John Grier Hibben
Encyclopedia
John Grier Hibben was a Presbyterian minister, a philosopher, and educator
. He served as president of Princeton University
from 1912–1932, succeeding Woodrow Wilson
and implementing many of the reforms started by Wilson.
, Illinois
, just before the start of the American Civil War
, on the day when Abraham Lincoln
proclaimed a blockade of the Southern ports. He was the only son of the Rev. Samuel and Elizabeth (Grier) Hibben.
The Hibbens were of Scottish
and Scots-Irish
descent. His father came from Hillsboro, Ohio
, to the pastorate of the Presbyterian church in Peoria, and on the outbreak of the American Civil War
volunteered for service as a chaplain
in the Union Army
. He died in 1862 of one of the fevers prevalent in the camps. After his death, his widow, then a very young woman with a son one year old, was faced with serious financial problems.
Elizabeth Grier was a native of Peoria, from a large family with partial German
ancestry. She later was one of the pioneers in the movement for woman's suffrage. Obtaining a position in a nearby ladies' seminary, she gave her son the best education possible. He attended Peoria High School and entered the College of New Jersey (later renamed Princeton University) in the fall of 1878. Later, as president of Princeton, he was instrumental in modifying the entrance requirements for boys of promise from the Western public schools.
As an undergraduate he distinguished himself especially in mathematics and on graduation was awarded a mathematical fellow
ship. He was valedictorian
of his class and its president from 1882 to his death in 1933. After graduation, in 1882, he spent a year in philosophical studies at the University of Berlin. On his return he entered the Princeton Theological Seminary
, and while there taught French
and German
at the Lawrenceville School
. He met his future wife, Jenny Davidson, the daughter of John and Adelia (Waite) Davidson. John Davidson was a native of Berwick-upon-Tweed
, and an eminent New York lawyer. On November 8, 1887, Hibben and Jenny were married.
He was ordained as a minister of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America
by the Carlisle Presbytery on May 19, 1887, having served the Second Presbyterian Church at St. Louis, Missouri
for a brief period previously. His next charge was at the Falling Spring Presbyterian Church at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
, where he remained four years. A throat ailment forced him to give up preaching and he went to his alma mater as an instructor in logic in 1891. He received a Ph.D.
degree in 1893 with a dissertation on "The Relation of Ethics
to Jurisprudence
," became assistant professor in 1894, and Stuart Professor of Logic
in 1907. In 1912 he was elected fourteenth president of Princeton, succeeding Woodrow Wilson
, and retired in 1932 on the fiftieth anniversary of his graduation.
s and recitations by including small discussion groups and stimulating independent reading and study. Hibben did not support Wilson's proposal to eliminate the upper-class eating clubs and reforming dormitories by housing undergraduate students in quadrangles
presided over by members of the faculty.
Hibben kept aloof from these acrimonious debates, but allied himself with the group opposed to the quad system, not because of sympathy with the clubs, but because he did not want to alienate a large number of alumni. Following Wilson's resignation in 1910 to become Governor of New Jersey
, there were two years of agitation, before Hibben was elected president, though not unanimously, chiefly on the ground that Princeton's first need was peace and that Hibben was best fitted to promote it.
His election was a victory for the anti-Wilson group, but in his inaugural address he declared that he represented no faction but a united Princeton. He encouraged larger alumni and faculty participation in the governance of the university and was a resolute defender of academic freedom
, protecting members of the faculty whose "radical" views brought irate protests to his office. The university endowment increased fivefold; the size of the faculty doubled; a four-course plan of study in the upper classes was initiated; the work of the scientific departments was extended; and the schools of architecture, engineering, and public affairs were founded. The great expansion in the field of science at Princeton during this period is attributable largely to Hibben's generous recognition of the leadership of Dean Henry Burchard Fine
.
Hibben's educational philosophy is expounded in A Defense of Prejudice (1911). He defended the ideas that underlie the traditional "liberal education," pleaded for the humanities, and, while he recognized the role of "pure" science, his own interest was to conserve and revitalize the inheritance of the past.
