John M. MacEachran

John Malcolm MacEachran (January 16, 1877 – 1971) was a Canadian philosopher and psychologist, whose most notable credentials involved the development of the Psychology and Philosophy Department at the University of Alberta.

He was a co-founder of the Canadian Psychological Association and the appointed Chairman of the Alberta Eugenics Board which was responsible for approving the sterilization of thousands of Albertans, hundreds of which were without consent.

After finishing his primary education in the public school system of Glencoe, he was admitted to Queen's University in Ontario.

Following his apprenticeship, MacEachran traveled to Berlin, Germany, where he worked with the well-known scholars Friedrich Paulsen and Carl Stumpf, further increasing his knowledge of modern psychology, ethics, and the philosophy of education.

MacEachran then traveled to Paris where he studied sociology under Émile Durkheim and took a class under Alfred Binet, who had recently developed the IQ test (1908).

MacEachran's academic relationship with Henri Bergson spurred his interest in combining the disciplines of philosophy and biological science.

Dr. MacEachran accepted an offer from the then newly founded University of Alberta to head its Department of Philosophy and Psychology in 1909.

At this point, MacEachran had developed and supported the whole of the undergraduate philosophy and psychology programs and supervised at least one Masters level student.

[1] After MacEachran's return to the University of Alberta after World War I (1918), a central focus was developing applied psychology.

[14]In 1937, the Social Credit government passed an amendment that strongly restricted the need for the Eugenics Board to obtain the consent of the patients to be sterilized.

[18] Every year a distinguished scholar of psychology would be invited to give a lecture to students and faculty in MacEachran's honor.

After 1972, the Faculty of Education and the Departments of Philosophy and Psychology awarded annual scholarships to students honouring MacEachran's accomplishments.

On September 3, 1997, a committee at the University of Alberta voted to rename the lecture series due to MacEachran's involvement in the unlawful sterilization of many Albertans.

[24]Because of the previously stated reasons, in 1998, the Department of Philosophy at the University of Alberta stopped giving out rewards honouring MacEachran's name.