Borden Parker Bowne was an American Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 philosopher and theologian in the Methodist

Methodism

Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...

 tradition. In 1876 he became a professor of philosophy at Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

, where he taught for more than thirty years. He later served as dean of the graduate school. Bowne was an acute critic of positivism

Positivism

Positivism is a a view of scientific methods and a philosophical approach, theory, or system based on the view that, in the social as well as natural sciences, sensory experiences and their logical and mathematical treatment are together the exclusive source of all worthwhile information....

 and naturalism

Naturalism (philosophy)

Naturalism commonly refers to the philosophical viewpoint that the natural universe and its natural laws and forces operate in the universe, and that nothing exists beyond the natural universe or, if it does, it does not affect the natural universe that we know...

. He categorized his views as Kant

KANT

KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...

ianized Berkeley

George Berkeley

George Berkeley , also known as Bishop Berkeley , was an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism"...

anism, transcendental empiricism and, finally, personalism

Personalism

Personalism is a philosophical school of thought searching to describe the uniqueness of a human person in the world of nature, specifically in relation to animals...

, a philosophical branch of liberal theology

Liberal Christianity

Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward...

: of this branch Bowne is the dominant figure; this personalism is sometimes called Boston Personalism, in contrast with the California Personalism of George Holmes Howison

George Holmes Howison

George Holmes Howison was an American philosopher who established the philosophy department at the University of California, Berkeley and held the position there of Mills Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy and Civil Polity. He also founded the Philosophical Union, one of the oldest...

. Bowne's masterpiece, Metaphysics, appeared in 1882. Bowne was chiefly influenced by Hermann Lotze.

Legacy

Bowne has influenced philosophy in various ways. For instance, there has been a direct line of personalists from Bowne through his student, Edgar Sheffield Brightman (1884-1954), through Brightman's student, Peter Anthony Bertocci (1910-1989), to Bertocci's student, Thomas O. Buford

Thomas Buford

Thomas O. Buford holds the Louis G. Forgione Chair of Philosophy at Furman University and has been an adherent of the Boston Personalist branch of philosophy.-Academic career:Buford joined the faculty at Furman University in 1969...

 (1932- ).

There has also been a more general influence, as with Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...

, who studied at Boston University, and spoke in his Stride toward Freedom of having gained "a metaphysical basis for the dignity and worth of all human personality."

See also

• American philosophy
  American philosophy
  American philosophy is the philosophical activity or output of Americans, both within the United States and abroad. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes that while American philosophy lacks a "core of defining features, American Philosophy can nevertheless be seen as both reflecting and...
  
  
• John Paul II
• List of American philosophers
• Personalism
  Personalism
  Personalism is a philosophical school of thought searching to describe the uniqueness of a human person in the world of nature, specifically in relation to animals...
  
  
• Max Scheler
  Max Scheler
  Max Scheler was a German philosopher known for his work in phenomenology, ethics, and philosophical anthropology...
  
  

Further reading

• Bowne’s papers are in the Special Collections Division of the Mugar Memorial Library at Boston University.
• Auxier, Randall E., ed. The Relevance of Borden Parker Bowne, special issue of The Personalist Forum, 13:1 (1997).
• Auxier, Randall E. “Bowne on Time, Evolution and History,” in Journal of Speculative Philosophy 12 (1998): 181-203.
• Bowne, Kate Morrison. “An Intimate Portrait of Bowne,” in Personalist 2 (1921): 5-15.
• Burrow, Rufus, Jr. Personalism: A Critical Introduction (St. Louis, 1999).
• Dearing, Mary H. “Reminiscences of Borden Parker Bowne,” Philosophical Forum 15 (1957-58): 51-55.
• Deats, Paul, and Carol Robb. The Boston Personalist Tradition in Philosophy, Social Ethics and Theology (Macon, GA, 1986).
• Dorrien, Gary. The Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion, 1805-1900 (Louisville, 2001): 371-392.
• Flewelling, Ralph Tyler and Rudolf Eucken. Personalism and the Problems of Philosophy: An Appreciation of the Work of Borden Parker Bowne (New York, 1915).
• Franquiz Ventura, Jose A. Borden Parker Bowne’s Treatment of the Problem of Change and Identity (Rio Piedras, 1942).
• Gacka, Bogumił. Bibliography of American Personalism (Lublin, 1994).
• Knudson, Albert C. The Philosophy of Personalism (New York, 1927).
• Knudson, Albert C. “Bowne as Teacher and Author,” in Personalist 1 (1920): 5-14.
• Lazarus, Frederick. The Metaphysics of Ramanuja and Bowne (Bombay, 1962).
• March, Daniel L. “Borden Parker Bowne,” in Bostonia, 10 (1937): 3-13.
• McConnell, Francis J. Borden Parker Bowne: His Life and Philosophy (New York, 1929).
• Pyle, Charles Bertram. The Philosophy of Borden Parker Bowne and Its Application to the Religious Problem (Columbus, OH, 1910).
• Robinson, Daniel S., ed. “Borden Parker Bowne’s Letters to William T. Harris,” in Philosophical Forum, 13 (1955): 89-95.
• Smith, Harmon L. “Borden Parker Bowne: Heresy at Boston,” in American Religious Heretics: Formal and Informal Trials (New York, 1966): 148-187.
• Steinkraus, Warren E., ed. Representative Essays of Borden Parker Bowne (Utica, NY, 1981).
• Werkmeister, William H. “The Personalism of Bowne” in A History of Philosophical Ideas in America (New York, 1949): 103-121.