Philosophical Club of Cleveland

Cleveland men's club founded in 1902 to provide a forum for delivering papers on topics of current interest.

From the description of Records 1902-1962. (Rhinelander District Library). WorldCat record id: 17644975

The Philosophical Club of Cleveland, Ohio was established in 1902 by Charles S. Howe, president of Case School, Professor Herbert A. Aikens of Western Reserve University, and Professors Arthur S. Wright and Charles S. Benjamin of Case School. Mr. Howe, and many of the organizers of the club had been members of the Logos Club (later called the Cleveland Council of Sociology), but had become dissatisfied with that body when it grew into a rather larger, impersonal organization.

Like the council of Sociology, the Philosophical Club provided a forum for delivering papers on topics of current interest. However, the Philosophical Club limited its membership to thirty individuals in order to preserve the intimate atmosphere that had attended the early meetings of the Council of Sociology, and to provide for a more detailed discussion of the papers presented.

The president of the Club, Dr. John Langly, presented the first paper at the Club's inaugural meeting in November 1902. His topic, and those of subsequent speakers, related primarily to literature, science, and the humanities and the social sciences. Papers relating to political or religious topics were discouraged during the Club's early years of existence. However, the taboos on these subjects were broken in the 1930s and 1950s.

Similarly, the Club's insistence on a thirty member limit was broken in the 1960s. However, its goal of restricting membership to a highly educated group of people has been maintained.

click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for the Philosophical Club of Cleveland

From the guide to the Philosophical Club of Cleveland Records, 1902-1962, (Western Reserve Historical Society)