The Nation'' v. 53, n. 1378, p. 408 via Google Books.
1
** Abbot, F. E. (1891 December 3),
Mr. Warner's 'Evidence in Full' Completed (letter dated November 28, 1891), along with editor's note declining further responses, ''The Nation'' v. 53, n. 1379, p. 426 via Google Books.
1Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography edited by James Grant Wilson, John Fiske and Stanley L. Klos. Six volumes, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887–1889
* Bishop Quaid and Abbot, F. E. (1876), ''The Public School Question, as Understood by a Catholic American Citizen and a Liberal American Citizen: Two Lectures before the Free Religious Association in Horticultural Hall, Boston'', Free Religious Tracts No. 5, The Free Religious Association, Boston, 100 pages
Eprintvia Internet Archive.
1
*Th
family papersof Francis Ellingwood Abbot are in the Harvard Divinity School Library at
Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the religious studies, academic study of religion or for leadership role ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
.
*Th
historical recordsof Francis Ellingwood Abbot are held by
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
.
*Peirce, C. S. (1903), "To the Editor of ''The Nation''" (obituary for F. E. Abbot), dated Oct. 27, 1903, published Nov. 5, 1903, ''The Nation'' v. 77, n. 2001, p. 360
Eprint(scroll down). ''Google Books'
Eprint
1 Users outside the US may not yet be able to gain full access to editions linked through Google Books. See official Google ''Inside Google Book Search'' blog post "From the mail bag: Public domain books and downloads", November 9, 2006, 11:19 AM, posted by Ryan Sands, Google Book Search Support Team
/span>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbot, Francis Ellingwood
1836 births
1903 deaths
Harvard College alumni
Philosophers from Massachusetts
19th-century American philosophers
Suicides by poison
19th-century Unitarian clergy
Writers from Boston
General Society of Colonial Wars
Philosophical theists
1903 suicides