Educated at Columbia University, Edman graduated in 1917 and earned his PhD three years later. Appointed a professor of philosophy at Columbia in 1920, Edman continued to teach there until his death in 1954. His courses in philosophy became among the most popular at the university. During his career, he lectured at universities around the world including the Sorbonne, Oxford, Harvard, etc. He contributed many works of a popular nature in addition to his scholarly endeavors and he was a regular contributor to popular journals and magazines including Saturday Review, Harper's, The New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly. In 1953, Edman was elected vice-president of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. His works include Human Traits and Their Social Significance (1920), Poems (1925), Adam, the Baby, and the Man From Mars (1929), Mind of Paul (1935), Four Ways of Philosophy (1937), Philosopher's Holiday (1938), Arts and the Man: A Short Introduction to Aesthetics (1939), Philosopher's Quest (1947), Under Whatever Sky (1951) and Uses of Philosophy (1955 Posthumous). |
