Tuesday, April 06, 2021

J. R. Lucas on the Philosophical Climate at Oxford

 The philosophical climate in which I grew up in Oxford was one of extreme aridity. The ability not to be convinced was the most powerful part of a young Philosopher’s armory: a competent tutor could disbelieve any proposition, no matter how true it was, and the more sophisticated could not even understand the meaning of what was being asserted. In consequence, concern was concentrated on the basic questions of epistemology almost to the exclusion of other questions of larger import but less easy to argue in black and white terms. The undergraduate who wanted to write essays on the meaning of existence was told to confine himself to the logical grammar of ‘is,’ and was not even allowed to ask what truth was, or how one ought to live one’s life.

Lucas, J.R. (1976), Freedom and Grace, London: SPCK, ix. 

Lucas passed away a year ago yesterday. 

18 comments:

bmiller said...

So it really does come down to the question of what is is!

Starhopper said...

I prefer "are".

bmiller said...

You didn't attend Oxford.

Bill Clinton did.

Starhopper said...

"You didn't attend Oxford."

But I've been to Oxford *. I've even been to The Eagle and Child.

* Though I much prefer Cambridge.

bmiller said...

You probably even have their dictionary.

bmiller said...

And wear one of their shirts.

Starhopper said...

Guilty as charged. And I have several dozen CDs of their choirs' music.

By the way, when I was moving into my present living space, I decided on freestanding wardrobes over having closets built in. I thought it would be more "Lewisian". And it must have worked, because just last week, I caught my 8 year old granddaughter rooting around in the large one where I keep my winter coats. I asked her what she was doing, and she said she was looking to see whether there was a secret door in the back! (Shades of Narnia.)

Papalinton said...

Even I'VE been to Oxford and Cambridge. And I happen to live on the other side of the world.
Lovely, lovely places.

bmiller said...

Well.

I've never been to England.
But I kind of like the Beatles.

Kevin said...

Years ago I traced my family tree back to either England or Wales, can't remember. What I do remember is that I stopped tracing because everyone kept getting arrested for corruption. Not much to be proud of there!

That's my experience with England.

bmiller said...

Did they get sent to Australia? It's where they sent the real baddies!

Kevin said...

This was before Australia became the British toilet, so nothing so exotic. 1500s if I recall.

bmiller said...

Hmm. Family history of corruption and ended up in Arkansas. Coincidence?

Starhopper said...

My family history is that of being dirt poor peasants in the Old Country, followed by the New World counterpart of being Pennsylvania coal miners. WWII pulled my immediate family out of the rut by teaching my father electronics. (He was made radio operator on his destroyer. After the war, he found work with Motorola, and went on to help build the Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket.)

bmiller said...

How many generations in the US?

Starhopper said...

The Harzinskis (my mother's side of the family) came over all together in 1913 (just missing the First World War). The Prokops (my father's side) came over in dribs and drabs, some as late as the 1950s.

bmiller said...

Newbie.

One Brow said...

My grandmother immigrated as a child, and to my understanding, all of my great-grandparents were also immigrants, mostly in the 1880s-1900s. They cam from Ireland, Germany, and Italy.