His philosophical writings include: Inductive Logic (1896); The Problems of Philosophy (1898); Hegel's Logic (1902); Deductive and Inductive Logic (1905). All of these show mathematical precision of statement and lucid exposition. His books on logic
, though later superseded, still constituted a valuable approach to the Hegelian system. His most enduring contribution is The Philosophy of the Enlightenment (1910) in the Epochs of Philosophy Series, of which he was the general editor. His account of the development of Kant
's philosophy is masterly, and he ranks Kant as the culminating thinker of the Enlightenment
. The Kantian emphasis on moral freedom through intuitive recognition and willing assent to a universally binding moral law was the keynote of his ethics and the fulcrum of his opposition to all forms of utilitarianism
and pragmatism. In "The Vocation of the Scholar," in the volume A Defense of Prejudice, he opposes William James
's "creed of change," with this declaration of philosophical fundamentalism: "There are certain ideas which in the history of the race experience have become established for all time, for all places, and for all persons and things" (pp. 146–47).
Hibben's interest in the life of the nation was keen. In the little volume The Higher Patriotism (1915—translated into Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish) may be discerned the deeper reasons for his ardent advocacy of the Allies in the First World War. Against the doctrine that "there is no law above the state" his ethical sense rebelled, and he declared, "No more damnable doctrine was ever uttered" (p. 35). From 1914 to 1917 he stirred large audiences with his appeals for national preparedness, and during the war dedicated his own and the university's resources to national service. President Hibben, his wife, and daughter were in Europe when World War I began and returned to the United States aboard the Campania in September 1914. When peace came he joined the League of Nations
non-partisan organization, worked for disarmament and conciliation, and was one of the first signers of a petition advocating the canceling of all war debts. He was awarded the French Légion d'honneur
in 1919.
He had supported the Eighteenth Amendment
but changed his attitude, recognizing that it was unenforceable and in his own observation had effects the very opposite of its purpose. His friendship with Col. Charles Lindbergh
, with whom he was in daily contact after the tragic kidnaping at Hopewell, New Jersey
, intensified his interest in the suppression of crime.
He never held public office though he was often mentioned for an ambassadorship. He declined feelers for a Senatorial campaign after his retirement in 1932. The honor which he most appreciated was the establishment by several thousand alumni of the Hibben Loan Fund for students in financial straits. A scholarship in Princeton founded by a Yale alumnus also bears his name, as does a street in Princeton and a new mineral discovered by his colleague Alexander H. Phillips. His monument on the campus is the chapel, the nave of which bears his name.
On the afternoon of May 16, 1933, while he was returning to Princeton with his wife from Elizabeth, New Jersey
, his car collided with a truck on a wet pavement and he died on his way to the Rahway
hospital; he was buried in the Princeton Cemetery
. His wife died from her injuries a few weeks later. He left one daughter, Elizabeth Grier.
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
. He served as president of Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
from 1912–1932, succeeding Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
and implementing many of the reforms started by Wilson.
Early life
Hibben was born in PeoriaPeoria, Illinois
Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, just before the start of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, on the day when Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
proclaimed a blockade of the Southern ports. He was the only son of the Rev. Samuel and Elizabeth (Grier) Hibben.
The Hibbens were of Scottish
Scottish American
Scottish Americans or Scots Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scots-Irish Americans, descendants of Ulster Scots, and communities emphasize and celebrate a common heritage...
and Scots-Irish
Scots-Irish American
Scotch-Irish Americans are an estimated 250,000 Presbyterian and other Protestant dissenters from the Irish province of Ulster who immigrated to North America primarily during the colonial era and their descendants. Some scholars also include the 150,000 Ulster Protestants who immigrated to...
descent. His father came from Hillsboro, Ohio
Hillsboro, Ohio
Hillsboro is a city in and the county seat of Highland County, Ohio, United States. The population was 6,605 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Hillsboro is located at ....
, to the pastorate of the Presbyterian church in Peoria, and on the outbreak of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
volunteered for service as a chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
in the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
. He died in 1862 of one of the fevers prevalent in the camps. After his death, his widow, then a very young woman with a son one year old, was faced with serious financial problems.
