Arthur Mitchell

author

Arthur Mitchell

1872–1953

Best known for bringing Henri Bergson’s ideas into English, this American translator and scholar helped open early 20th-century philosophy to a wider readership. He also wrote academic work of his own, including a study of Bergson’s thought.

1 Audiobook

Humanistic Studies of the University of Kansas, Vol. 1

Humanistic Studies of the University of Kansas, Vol. 1

by Edmund Dresser Cressman, De Witt Clinton Croissant, Pearl Hogrefe, Arthur Mitchell

About the author

Born in Chicago on July 6, 1872, and later dying in Berkeley on January 4, 1953, Arthur Mitchell was an American translator and academic writer. Library and authority records identify him as a translator, and surviving book records connect him most strongly with philosophy.

Mitchell is best remembered as the translator of Henri Bergson’s Creative Evolution, a widely circulated English version of one of Bergson’s major works. Records from Project Gutenberg and The Online Books Page also show his own Studies in Bergson's Philosophy, which suggests he was not only translating Bergson but engaging seriously with his ideas as a scholar.

Although not a widely known literary figure today, Mitchell’s work sits in that useful space between scholarship and access: he helped complex writing travel farther. For listeners interested in classic philosophy, translation history, or overlooked academic voices, he is an intriguing presence behind the text.