Theodore de Leo de Laguna (July 22, 1876 – September 22, 1930) was an American philosopher who taught for years at Bryn Mawr College and was known as an early feminist.
Theodore de Laguna | |
|---|---|
 de Laguna in 1906 | |
| Born | Theodore de Leo de Laguna July 22, 1876 Oakland, California, US |
| Died | September 22, 1930 (aged 54) |
| Education | UC Berkeley BA, MA (1899) Cornell University PhD (1901) |
| Occupation | Philosopher |
| Spouse | Grace Mead Andrus m. 1905 |
Biography
editTheodore de Leo de Laguna was born on 22 July 1876 in Oakland, California.[1][2]
He was the son of Alexander Francisco Lopez de Leo de Laguna, a French-born educator and businessman, and Fredericke (Bergner) de Laguna of Saxony.[1][2][3][4] His mother died young, and he was raised by his older sister Frederica.
He received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1896, an M.A. in 1899, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Cornell University in 1901.[2]
In 1901 he volunteered as a teacher in the Philippines in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War.
Upon his return he taught at Cornell, where he met and, in 1905, married Grace Mead Andrus.[2]
In 1905, he accepted a position as a professor at the University of Michigan.[2]
In 1907 Theodore began teaching philosophy at Bryn Mawr College.[5] His wife would also join the department in 1912.[6]
He died on 22 September 1930.[5] His wife, would succeed to him as chair of the department and live on until 1978.[6]
Theodore and Grace had two children. A daughter, the anthropologist Frederica de Laguna (1906-2004),[6] and a son, the geologist Wallace de Laguna (1910-1980).[6][7][8][9]
Works
editBooks
edit- (with Grace de Laguna) Dogmatism and Evolution:Studies in Modern Philosophy (1910)
- Introduction to the Science of Ethics (1914)
- The Factors of Social Evolution (1926)
Select journal papers
edit- (1915) ’The Postulates of Deductive Logic’, The Journal of Philosophy, 12(9), pp. 225–236.
- (2019) ‘A Nominalistic Interpretation of Truth’ (edited by J. Katzav) British Journal for the History of Philosophy 27:5, pp. 1034–1040
References
edit- ^ a b Montoya, Leopoldo M. (2000). "De Laguna, Theodore de Leo (1876-1930), philosopher". American National Biography. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.2001540. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7. Retrieved 2019-09-08.
de Laguna, Theodore de Leo (22 July 1876–22 September 1930), philosopher, was born in Oakland, California, the son of Alexander Francisco López de Leo de Laguna, a private educator and businessman, and Frederica Henrietta Bergner. De Laguna was raised in the Californian home of his pietistic parents, two of the famous "pilgrims of 1848," one French and one German, as a frail and precocious child. His mother died while he was small. He studied first at home with his older sister Frederica and later attended the Oakland public schools and the University of California at Berkeley. At the university he earned a bachelor of arts in 1896 and a master of arts in philosophy and English literature in 1899. He then moved to Cornell University, and in 1901 he obtained his doctorate in philosophy with the thesis, "The Relation of Ethics to Evolution."...
- ^ a b c d e History of the University of Michigan by Burke Aaron Hinsdale, p. 360_341 (1906) "THEODORE DE LEO de LAGUNA was born at Oakland, Cahfornia, July 22, 1876, son of Alexander de Leo and Frederica Henrietta (Bergner) de Laguna. On the father's side he is of Spanish, French, and Italian origin; his maternal ancestry is German. After a preparatory training in the public schools of his native place he entered the University of California, and was graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1896 and Master of Arts three years later. He pursued post-graduate studies at Cornell University, where he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1901. He taught in the Philippine Islands from 1901 to 1903, after which he returned to this country and was Honorary Fellow in Philosophy at Cornell University in 1903-1904, and Assistant in Philosophy the following year. In 1905 he accepted a call to the University of Michigan as Assistant Professor of Education. He is a member of the American Philosophical Association. He has contributed articles on Ethics and Aesthetics to "The Philosophical Review" and to the first volume of the University of California Publications in Philosophy. He was married September 9, 1905, to Grace Mead Andrus."
