Palmer, George Herbert

Palmer, George Herbert, 1842–1933, American educator, philosopher, and author, b. Boston, grad. Harvard, 1864, Andover Theological Seminary, 1870, studied (1867–69) in Europe. He became tutor in Greek at Harvard (1870) and taught there the rest of his career, becoming professor emeritus and overseer (1913–19). He was the first Harvard professor to abandon the textbook and recitation method of teaching philosophy and to work out his own system of ideas in lectures. His books include The Life and Works of George Herbert (1905); translations of the Odyssey and Sophocles' Antigone; The Field of Ethics (1901); and Altruism: Its Nature and Varieties (1919). He also wrote a biography (1908) of his second wife, Alice Freeman Palmer, his autobiography (1930), and a number of essays on education and other topics.

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Palmer, George Herbert (1842–1933) philosopher; born in Boston, Mass. After graduating from Harvard (1864), he studied abroad, then returned to teach Greek and (1872–1913) philosophy there. He used his well-known ethics course partly to develop his own ideas, but was most noted as a critic and expositor. His writings include The Nature of Goodness (1904), studies of Sophocles and Vergil, a 1905 biography of the poet George Herbert (after whom he was named), and a 1930 autobiography.