Occupation Editor, Philosopher Name Ruth Anshen | Role Philosopher | |
Books The Mystery of Consciousness Similar People Ernst Jaeckh, Noam Chomsky, Adolph Lowe, Norman D Newell, Jonas Salk | ||
Ruth Nanda Anshen (June 14, 1900 – December 2, 2003) was an American philosopher, author and editor. She was the author of several books including The Anatomy of Evil, Biography of An Idea, Morals Equals Manners and The Mystery of Consciousness: A Prescription for Human Survival.
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Life
Anshen was born on June 14, 1900 in Lynn, Massachusetts to Jewish Russian immigrants. She studied at Boston University under Alfred North Whitehead. During her education, she developed a desire to unite scholars from all over the world from varying to fields. In 1941, she put together the Science of Culture Series, hoping to develop a “unitary principle under which there could be subsumed and evaluated the nature of man and the nature of life, the relationship of knowledge to life.” This series continued on for two decades and included Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Thomas Mann, and Whitehead on its board of editors.
She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts of London, a member of the American Philosophical Association, the History of Science Society, the International Philosophical Society and the Metaphysical Society of America. In 1958, she established the Anshen-Columbia University Seminars on the Nature of Man. Anshen died at age 103.
Career
Anshen was the editor of several series of books, including the World Perspectives Series, published by Harper & Row, of which two volumes were by Erich Fromm: The Art of Loving (Volume 9) and To Have or to Be? (Volume 50). Another notable was Deschooling Society (Volume 44) by Ivan Illich. She also edited the Religious Perspectives Series, published by Harper & Row), Credo Perspectives Series, published by Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster, The Perspectives in Humanism Series, published by World Publishing Company, The Tree of Life Series published by Seabury Press, and The Convergence Series published by Columbia University Press.