O. W. Miller

From Philosopedia

Miller, Oscar W. (20th Century)

Miller, who was an associate professor of psychology and assistant in philosophy at Nebraska Wesleyan University, wrote The Kantian Thing-in-itself (1956) and Poems: Out of my Happy Years (1958).

Asked his views in 1956 on humanism, Miller responded:

Relative to Religious Humanism, as I think of it, it is inclined to be too superficial. It fails to recognize man as being profoundly related to the rest of Reality. It may not over-emphasize the humanistic element in Christianity, but it under-estimates the divinity of man. The 25th chapter of Matthew, the Book of James, and many other sections of the Scriptures stress the humanistic aspects of religion. But the 17th Chapter of John and numerous other scriptures stress the fact that man is more than a social being. Furthermore, Humanism is a religion without a theology. I would prefer a theology without a religion. That is, if I had to make a choice.

But when we come to Renaissance Humanism, that is a horse of another color. I am in hearty accord with Petrarch, Erasmus, Rabelais, Sir Thomas More, and Cervantes, for the reason that they stress man, learning, knowledge, reason, and scholarship.

So far as Naturalistic Humanism is concerned, I have given it considerable attention. And I am inclined to believe that this Philosophy of Reality is moving in the right direction. As I teach it, this Philosophy correlates with Naturalistic Theism or Theistic Naturalism as set out by five or six outstanding thinkers, and as found in E. S. Brightman’s book on A Philosophy of Religion, and elsewhere.

When it comes to Supernaturalism, in the accepted sense of the term, we are on dangerous ground, unless we understand how to differentiate between Metaphysics and Logic. As for myself, Leibnitz, Immanuel Kant, and others help me over the bumps, or out of the mud, of this system of thought. If this world in which we live is not real, then nothing is real. Relative to this point, The Realm of Ends by James Ward gives me my direction. Kant, Ward, and other philosophers of like mind bring us back from our Transcendental Tangent. Ward, especially, points out, in other words, of course, that man, ignoring the whole of his nature, tends to yield himself to the Centrifugal forces of life and thought, when a much more reasonable and satisfactory view might be arrived at if man would attempt to see himself in terms of both the Centrifugal and the Centripetal. If man would only check on himself in terms of Metaphysics and Logic, he might then realize that his natural Logical Tendencies have carried him entirely too far from the center of Theological Gravity.

Correspondence

Miller worked for one or two years with Van Meter Ames and knew his father, Edward Ames. Also, he used E. A. Burt's book on philosophy.

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{WAS, 25 April 1956}