At the start of his presidency, Princeton was torn by the controversies started during Wilson's administration.
Hibben agreed with Wilson's introduction of the preceptorial system in 1905.
This system revitalized traditional methods of instruction such as lectures and recitations by including small discussion groups and stimulating independent reading and study.
Hibben did not support Wilson's proposal to eliminate the upper-class eating clubs and reforming dormitories by housing undergraduate students in quadrangles presided over by members of the faculty.

Hibben kept aloof from these acrimonious debates, but allied himself with the group opposed to the quad system, not because of sympathy with the clubs, but because he did not want to alienate a large number of alumni.
 Following Wilson's resignation in 1910 to become Governor of New Jersey, there were two years of agitation, before Hibben was elected president, though not unanimously, chiefly on the ground that Princeton's first need was peace and that Hibben was best fitted to promote it.

His election was a victory for the anti-Wilson group, but in his inaugural address he declared that he represented no faction but a united Princeton.
He encouraged larger alumni and faculty participation in the governance of the university and was a resolute defender of academic freedom, protecting members of the faculty whose "radical" views brought irate protests to his office.
The university endowment increased fivefold; the size of the faculty doubled; a four-course plan of study in the upper classes was initiated; the work of the scientific departments was extended; and the schools of architecture, engineering, and public affairs were founded.
The great expansion in the field of science at Princeton during this period is attributable largely to Hibben's generous recognition of the leadership of Dean Henry Burchard Fine.

Hibben's educational philosophy is expounded in A Defense of Prejudice (1911).
He defended the ideas that underlie the traditional "liberal education," pleaded for the humanities, and, while he recognized the role of "pure" science, his own interest was to conserve and revitalize the inheritance of the past.

His philosophical writings include: Inductive Logic (1896); The Problems of Philosophy (1898); Hegel's Logic (1902); Deductive and Inductive Logic (1905).
All of these show mathematical precision of statement and lucid exposition.
His books on logic, though later superseded, still constituted a valuable approach to the Hegelian system.
His most enduring contribution is The Philosophy of the Enlightenment (1910) in the Epochs of Philosophy Series, of which he was the general editor.
His account of the development of Kant's philosophy is masterly, and he ranks Kant as the culminating thinker of the Enlightenment.
The Kantian emphasis on moral freedom through intuitive recognition and willing assent to a universally binding moral law was the keynote of his ethics and the fulcrum of his opposition to all forms of utilitarianism and pragmatism.
In "The Vocation of the Scholar," in the volume A Defense of Prejudice, he opposes William James's "creed of change," with this declaration of philosophical fundamentalism: "There are certain ideas which in the history of the race experience have become established for all time, for all places, and for all persons and things" (pp.
 146–47).

Hibben's interest in the life of the nation was keen.
In the little volume The Higher Patriotism (1915—translated into Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish) may be discerned the deeper reasons for his ardent advocacy of the Allies in the First World War.
Against the doctrine that "there is no law above the state" his ethical sense rebelled, and he declared, "No more damnable doctrine was ever uttered" (p. 35).
From 1914 to 1917 he stirred large audiences with his appeals for national preparedness, and during the war dedicated his own and the university's resources to national service.
President Hibben, his wife, and daughter were in Europe when World War I began and returned to the United Stat
At the start of his presidency, Princeton was torn by the controversies started during Wilson's administration. Hibben agreed with Wilson's introduction of the preceptorial system in 1905. This system revitalized traditional methods of instruction such as lectures and recitations by including small discussion groups and stimulating independent reading and study. Hibben did not support Wilson's proposal to eliminate the upper-class eating clubs and reforming dormitories by housing undergraduate students in quadrangles presided over by members of the faculty.
Hibben kept aloof from these acrimonious debates, but allied himself with the group opposed to the quad system, not because of sympathy with the clubs, but because he did not want to alienate a large number of alumni.  Following Wilson's resignation in 1910 to become Governor of New Jersey, there were two years of agitation, before Hibben was elected president, though not unanimously, chiefly on the ground that Princeton's first need was peace and that Hibben was best fitted to promote it.
His election was a victory for the anti-Wilson group, but in his inaugural address he declared that he represented no faction but a united Princeton. He encouraged larger alumni and faculty participation in the governance of the university and was a resolute defender of academic freedom, protecting members of the faculty whose "radical" views brought irate protests to his office. The university endowment increased fivefold; the size of the faculty doubled; a four-course plan of study in the upper classes was initiated; the work of the scientific departments was extended; and the schools of architecture, engineering, and public affairs were founded. The great expansion in the field of science at Princeton during this period is attributable largely to Hibben's generous recognition of the leadership of Dean Henry Burchard Fine.
Hibben's educational philosophy is expounded in A Defense of Prejudice (1911). He defended the ideas that underlie the traditional "liberal education," pleaded for the humanities, and, while he recognized the role of "pure" science, his own interest was to conserve and revitalize the inheritance of the past.
His philosophical writings include: Inductive Logic (1896); The Problems of Philosophy (1898); Hegel's Logic (1902); Deductive and Inductive Logic (1905). All of these show mathematical precision of statement and lucid exposition. His books on logic, though later superseded, still constituted a valuable approach to the Hegelian system. His most enduring contribution is The Philosophy of the Enlightenment (1910) in the Epochs of Philosophy Series, of which he was the general editor. His account of the development of Kant's philosophy is masterly, and he ranks Kant as the culminating thinker of the Enlightenment. The Kantian emphasis on moral freedom through intuitive recognition and willing assent to a universally binding moral law was the keynote of his ethics and the fulcrum of his opposition to all forms of utilitarianism and pragmatism. In "The Vocation of the Scholar," in the volume A Defense of Prejudice, he opposes William James's "creed of change," with this declaration of philosophical fundamentalism: "There are certain ideas which in the history of the race experience have become established for all time, for all places, and for all persons and things" (pp. 146–47).
Hibben's interest in the life of the nation was keen. In the little volume The Higher Patriotism (1915—translated into Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish) may be discerned the deeper reasons for his ardent advocacy of the Allies in the First World War. Against the doctrine that "there is no law above the state" his ethical sense rebelled, and he declared, "No more damnable doctrine was ever uttered" (p. 35). From 1914 to 1917 he stirred large audiences with his appeals for national preparedness, and during the war dedicated his own and the university's resources to national service. President Hibben, his wife, and daughter were in Europe when World War I began and returned to the United Stat
John Grier Hibben