Ferdinand Canning Scott Schiller

Who was Ferdinand Canning Scott Schiller?

Ferdinand Canning Scott Schiller was a German-British philosopher. Born in Altona, Holstein, Schiller studied at the University of Oxford, and later was a professor there, after being invited back after a brief time at Cornell University. Later in his life he taught at the University of Southern California. In his lifetime he was well known as a philosopher; after his death his work was largely forgotten.

Schiller's philosophy was very similar to and often aligned with the pragmatism of William James, although Schiller referred to it as "humanism". He argued vigorously against both logical positivism and associated philosophers as well as absolute idealism.

Schiller was an early supporter of evolution and a founding member of the English Eugenics Society.