- ^ "Editor's e-mail communication with Frederica de Laguna". Anthropology & Archeology of Eurasia. 38 (3): 9–10. 1999-12-01. doi:10.2753/AAE1061-195938039. ISSN 1061-1959.
...my father's father was of Spanish extraction though his parents were French citizens and he was born in France. He married a German from Saxony, Fredericke Bergner.
- ^ de Laguna, Frederica (2004) "Becoming an Anthropologist: My Debt to European and Other Scholars Who Influenced Me." In: Coming to Shore: Northwest Coast Ethnology, Traditions, and Visions, ed. by Marie Mauzé, Michael E. Harkin, and Sergei Kan, pp. 23-52. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. "[Y]oung Alexander ... cut all ties with his former home and became a United States citizen .. His name appears in Philadelphia about 1850 as a "professor of languages," where he taught Spanish. He eventually married one of his pupils, Fredericke Bergner, the daughter of a woolen mill owner who had fled Saxony with his family and friends after the abortive revolution of 1848. ... Young Alexander took his bride to San Francisco in 1856, mistakenly thinking that the Anglos there would want to learn Spanish. Instead ... he found himself undertaking a variety of activities: as proprietor of the "Laguna Saloon," founding a business school, and, lastly, running the Chelsey House, a family hotel in Oakland where Robert Louis Stevenson spent his last days..".
- ^ a b Anellis, Irving H. (2005). "DE LAGUNA, Theodore de Leo (1876–1930)". The Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers. Shook, John R., Hull, Richard T. Bristol: Thoemmes Continuum. ISBN 9781849723589. OCLC 276357640.
He became assistant professor of philosophy at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania in 1907, and was promoted up to full professor by 1910. He also became department chair, and held these positions until his death. De Laguna died on 22 September 1930 while vacationing in Hardwick, Vermont.
- ^ a b c d "de Laguna, Grace Mead (1878–1978) | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
- ^ Jaques Cattell Press (1971). American men and women of science : the physical and biological sciences. Internet Archive. New York : Jaques Cattell Press. pp. 1388.
de LAGUNA, WALLACE, b. Philadelphia, Pa, Apr. 20, 10; m. 33; c. 3. GEOLOGY. B.S, Haverford Col, 32; M.A, Harvard, 37, Ph.D.(geol), 38. Instr. geol, Queens Col, City Col, 38-47; GEOLOGIST, mil. geol. unit, U.S. Geol. Surv, 43-45, ground water br, 47-57; HEALTH PHYSICS DIV, OAK RIDGE NAT. LAB, 57- Geol. Soc. Am; Soc. Econ. Geol; Am Geophys. Union. Ground water geology; radioactive waste disposal. Address: Oak Ridge National Lab, Oak Ridge, TN 37831.
- ^ Mary Ellen Waithe "Twentieth Century Women Philosophers," in Mary Ellen Waithe, ed., A History of Women Philosophers. vol. 4 (Dordrecht and Boston Kluwer Academic Publishers. 1995), pp. 299-380,
- ^ Laguna, Wallace De (1963). Geology of Brookhaven National Laboratory and Vicinity, Suffolk County New York. U.S. Government Printing Office.
External links
edit- Theodore de Laguna’s analytic and speculative philosophy - blog post by Joel Katzav (8 February 2019)
- Grace and Theodore de Laguna, and the making of Willard V.O. Quine - blog post by Joel Katzav (4 May 2018)
- Katzav, J. (2019) 'Theodore de Laguna's Discovery of the Deflationary Theory of Truth', [Preprint at Academia.edu]
- Services Held in Memory of Theodore de Leo de Laguna The College News. 19 November 1930, (Bryn Mawr College, 1930)