The cascading effect of a 19th-century professorship

When Henry W. Sage endowed funds for a professorship in 1885, he likely didn’t imagine how his gift would transform over the next 140 years.

Sage, who chaired the Cornell University Board of Trustees from 1875-97, is believed to have established the university’s first named and endowed professorship. Named in memory of his wife, the Susan E. Linn Sage Professor of Christian Ethics and Mental Philosophy eventually sprouted offshoot professorships in three new disciplines—psychology; moral philosophy, logic, and metaphysics; and the history and philosophy of religion and Christian ethics. Known colloquially today as “Sage professors,” these were the inaugural chairs initially established in the Susan E. Linn Sage School of Philosophy. While there isn’t a comprehensive record of all who have held these roles, at least a dozen faculty have held some form of these professorships since then.

“The Sage Professorship is probably the only endowed professorship that had four recipients become deans at Cornell—and one president,” says Cornell’s unofficial historian, Corey Ryan Earle ’07, who serves as a visiting lecturer in the American Studies Program.

Establishing a legacy

Jacob Gould Schurman is the first professor to hold the Susan E. Linn Sage Professor of Christian Ethics and Mental Philosophy. He grew up on a farm in Prince Edward Island, Canada, and eventually served as a faculty member at Dalhousie and Acadia universities. In 1886, Sage recruited him, offering a salary of $3,000—which is roughly equivalent to $100,000 today—and a house to live in. Just six years later, Schurman was named Cornell’s third president. He led the university through extensive growth and its transition from a privately endowed institution to one that was funded by a combination of state and private funding. Today, Schurman remains the university’s longest-serving president.

Like Schurman, many generations of Sage professors have established a lasting legacy in Cornell’s history and have deeply influenced the study of philosophy and psychology worldwide. Here are ten of the professors who held, or currently hold, these chairs:

James Edwin Creighton served Cornell as dean of the Graduate School from 1914-23, was the founding president of the American Philosophical Association, and president of the American Philosophical Society.

Frank Thilly was dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. He served as editor of the International Journal of Ethics, associate editor of Kantstudien, and editor of the Philosophical Review, to which he contributed from its first issue.

George H. Sabine served as dean of the Graduate School and vice president of Cornell University from 1940-44 and 1943-46, respectively. He is best known for writing the influential book, A History of Political Theory, arguably the most cited work in its discipline.

Max Black was a leading figure in analytic philosophy and, in 1965, became the first director of Cornell’s Society for the Humanities. In 1981, he became the second American to be elected president of the International Institute of Philosophy.

Gregory Vlastos, a leading scholar of ancient philosophy, is credited with a renaissance of interest in Plato. He received a MacArthur Fellowship, twice was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, and was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Richard Boyd was instrumental in establishing Cornell’s reputation as a center of research in ethics. He helped pioneer contemporary scientific realism and its application to morality, a view known as Cornell Realism.

Eleanor Gibson, a National Medal of Science recipient, was the first woman to hold an endowed professorship at Cornell. Her groundbreaking research in perceptual learning and development continues to influence the field of psychology.

Derk Pereboom is the current holder of the Susan Linn Sage Chair of Philosophy and Ethics. He began teaching at the Sage School of Philosophy in 2007 and specializes in free will and moral responsibility, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, and the work of Immanuel Kant.

Charles Brittain is the current holder of the Susan Linn Sage Chair of Philosophy and Humane Letters. He specializes in ancient philosophy and started teaching at Cornell in 1996 as an assistant professor.

Written by Sally Parker, a freelance writer for Alumni Affairs and Development.