Wenley, R.M. (Robert Mark), 1861-1929

Professor of philosophy at Glasgow University and University of Michigan.

Robert Mark Wenley was professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan.

Robert Mark Wenley was born July 19, 1861 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He enrolled at the University of Glasgow where he won honors in philosophy and came under the influence of Scottish Hegelian philosopher Edward Caird. Among his other teachers were Lord Kelvin in physics and John Nichol in English literature. Because of his health, Wenley interrupted to studies traveling in France, Germany, and Italy. He returned and received his master of arts degree in 1884 and his doctor of philosophy in 1895. In addition, he received a doctor of science degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1891. From 1886 to 1894, he was assistant professor of logic at the University of Glasgow serving. For most of this period, 1888 to 1895, Wenley headed the philosophy department at Queen Margaret College in Glasgow. In 1896, he was invited to come to the University of Michigan to succeed John Dewey at head of the department of philosophy department.

Although influenced by the Hegelianism of John and Edward Caird, Wenley considered himself an objective idealist. At the University of Michigan, he was a popular and influential teacher, knowledgeable in both science and classical scholarship. In addition, Wenley was a prolific writer, authoring hundreds of magazine articles and reviews. He also authored important monographs, including Socrates and Christ (1889); Aspects of Pessimism (1894); and The Life and Work of George Sylvester Morris (1917).

Wenley was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Society of Literature, a members of the Aristotelian Society, the American Psychology Society, and a member of the council of the Goethe Society of London. From 1925 to 1927, he was a director of the American University Union in Europe. He died in March 29, 1929.