Felix Adler

Felix Adler (August_13, 1851–April_24, 1933) was a Jewish rationalist intellectual who founded the Society for Ethical Culture in New York City.

Philosophy

Adler came to promote a secularized form of Judaism which he termed Ethical Culture, an essentially Kantian moral philosophy which prized public work and the use of reason to develop ultimate ethical standards. Adler published such works as Creed and Deed (1878), Moral Instruction of Children (1892), Life and Destiny (1905), The Religion of Duty (1906), Essentials of Spirituality (1908), An Ethical Philosophy of Life (1918), The Reconstruction of the Spiritual Ideal (1925), and Our Part in this World. He made use of the ideas from his religion, the philosophy of Kant & Ralph Waldo Emerson, mixed with certain socialistic ideas of his time. He believed that the concept of a personal god was unnecessary and that the human personality is the central force of religion, that different people's interpretations of religions were to be respected as religious things in themselves.

Related Topics:
Secular - Judaism - Ethical Culture - Kant - Ralph Waldo Emerson - Socialist

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