Noah Thomas Porter III (December 14, 1811 – March 4, 1892)''Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University'', Yale University, 1891-2, New Haven, pp. 82-83. was an American

Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

minister, academic, philosopher, author,

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...

and an outspoken anti-slavery activist. Porter Mountain, of the Adirondack Mountains, was named for him after he was the first to climb it in 1875. He was President of

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

(1871–1886).

Biography

He was born to Noah Porter Jr. (1781–1866) (one of the first ministers of First Church of Christ, Congregational in

Farmington, Connecticut Farmington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region. The populati ...

) and his wife, born Mehitable Meigs, in Farmington, Connecticut, on December 14, 1811. His younger sister was Sarah Porter, founder of Miss Porter's School, a college preparatory school for girls. He graduated in 1831 from Yale College, where he was a member of the Linonian Society. On April 13, 1836, in New Haven, he married Mary Taylor, daughter of Nathaniel Taylor (who presided over the creation of the

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 ...

and created what came to be known as " New Haven theology") and his wife Rebecca Marie Hine. They had several children, and two daughters survived them. He was ordained as a

minister in

New Milford, Connecticut New Milford is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town, part of Greater Danbury, as well as the New York Metropolitan Area, has a population of 28,115 as of the 2020 census. New Milford lies north of Danbury on the ...

, from 1836 to 1843. He served as pastor at a Congregational Church in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

, from 1843 to 1846. He was elected professor of

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 ...

and

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

at Yale in 1846. Porter was inaugurated as President of Yale College on Wednesday, October 11, 1871. He continued to serve as head of the college until 1886. Porter edited several editions of

Webster's Dictionary ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the US English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by Noah Webster (1758–1843), a US lexicographer, as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...

, and wrote on education. Influenced by the German refugee writer and philosopher Francis Lieber, Porter opposed slavery and integrated an antislavery position with religious liberalism. He was a frequent visitor to the

Adirondack Mountains The Adirondack Mountains ( ) are a massif of mountains in Northeastern New York which form a circular dome approximately wide and covering about . The region contains more than 100 peaks, including Mount Marcy, which is the highest point in Ne ...

of New York, and in 1875 was among the first recorded to make an ascent of the peak later named Porter Mountain in his honor. His best-known work is ''The Human Intellect'', with an ''Introduction upon Psychology and the Human Soul'' (1868), comprehending a general history of philosophy, and following in part the "common-sense" philosophy of the Scottish school, while accepting the Kantian doctrine of intuition, and declaring the notion of design to be ''

a priori ('from the earlier') and ('from the later') are Latin phrases used in philosophy to distinguish types of knowledge, Justification (epistemology), justification, or argument by their reliance on experience. knowledge is independent from any ...

''. Of great importance were two other works, ''Elements of Intellectual Science'' (1871) and ''Elements of Moral Science'' (1885). He died on March 4, 1892, in

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

, and was buried in the

Grove Street Cemetery Grove Street Cemetery or Grove Street Burial Ground is a cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut, that is surrounded by the Yale University campus. It was organized in 1796 as the New Haven Burying Ground and incorporated in October 1797 to replace th ...

there.

Notes

References

* Kelley, Brooks Mather. (1999)
''Yale: A History.''
New Haven:

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

.
OCLC 810552
* Levesque, George. “Noah Porter Revisited,” ''History of Higher Education Annual,'' 26 (2007), 29–66. * Welch, Lewis Sheldon and Walter Camp. (1899)
''Yale, Her Campus, Class-rooms, and Athletics.''
Boston: L. C. Page and Co
OCLC 2191518

External links

from the Antislavery Literature Project
The Human Intellect: With an Introduction upon Psychology and the Soul
via Google Books. * * Peirce, C. S. (1869), "Professor Porter's ''Human Intellect''" (review), ''

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 ...

'' 8, 211–13 (March 18, 1869). Peirce Edition Projec
Eprint
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Noah 1811 births 1892 deaths Yale College alumni Presidents of Yale University People from Farmington, Connecticut Burials at Grove Street Cemetery 19th-century American philosophers American Congregationalist ministers 19th-century American clergy 19th-century American lexicographers