Amos Bronson Alcott
American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer (1799-1888)
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1799
- Died
- 1888
- Works
- 59
Top works
- Sonnets and canzonets
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Xenophon's Memoirs of Socrates
- Aunt Jo's scrap-bag
- Prentice Hall Literature--Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes--The American Experience
via Open Library + Wikidata
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
- Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk
· 1979 · cited 39,540x
- Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases
· 1974 · cited 23,473x
Article
Amos Bronson Alcott (/ˈɔːlkət/; November 29, 1799 – March 4, 1888) was an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer. As an educator, Alcott pioneered new ways of interacting with young students, focusing on a conversational style, and avoided traditional punishment. He hoped to perfect the human spirit and, to that end, advocated a plant-based diet. He was also an abolitionist and an advocate for women's rights.
Born in Wolcott, Connecticut, in 1799, Alcott had only minimal formal schooling before attempting a career as a traveling salesman. Worried that the itinerant life might have a negative impact on his soul, he turned to teaching. His innovative methods, however, were controversial, and he rarely stayed in one place very long. His most well-known teaching position was at the Temple School in Boston. His experience there was turned into two books: Records of a School and Conversations with Children on the Gospels. Alcott became friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and became a major figure in transcendentalism. His writings on behalf of that movement, however, are heavily criticized for being incoherent. Based on his ideas for human perfection, Alcott founded Fruitlands, a transcendentalist experiment in community living. The project failed after seven months. Alcott and his family struggled financially for most of his life. Nevertheless, he continued focusing on educational projects and opened a new school at the end of his life in 1879. He died in 1888.
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1799 births1888 deaths19th-century American educators19th-century American philosophersAbolitionists from BostonAlcott familyAmerican feministsAmerican foundersAmerican male feministsAmerican tax resistersAmerican veganism activistsAmerican women's rights activistsBurials at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (Concord, Massachusetts)