Irwin Edman (November 28, 1896 – September 4, 1954) was an American philosopher and professor of philosophy.
Biography
Irwin Edman was born in New York City to Jewish parents. He grew up in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, adjacent to Columbia University, with which he was to be affiliated his entire adult life. Edman spent his high-school years at Townsend Harris Hall, a New York high school for superior pupils. He then attended Columbia University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and earned his bachelor's degree in 1917 and his Ph.D. in 1920. During his student years at Columbia he was a member of the Boar's Head Society.[1] He became a professor of philosophy at Columbia, and during the course of his career he rose to serve as head of the philosophy department. He also served as a visiting lecturer at Oxford University, Amherst College, the University of California, and Harvard and Wesleyan Universities. In 1945 the United States Department of State and the Brazilian government sponsored a series of lectures he gave in Rio de Janeiro.
He was a popular professor and served as a mentor to undergraduate students, notably future Pulitzer Prize-winning author Herman Wouk. Wouk sent chapters of what would be his first novel, The Caine Mutiny, to Edman. Edman, in turn, convinced a Simon & Schuster executive to publish the novel.[1]
He was the brother-in-law of Lester Markel, the longtime Sunday editor of The New York Times.
In 1953, Edman was elected vice president of the National Institute of Arts and Letters (later succeeded by the American Academy of Arts and Letters).
Edman published many books on philosophy as well as poetry and some fiction. His books include Philosopher’s Holiday,[2]Richard Kane Looks at Life, Four Ways of Philosophy, Philosopher's Quest,[3] and Arts and the Man: An Introduction to Aesthetics.
He died, of a heart attack, on September 4, 1954, in New York.[4]
