Perry, Ralph Barton

Perry, Ralph Barton, 1876–1957, American realist philosopher, b. Poultney, Vt., grad. Princeton (B.A., 1896) and Harvard (Ph.D., 1899). He taught at Harvard from 1902, becoming professor of philosophy in 1913 and professor emeritus in 1946. He revised (1925) Alfred Weber's History of Philosophy. Editor of the works of William James, he won the 1936 Pulitzer Prize in biography for The Thought and Character of William James (1935). His other writings include The New Realism (1912), General Theory of Value (1926), Puritanism and Democracy (1944), The Realms of Value (1954), and The Humanity of Man (1956).

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Perry, Ralph Barton (1876–1957) philosopher; born in Poultney, Vt. Earning a Harvard doctorate (1899), he taught briefly at Williams and Smith Colleges, then returned to Harvard, where he taught from 1902 to 1946. He was a key advocate of the "new realism" and of philosophical clarity and precision. He outlined a naturalistic value theory in such works as The General Theory of Value (1926). His Puritanism and Democracy (1944) was a classic, and his 1935 biography of his teacher and colleague, William James, won a Pulitzer Prize. He was a U.S. Army major during World War I; later he supported the New Deal and campaigned for formation of the United Nations.