CHERNISS, HAROLD FREDRIK

CHERNISS, HAROLD FREDRIK (1904–1987), U.S. scholar of classical philosophy. Cherniss traced the development of the Aristotelian system. He also analyzed Aristotle's interpretations of his predecessors and the way in which their ideas became part of Aristotle's system. Cherniss was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, and studied at the Universities of California, Goettingen, and Berlin. He taught at Cornell and Johns Hopkins Universities, occupied the chair in Greek at Berkeley (1946–48), and was appointed professor at the Institute of Advanced   Studies at Princeton. His major writings are Aristotle's Criticism of Presocratic Philosophy (1935), Aristotle's Criticism of Plato and the Academy (1944), The Riddle of the Early Academy (1945), Platonism of Gregory of Nyssa (1971), and Plutrach's Moralia (1984). Cherniss also wrote extensively on the development of Plato's Academy after Plato's death. (Richard H. Popkin)