Curt Ducasse
(1881-1969)
Curt John Ducasse was an American philosopher who taught a course on the philosophy of religion at Brown University.
At Harvard, he earned his Ph.D/ as a student of
William James and Josiah Royce.
He shared William James' interest in parapsychology and perhaps Henry James' interest in life after death. He joined the American Society for Psychical Research in 1951 and served a term as vice president beginning in 1966.
His book
A Critical Examination of the Belief in a Life After Death is a philosophical attempt to examine the idea of life after death. In it he expressed his belief in survival. Ducasse was no doubt influenced by Indian religion.
Ducasse was a long-time friend of
Swami Akhilinanda, who established the Vedanta Society of Providence in 1928 and the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of Boston
In 1941. Like his predecessors,
Ramakrishna and
Vivekananda, Akhilinanda adhered to various religious practices from the Hindu traditions of Vaishnavism, Tantric Shaktism, and Advaita Vedanta, as well as Christianity and Islam. They all "found that it is the same God toward whom all are directing their steps, though along different paths."
Ducasse wrote
Philosophy as a Science in 1941 and in 1954 he wrote
A Philosophical Scrutiny of Religion.
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