author
Stanton Coit
1857–1944
An American-born pioneer of the Ethical movement, he helped shape secular moral education and social reform in Britain after beginning his work in New York. His life connects philosophy, public service, and the early history of settlement work.
1 Audiobook
Is civilization a disease?
by Stanton Coit
About the author
Born in Columbus, Ohio, on August 11, 1857, Stanton Coit studied at Amherst College, Columbia, and the University of Berlin, where he earned a doctorate in philosophy. Early on he was influenced by Felix Adler and the Ethical Culture movement, which aimed to build a moral life around human welfare, education, and social responsibility.
In the 1880s he helped found Neighborhood Guild in New York, one of the earliest settlement houses in the United States. He later moved to Britain, where he became a leading figure in the Ethical movement and spent many years promoting ethical societies, lectures, and forms of civic religion intended for people outside traditional church life.
Coit became a British citizen in 1903 and remained an active public voice for ethical education and social reform for decades. He died on February 15, 1944, leaving behind a career tied to both American reform movements and the development of organized ethical humanism in England.