Woodbridge Riley
| I. Woodbridge Riley | |
|---|---|
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| Born | May 20, 1869 New York City |
| Died | September 2, 1933 Cape May, New Jersey |
| Occupation | Historian of philosophy, writer |
Isaac Woodbridge Riley (20 May 1869 – 2 September 1933)[1] was an American historian of philosophy whose studies of Mormonism and Christian Science made him a focus of controversy. Most of his career was spent as a professor at Vassar College.
Biography
Riley was born in New York City. He graduated from Yale University in 1892, and took the degrees of A.M. and Ph.D. there in 1898 and 1902 respectively.[2] He was Johnston research scholar at Johns Hopkins University in 1904-07, and in 1908 became professor of philosophy at Vassar. After 1903, he was associate editor of the Psychological Bulletin.[2]
Riley's Ph.D. thesis at Yale was The Founder of Mormonism: A Psychological Study of Joseph Smith, published in 1902.[2] It was positively reviewed in psychology journals.[3] Riley suspected that Joseph Smith acquired his visions from epileptic seizures. He wrote that the "psychiatric definition of the epileptic fits the prophet to a dot."[4] He associated Smith's dictation of the Book of Mormon with the phenomenon of automatic writing.[5]
Criticism of Christian Science
He is known for his book The Faith, the Falsity and the Failure of Christian Science (1925), co-authored with physician Charles Edward Humiston and lawyer Frederick William Peabody. The book argues that Christian Science has no scientific legitimacy, it also records many cases of death caused by its practitioners due to lack of medical treatment.[6]
Riley argued that Mary Baker Eddy plagiarized her ideas from Franz Mesmer, Phineas Quimby and the Shakers.[7]
Publications
Books
- The Founder of Mormonism (1902) [with an introduction and preface by George Trumbull Ladd]
- American Philosophy: The Early Schools (1907)
- American Thought from Puritanism to Pragmatism and Beyond (1915)[8]
- Bismarck and His Policies (1917)
- The Faith, the Falsity and the Failure of Christian Science (1925) [with Charles Edward Humiston and Frederick William Peabody]
- From Myth to Reason: The Story of the March of Mind in the Interpretation of Nature (1926)
- Men and Morals: The Story of Ethics (1929)
- The Meaning of Mysticism (1930)
Papers
- Woodbridge, Riley. (1905). Recent Theories of Genius. The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods 2 (13): 345–352.
- Woodbridge, Riley. (1909). Transcendentalism and Pragmatism: A Comparative Study. The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods 6 (10): 263–266.
- Woodbridge, Riley. (1910). Reviewed Work: The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science by Georgine Milmine. The American Historical Review 15 (4): 898–900.
- Woodbridge, Riley. (1918). Early Free-Thinking Societies in America. The Harvard Theological Review 11 (3): 247–284.
Reviews
- Woodbridge, Riley. (1910). The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science. The American Historical Review 15 (4): 898–899.
- Woodbridge, Riley. (1924). Man and His Ideas. The Outlook 138 (9): 334–338.
- Woodbridge, Riley. (1925). The Blavatskian Puzzle. The Saturday Review 1 (46): 822–823.
- Woodbridge, Riley. (1928). Esoteric Cults. The Saturday Review 5 (20): 455.
- Woodbridge, Riley. (1929). Mrs. Eddy: The Biography of a Virginal Mind. The Saturday Review 6 (7): 103–104.
- Woodbridge, Riley. (1932). A New Life of Mrs. Eddy. The Saturday Review 9 (14): 192–193.
References
- ↑ Shook, John R. (2005). Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers. Volume 1. Thoemmes Continuum. p. 2053. ISBN 1-84371-037-4
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Woodbridge Riley". Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ↑ Anonymous. (1903). Review of The Founder of Mormonism: A Psychological Study of Joseph Smith, Jr. Psychological Review 10 (1): 69–70.
- ↑ Aron, Paul. (2006). Mysteries in History: From Prehistory to the Present. ABC-CLIO. p. 248. ISBN 1-85109-899-2
- ↑ Vogel, Dan. (2004). Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet. Signature Books. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-56085-179-0
- ↑ Ravenel, M. P. (1926). The Faith, the Falsity and the Failure of Christian Science. American Journal of Public Health 16 (2): 168–169.
- ↑ Anonymous. (1925). The Faith, The Falsity and The Failure of Christian Science. JAMA 85 (12): 924.
- ↑ Alexander, H. B. Reviewed Work: American Thought by Woodbridge Riley. The Philosophical Review 24 (4): 450–453.
- Attribution
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External links
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Wikisource has original works written by or about: Woodbridge Riley |
- Works by Woodbridge Riley at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Articles with hCards
- Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the Encyclopedia Americana with a Wikisource reference
- Wikipedia articles incorporating text from Encyclopedia Americana
- 1869 births
- 1933 deaths
- American editors
- American male writers
- American philosophers
- American skeptics
- Critics of Christian Science
- Critics of Mormonism
- Critics of Theosophy
- Historians of philosophy
- Writers from New York City
- Vassar College faculty
- Yale University alumni
