Van Meter Ames (July 9, 1898[1] — November 9, 1985) was an American academic and educator who served as a professor of philosophy at the University of Cincinnati.

[3] Ames was a founding member of the American Society for Aesthetics, serving as its president from 1961 to 1962.

He had also served as the president of the American Philosophical Association's Western Division from 1959 to 1960.

His father, the theologian and pastor Edward Scribner Ames, had served as the chairman of the philosophy department at the University of Chicago and championed the philosophy of the Chicago school.

[4] From 1958 until 1959, a Fulbright scholarship enabled him to study as a research professor at Komazawa University in Japan.