author
F. C. S. (Ferdinand Canning Scott) Schiller
1864–1937
A lively early pragmatist, this Oxford philosopher argued that ideas should be judged by how they work in human life. He is best remembered for his own version of pragmatism, which he called “humanism.”
1 Audiobook
Tantalus : or, The future of Man
by F. C. S. (Ferdinand Canning Scott) Schiller
About the author
Born in Altona, Holstein, in 1864, Ferdinand Canning Scott Schiller was educated at Rugby and Balliol College, Oxford. After a period teaching at Cornell University, he returned to Oxford, where he became a long-serving fellow of Corpus Christi College and later a professor.
Schiller was a leading voice in the development of pragmatism in Britain. He preferred the name humanism for his approach, emphasizing that thought, logic, and truth are tied to human purposes and practical life rather than existing as detached absolutes. His work often pushed back against the dominant idealist philosophy of his time.
He was also active in the wider intellectual world, serving as president of the Aristotelian Society and later being elected a Fellow of the British Academy. He died in Los Angeles in 1937, leaving behind a body of work that still interests readers of pragmatism, logic, and the history of modern philosophy.