Borden Parker Bowne

Borden Parker Bowne (1847–1910) was an American Christian philosopher, Methodist minister, and theologian. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature nine times. Bowne was born on January 14, 1847, near Leonardville in Monmouth County, New Jersey. In 1876, he became a professor of philosophy at Boston University, where he taught for more than thirty years and later served as the first dean of the graduate school. Bowne was a sharp critic of mechanistic determinism, positivism, and naturalism. He described his views as Kantianized Berkeleyanism, transcendental empiricism, and ultimately, personalism, which emphasized freedom and the significance of the self. This philosophical stance was a branch of liberal theology, and Bowne is considered its most influential figure. His major work, Metaphysics, was published in 1882. Bowne was particularly influenced by Hermann Lotze. He died on April 1, 1910, in Boston, Massachusetts. Bowne's legacy extends through his influence on subsequent personalist philosophers like Edgar Sheffield Brightman and Martin Luther King Jr. Boston University established a professorship in his honor.