Elizabeth Grier was a native of Peoria, from a large family with partial German
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
ancestry. She later was one of the pioneers in the movement for woman's suffrage. Obtaining a position in a nearby ladies' seminary, she gave her son the best education possible. He attended Peoria High School and entered the College of New Jersey (later renamed Princeton University) in the fall of 1878. Later, as president of Princeton, he was instrumental in modifying the entrance requirements for boys of promise from the Western public schools.
As an undergraduate he distinguished himself especially in mathematics and on graduation was awarded a mathematical fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
ship. He was valedictorian
Valedictorian
Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...
of his class and its president from 1882 to his death in 1933. After graduation, in 1882, he spent a year in philosophical studies at the University of Berlin. On his return he entered the Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...
, and while there taught French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
at the Lawrenceville School
Lawrenceville School
The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational, independent preparatory boarding school for grades 9–12 located on in the historic community of Lawrenceville, in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, U.S., five miles southwest of Princeton....
. He met his future wife, Jenny Davidson, the daughter of John and Adelia (Waite) Davidson. John Davidson was a native of Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....
, and an eminent New York lawyer. On November 8, 1887, Hibben and Jenny were married.
He was ordained as a minister of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America
The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America was a Presbyterian denomination in the United States. It was organized in 1789 under the leadership of John Witherspoon in the wake of the American Revolution and existed until 1958 when it merged with the United Presbyterian Church of North...
by the Carlisle Presbytery on May 19, 1887, having served the Second Presbyterian Church at St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
for a brief period previously. His next charge was at the Falling Spring Presbyterian Church at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
Chambersburg is a borough in the South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is miles north of Maryland and the Mason-Dixon line and southwest of Harrisburg in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Great Appalachian Valley. Chambersburg is the county seat of Franklin County...
, where he remained four years. A throat ailment forced him to give up preaching and he went to his alma mater as an instructor in logic in 1891. He received a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
degree in 1893 with a dissertation on "The Relation of Ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
to Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
," became assistant professor in 1894, and Stuart Professor of 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...
in 1907. In 1912 he was elected fourteenth president of Princeton, succeeding Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
, and retired in 1932 on the fiftieth anniversary of his graduation.
Presidency at Princeton
At he start of his presidency, Princeton was torn by the controversies started during Wilson's administration. Hibben agreed with Wilson's introduction of the preceptorial system in 1905. This system revitalized traditional methods of instruction such as lectureLecture
thumb|A lecture on [[linear algebra]] at the [[Helsinki University of Technology]]A lecture is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history,...
s and recitations by including small discussion groups and stimulating independent reading and study. Hibben did not support Wilson's proposal to eliminate the upper-class eating clubs and reforming dormitories by housing undergraduate students in quadrangles
Quadrangle (architecture)
In architecture, a quadrangle is a space or courtyard, usually rectangular in plan, the sides of which are entirely or mainly occupied by parts of a large building. The word is probably most closely associated with college or university campus architecture, but quadrangles may be found in other...
presided over by members of the faculty.
Hibben kept aloof from these acrimonious debates, but allied himself with the group opposed to the quad system, not because of sympathy with the clubs, but because he did not want to alienate a large number of alumni. Following Wilson's resignation in 1910 to become Governor of New Jersey
Governor of New Jersey
The Office of the Governor of New Jersey is the executive branch for the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of Governor is an elected position, for which elected officials serve four year terms. While individual politicians may serve as many terms as they can be elected to, Governors cannot be...
, there were two years of agitation, before Hibben was elected president, though not unanimously, chiefly on the ground that Princeton's first need was peace and that Hibben was best fitted to promote it.
His election was a victory for the anti-Wilson group, but in his inaugural address he declared that he represented no faction but a united Princeton. He encouraged larger alumni and faculty participation in the governance of the university and was a resolute defender of academic freedom
Academic freedom
Academic freedom is the belief that the freedom of inquiry by students and faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy, and that scholars should have freedom to teach or communicate ideas or facts without being targeted for repression, job loss, or imprisonment.Academic freedom is a...
