1865 – 1927
Ernest Albee (1865–1927) was an American philosopher and historian of ethics who taught at Cornell University. He is best known for his systematic study of British moral philosophy and his defense of objective standards in ethics and aesthetics against purely hedonistic or subjectivist accounts. His work argued that moral and aesthetic value are grounded in qualities of objects themselves, not reducible to the pleasure or approval of observers.
Authored 'A History of English Utilitarianism' (1902), a major scholarly survey of the utilitarian tradition
Defended moral and aesthetic objectivism against hedonistic and subjectivist reductions
Contributed to the critical analysis of pleasure-based accounts of value in British ethics
Held a professorship in philosophy at Cornell University, influencing early 20th-century American moral philosophy