Life

Lloyd received both his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Harvard. He studied philosophy at Göttingen University in Berlin and Heidelberg University, before returning to Harvard for his Ph.D., which he received in 1893. Upon returning from Europe in 1891, Lloyd was recruited by John Dewey

John Dewey

John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...

 as an instructor in philosophy at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

. He remained there his entire career, becoming full professor in 1906. He was named dean of the Graduate School in 1915.

Lloyd was interim president of the University of Michigan from February 26 through September 1925, following the death of Marion LeRoy Burton

Marion LeRoy Burton

Marion LeRoy Burton was the second president of Smith College, serving from 1910 to 1917. He left Smith to become president of the University of Minnesota from 1917 to 1920....

. He was succeeded by Clarence Cook Little. Lloyd's daughter, Alice Crocker Lloyd, served as the Dean of Women.

Works

Lloyd was the author of five books — Citizenship and Salvation (1897), Dynamic Idealism (1898), Philosophy of History (1899), The Will to Doubt

The Will to Doubt

The Will to Doubt: An Essay in Philosophy for the General Thinker is a book published in 1907 by University of Michigan professor Alfred Henry Lloyd. The Will to Doubt was Lloyd's fourth book and was published as a volume in the Ethical Library Series...

(1907), and Leadership and Progress (1922) — and over seventy articles.

Further Reading

• Evelyn Urban Shirk, Adventurous Idealism: The Philosophy of Alfred Lloyd, University of Michigan Press, 1952.