author
Ralph Barton Perry
1876–1957
A leading American philosopher of the early 20th century, he helped shape the school of New Realism and later won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of William James. His writing moves between big questions about truth, value, and religion and a lively interest in public life and moral responsibility.
2 Audiobooks
The Moral Economy
by Ralph Barton Perry
The Approach to Philosophy
by Ralph Barton Perry
About the author
Born in Poultney, Vermont, on July 3, 1876, Ralph Barton Perry studied at Princeton and then Harvard, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1899. After early teaching posts at Williams and Smith, he joined Harvard in 1902 and spent most of his career there, eventually serving as Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy.
Perry is best known as an important figure in American philosophy and as one of the thinkers associated with New Realism. He wrote on ethics, philosophy of value, religion, and politics, bringing a clear, practical style to difficult ideas.
He also reached a wider audience with The Thought and Character of William James, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1936. Perry died on January 22, 1957, leaving behind work that connected academic philosophy with the moral and civic questions of everyday life.