James Elliot Cabot
James Elliot Cabot | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | June 18, 1821 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | January 16, 1903 (aged 81) |
| Education | Harvard Law School |
| Occupation(s) | Philosopher, author |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Cabot (née Dwight)[2] (m. September 28, 1857)[1] |
| Children | Edward Twisleton Cabot (born 1861) Charles Mills Cabot (born 1866) Richard Clarke Cabot (born 1868) Hugh Cabot (born 1872) Philip Cabot (born 1872) |
| Parent(s) | Samuel Cabot, Jr., and Elizabeth Cabot (née Perkins)[1] |
| Family | Cabot family |
James Elliot Cabot (June 18, 1821 – January 16, 1903)[1] was an American philosopher and author, born in Boston to Samuel Cabot, Jr., and Eliza Cabot. James (known by his family and friends as "Elliot") had six brothers: Thomas Handasyd Cabot (b. 1814), Samuel Cabot III (b. 1815), Edward Clarke Cabot (b. 1818), Stephen Cabot (b. 1826), Walter Channing Cabot (b. 1829), and Louis Cabot (b. 1837).[3]
Having received his bachelor's degree from Harvard Law School in 1845, Elliot started a law firm.[4]
He taught philosophy at Harvard and was a transcendentalist and edited the Massachusetts Quarterly Review, beginning in 1848.
Cabot argued that we do not experience space directly, that space is "a system of relations, it cannot be given in any one sensation. [...] Space is a symbol of the general relatedness of objects constructed by thought from data which lie below consciousness." Cabot was of the opinion that the position of something in space was not felt at all, but deduced from perceived relations.[5]
Cabot was a correspondent of Henry David Thoreau.
His biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson was criticized for its lack of colour.[6]
Cabot and his wife Elizabeth had five sons, the most notable of them being Richard Clarke Cabot[2] (1868–1939), a physician who advanced clinical hematology, was an innovator in teaching methods, and a pioneer in social work.
References
- ^ a b c d Higginson, T. W.. 1904. "James Elliot Cabot". Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 39 (24). American Academy of Arts & Sciences: 649–55.
- ^ a b "Cabot, Richard C. (Richard Clarke), 1868–1939. Papers of Richard Clarke Cabot : an inventory," Harvard University archives. Accessed Jan. 5, 2016.
- ^ "James Elliot 'Elliot' Cabot," FindAGrave.com. Accessed January 6, 2015.
- ^ Waldo Emerson, Edward. The Early Years of the Saturday Club. Ayer Publishing. p. 264.
- ^ Richardson, Robert D. (2007-09-14). William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism: a Biography. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 0-618-91989-9.
- ^ Nancy Craig Simmons (1983). "Arranging the Sibylline Leaves: James Elliot Cabot's Work as Emerson's Literary Executor". Studies in the American Renaissance: 335–389.
External links
- Papers, 1786–1945. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
- Massachusetts Quarterly Review, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodore Parker, James Elliot Cabot