P. F. Strawson Explained

Region:Western philosophy
Era:Contemporary philosophy
Sir Peter Strawson
Birth Name:Peter Frederick Strawson
Birth Date:23 November 1919
Birth Place:Ealing, London, England
Death Place:London, England
Burial Place:Wolvercote Cemetery
Children:4, including Galen
Alma Mater:St John's College, Oxford
School Tradition:Analytic
Notable Ideas:Ordinary language philosophy
Personal reactive attitudes[1]
The distinction between sortal and characterising universals[2]
The distinction between particular individuals (such as historical events, material objects and persons) and non-particular individuals (such as qualities, properties, numbers, species)[3]
The "descriptive metaphysics" and "revisionary metaphysics" distinction[4]
Main Interests:Philosophy of languagePhilosophy of mind
Influences:Ludwig Wittgenstein, Immanuel Kant, J. L. Austin, Bertrand Russell, A.J. Ayer, Gilbert Ryle, Wilfrid Sellars
Influenced:Wilfrid Sellars, John McDowell, David Lewis, Ted Honderich, Colin McGinn, Arda Denkel, Ramchandra Gandhi, Martin Hollis, Keith Donnellan, Joshua Knobe, John Searle, Pierre Bourdieu
Notable Students:Gareth Evans
Sir Peter Frederick Strawson (; 23 November 1919 – 13 February 2006) was an English philosopher who spent most of his career at the University of Oxford. He was the Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at Magdalen College, Oxford from 1968 to 1987. He had previously held the positions of college lecturer and tutorial fellow at University College, Oxford, a college he returned to upon his retirement in 1987, and which provided him with rooms until his death.[5]

Paul Snowdon and Anil Gomes, in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, comment that Strawson "exerted a considerable influence on philosophy, both during his lifetime and, indeed, since his death."[6]

Early years

Strawson was born in Ealing, west London, and brought up in Finchley, north London, by his parents, both of whom were teachers. He was educated at Christ's College, Finchley, followed by St John's College, Oxford, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

During the Second World War, Strawson served first with the Royal Artillery from 1940, and then with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. He was demobilised in 1946, with the rank of captain.[7]

After his military service, he went initially to the (then) University College of North Wales at Bangor, as an assistant lecturer. After winning the John Locke scholarship in 1946, and the support of Gilbert Ryle, he went to University College, Oxford, initially as a lecturer, and then, from 1948, as a fellow.

Philosophical work

Strawson first became well known with his article "On Referring" (1950), a criticism of Bertrand Russell's theory of descriptions (see also Definite descriptions) that Russell explained in the famous "On Denoting" article (1905).

In philosophical methodology, there are (at least) two important and interrelated features of Strawson's work that are worthy of note.[8] The first is the project of a 'descriptive' metaphysics, and the second is his notion of a shared conceptual scheme, composed of concepts operated in everyday life. In his book Individuals (1959), Strawson attempts to describe various concepts that form an interconnected web, representing (part of) our common, shared, human conceptual scheme. In particular, he examines our conceptions of basic particulars, and how they are variously brought under general spatio-temporal concepts. What makes this a metaphysical project is that it exhibits, in fine detail, the structural features of our thought about the world, and thus precisely delimits how we, humans, think about reality.

Strawson distinguished between 'revisionary' and 'descriptive metaphysics', he wrote: "Descriptive metaphysics is content to describe the actual structure of our thought about the world, revisionary metaphysics is concerned to produce a better structure".[9] The purpose of the former is to "lay bare the most general features of our conceptual scheme" and to understand structures which do not "readily display itself on the structures of language but lies submerged" by analysing those metaphysical concepts which have always existed. He lists Aristotle and Kant as descriptive and Descartes and Leibniz as revisionary.[10]

Strawson was made a Fellow of the British Academy in 1960 and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1971. He was president of the Aristotelian Society from 1969 to 1970. He was knighted in 1977, for services to philosophy.

Personal life

After serving as a captain in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during World War II, Strawson married Ann Martin in 1945. They had four children, including the philosopher Galen Strawson. P.F. Strawson lived in Oxford all his adult life, and died in hospital on 13 February 2006 after a short illness. He was the elder brother of Major General John Strawson.

His obituary in The Guardian noted that "Oxford was the world capital of philosophy between 1950 and 1970, and American academics flocked there, rather than the traffic going the other way. That golden age had no greater philosopher than Sir Peter Strawson."[11]

In its obituary, The Times of London described him as a "philosopher of matchless range who made incisive, influential contributions to problems of language and metaphysics". The author went on to say:

His portrait was painted by the artists Muli Tang and Daphne Todd.[12]

Partial bibliography

Books

Articles

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Personal reactive attitudes are reactions we display when we are hurt by the actions of an agent (see Strawson, P. F. (2008), Freedom and resentment and other essays, Routledge, p. 12).
  2. N. Milkov, A Hundred Years of English Philosophy, Springer, 2013, p. 201.
  3. Clifford A. Brown, Peter Strawson, Routledge, 2015, p. 51.
  4. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/strawson/ Peter Frederick Strawson (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
  5. Snowdon . Paul . 19 May 2011 . Strawson, Sir Peter Frederick (1919–2006), philosopher . https://web.archive.org/web/20210917131354/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-97063 . 17 September 2021 . 2024-05-20 . en . 10.1093/ref:odnb/97063.
  6. Book: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/strawson/ . The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . Peter Frederick Strawson . 2022 . Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University .
  7. Web site: 2006-02-15 . Sir Peter Strawson . 2024-05-20 . The Telegraph . en.
  8. P.F. Strawson, Individuals
  9. Phillips . R.L. . Descriptive versus Revisionary Metaphysics and the Mind–Body Problem . Philosophy . 1967 . 42 . 160 . 105–118. 10.1017/S0031819100001030 .
  10. Book: Strawson . P. F. . Individuals . 1964 . University Paperbacks . 9–10.
  11. News: O'Grady . Jane . 2006-02-15 . Sir Peter Strawson . 2024-05-20 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  12. Web site: Bill Sykes, Peter Strawson, George Cawkwell and Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann . Daphne . Todd . Daphne Todd . . UK . 23 January 2015 . dmy-all .
  13. Quine . W. V. . 1953 . Mr. Strawson on Logical Theory . Mind . 62 . 248 . 433–451 . 10.1093/mind/lxii.248.433 . 0026-4423 . 2251091.

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