Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Cohen, Morris Raphael

Morris Raphael Cohen achieved prominence as an educator and author.

Cohen was born July 25, 1880, in Minsk, Russia. He emigrated to the United States in 1892 and earned a bachelor of science degree from the College of the City of New York in 1900 and a doctor of philosophy degree from Harvard University in 1906. Cohen was the father of Felix Cohen, who became a somewhat noteworthy philosopher/writer in the jurisprudential school of LEGAL REALISM.

In 1899, Cohen began his teaching career as a history teacher at the Educational Alliance in New York. He also taught at Davidson Collegiate Institute from 1900 to 1901, and in 1902 he accepted a position as mathematics teacher at his alma mater, the College of the City of New York. He held that position until 1912, when he switched his interests to philosophy and served as a professor until 1938. In that...