, protecting members of the faculty whose "radical" views brought irate protests to his office. The university endowment increased fivefold; the size of the faculty doubled; a four-course plan of study in the upper classes was initiated; the work of the scientific departments was extended; and the schools of architecture, engineering, and public affairs were founded. The great expansion in the field of science at Princeton during this period is attributable largely to Hibben's generous recognition of the leadership of Dean Henry Burchard Fine
Henry Burchard Fine
Henry Burchard Fine was an American university dean and mathematician.Fine was born at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and was educated at Princeton and Leipzig universities...
.
Hibben's educational philosophy is expounded in A Defense of Prejudice (1911). He defended the ideas that underlie the traditional "liberal education," pleaded for the humanities, and, while he recognized the role of "pure" science, his own interest was to conserve and revitalize the inheritance of the past.
His philosophical writings include: Inductive Logic (1896); The Problems of Philosophy (1898); Hegel's Logic (1902); Deductive and Inductive Logic (1905). All of these show mathematical precision of statement and lucid exposition. His books on 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...
, though later superseded, still constituted a valuable approach to the Hegelian system. His most enduring contribution is The Philosophy of the Enlightenment (1910) in the Epochs of Philosophy Series, of which he was the general editor. His account of the development of Kant
KANT
KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
's philosophy is masterly, and he ranks Kant as the culminating thinker of the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
. The Kantian emphasis on moral freedom through intuitive recognition and willing assent to a universally binding moral law was the keynote of his ethics and the fulcrum of his opposition to all forms of utilitarianism
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness", by whatever means necessary. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can...
and pragmatism. In "The Vocation of the Scholar," in the volume A Defense of Prejudice, he opposes 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...
's "creed of change," with this declaration of philosophical fundamentalism: "There are certain ideas which in the history of the race experience have become established for all time, for all places, and for all persons and things" (pp. 146–47).
Hibben's interest in the life of the nation was keen. In the little volume The Higher Patriotism (1915—translated into Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish) may be discerned the deeper reasons for his ardent advocacy of the Allies in the First World War. Against the doctrine that "there is no law above the state" his ethical sense rebelled, and he declared, "No more damnable doctrine was ever uttered" (p. 35). From 1914 to 1917 he stirred large audiences with his appeals for national preparedness, and during the war dedicated his own and the university's resources to national service. President Hibben, his wife, and daughter were in Europe when World War I began and returned to the United States aboard the Campania in September 1914. When peace came he joined the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
non-partisan organization, worked for disarmament and conciliation, and was one of the first signers of a petition advocating the canceling of all war debts. He was awarded the French Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
in 1919.
He had supported the Eighteenth Amendment
Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution established Prohibition in the United States. The separate Volstead Act set down methods of enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment, and defined which "intoxicating liquors" were prohibited, and which were excluded from prohibition...
but changed his attitude, recognizing that it was unenforceable and in his own observation had effects the very opposite of its purpose. His friendship with Col. Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
, with whom he was in daily contact after the tragic kidnaping at Hopewell, New Jersey
Hopewell, New Jersey
Hopewell is a Borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the borough population was 1,922.Hopewell was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 14, 1891, from portions of Hopewell Township, based on the results of a...
, intensified his interest in the suppression of crime.
He never held public office though he was often mentioned for an ambassadorship. He declined feelers for a Senatorial campaign after his retirement in 1932. The honor which he most appreciated was the establishment by several thousand alumni of the Hibben Loan Fund for students in financial straits. A scholarship in Princeton founded by a Yale alumnus also bears his name, as does a street in Princeton and a new mineral discovered by his colleague Alexander H. Phillips. His monument on the campus is the chapel, the nave of which bears his name.
On the afternoon of May 16, 1933, while he was returning to Princeton with his wife from Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
, his car collided with a truck on a wet pavement and he died on his way to the Rahway
Rahway, New Jersey
Rahway is a city in southern Union County, New Jersey, United States. It is part of the New York metropolitan area, being 15 miles southwest of Manhattan and five miles west of Staten Island...
hospital; he was buried in the Princeton Cemetery
Princeton Cemetery
Princeton Cemetery is located in Borough of Princeton, New Jersey. It is owned by the Nassau Presbyterian Church. John F. Hageman in his 1878 history of Princeton, New Jersey refers to the cemetery as: "The Westminster Abbey of the United States."...
. His wife died from her injuries a few weeks later. He left one daughter, Elizabeth Grier.