Biography

Born in the then German Bernstadt, Silesia

Silesia

Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...

 (now Bierutów

Bierutów

Bierutów is a town in Oleśnica County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Bierutów. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany...

) to Jacob David Kallen and Esther Rebecca (Glazier), an Orthodox rabbi and his wife, Kallen came to the United States as a child in 1887. He studied philosophy at Harvard University where he was a student of George Santayana

George Santayana

George Santayana was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. A lifelong Spanish citizen, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States and identified himself as an American. He wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters...

, earning his B.A. (magna cum laude) in 1903. After two years of study at Princeton University, he returned to Harvard for graduate study and worked as Santayana's assistant. Kallen received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1908 and was awarded a Sheldon Travelling Fellowship to study at Oxford University. He was also a lifetime friend of Alain Locke, whom he met at Harvard and who was the first African American Rhodes Scholar -- and the only one until the 1960s.

He lectured in philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 at Harvard from his graduation until 1911, occasionally working as a logic

Logic

In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...

 instructor at Clark College

Clark University

Clark University is a private research university and liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts.Founded in 1887, it is the oldest educational institution founded as an all-graduate university. Clark now also educates undergraduates...

 in Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....

. In 1911, he moved to instruct philosophy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

 until 1918, when he was named a professor at The New School

The New School

The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...

 in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 as a founding member where he remained for the rest of his career.

A Pluralist, Kallen opposed any over-simplification of philosophical and vital problems. According to Kallen, denying complications and difficulties is to multiply them, as much as to deny reality to evil would aggravate evil.

He and others argued that cultural diversity and national pride were compatible with each other, and that ethnic diversity and a respect for ethnic and racial differences strengthened America. Kallen is credited with coining the term cultural pluralism

Cultural pluralism

Cultural pluralism is a term used when smaller groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities, and their values and practices are accepted by the wider culture. Cultural pluralism is often confused with Multiculturalism...

.

He was acquainted with William James

William James

William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...

, whose last unfinished book he edited. He married Rachel Oatman van Arsdale in 1926. In 1939 he became acquainted with Immanuel Velikovsky

Immanuel Velikovsky

Immanuel Velikovsky was a Russian-born American independent scholar of Jewish origins, best known as the author of a number of controversial books reinterpreting the events of ancient history, in particular the US bestseller Worlds in Collision, published in 1950...

 and became a life-long friend, informal literary advisor, mentor, and advocate. He was a member of the American Philosophical Society

American Philosophical Society

The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...

, the Western Philosophical Society, the Society for Psychical Research

Society for Psychical Research

The Society for Psychical Research is a non-profit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand "events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal by promoting and supporting important research in this area" and to "examine allegedly paranormal phenomena...

, the Zionist Organization of America

Zionist Organization of America

The Zionist Organization of America , founded in 1897, was one of the first official Zionist organizations in the United States, and, especially early in the 20th century, the primary representative of Jewish Americans to the World Zionist Organization, espousing primarily Political Zionism.Today,...

, the Palestine Development Council, and the National Council of the League of Nations Association. He served on congressional committees on international peace and was a part of many think tanks and study groups on questions ranging from philosophy and law to labor relations.

Selected works

Some of his works:

• Democracy Versus the Melting-Pot (1915)
• Indecency and the Seven Arts:And Other Adventures of a Pragmatist in Aesthetics (1930)
• Decline and Rise of the Consumer (1936)
• Art and Freedom (1942)
• Modernity and Liberty (1947)
• The Liberal Spirit (1948)
• Ideals and Experience (1948)
• The Education of Free Men (1950)
• Patterns of Progress (1950)
• Cultural Pluralism and the American Idea (1956)
• Utopians at Bay (1958)
• Liberty, Laughter, and Tears (1968)
• Creativity, Imagination, Logic: Meditations for the Eleventh Hour (1973)

Bibliography:
see also a special Symposium on Horace M. Kallen in Modern Judaism, Vol. 4, No. 2. (May, 1984)