Beiser (Syracuse Univ.) has written an outstanding biography of Herbart, who was the first to regard philosophy as the analysis of concepts.
Frederick C. Beiser was born and raised in the USA. He studied in the UK at Oriel College and Wolfson College, Oxford, and then in Germany for many years, receiving stipends from the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung and the Humboldt Stiftung during that time. He has taught in many universities in the USA including Yale, Harvard, Penn, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Indiana. Beiser is currently professor of philosophy at Syracuse University, New York. In 2015 President Joachim Gauck awarded him the Bundesverdienstkreuz (the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany) for his work on German philosophy.