author

Durant Drake

1878–1933

A clear-minded American philosopher and teacher, he wrote about ethics, religion, and public life in a style praised for its lucidity and common sense. His work tried to bring big philosophical questions closer to everyday living.

1 Audiobook

Problems of Conduct: An Introductory Survey of Ethics

Problems of Conduct: An Introductory Survey of Ethics

by Durant Drake

About the author

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1878, Durant Drake studied at Harvard and later earned a doctorate in philosophy at Columbia. He went on to teach at Wesleyan before joining Vassar College, where he spent eighteen years as a professor of philosophy and became known as a thoughtful, engaging teacher.

Drake was especially interested in ethics, religion, and the practical side of philosophy. A memorial from Vassar says he described his outlook as the philosophy of a meliorist, guided by a wish to lessen needless human suffering and to spread "a clearer intelligence concerning the art of living." That practical spirit can be seen in books such as Problems of Conduct (1914), Problems of Religion (1916), America Faces the Future (1922), The New Morality (1928), and Invitation to Philosophy.

He also wrote on more abstract questions, including Mind and Its Place in Nature (1925), and was associated with early 20th-century critical realism. Drake died in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1933, leaving behind a body of work remembered for its clarity, sanity, and humane purpose.