Allan James "Jim" Baker (22 July 1922 – 3 March 2017), usually cited as A. J. Baker, was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

who was best known for having systematised the realist philosophy of

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Business *John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland * John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...

. He studied under Anderson at

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...

and had taught

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

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, the

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, and

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. He was a prominent member of the Sydney Libertarians and the

Sydney Push The Sydney Push was an intellectual subculture in Sydney from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. Its politics were predominantly left-wing libertarianism. The Push operated in a pub culture and included university students, academics, manual w ...

.The Push – Australia's Culture Portal
He instigated, and was a prolific contributor to, several journals, compilations and newsletters that addressed issues, philosophical and otherwise, associated with Sydney Libertarianism. Among these were ''Libertarian'' (1957–1960), ''Broadsheet'' (1960–1979), ''The Sydney Line: A Selection of Comments and Criticisms'' (1963), ''Heraclitus'' (1980–2006) and ''The Sydney Realist'' (2005–). In 1997 he published a monograph, ''Social Pluralism: A Realistic Analysis'', in which he posited his exposition of human social life.

Bibliography

* ''Anderson's Social Philosophy: The Social Thought and Political Life of Professor John Anderson'', Sydney: Angus and Robertson (1979) *
Australian Realism: The Systematic Philosophy of John Anderson
', Cambridge University Press (1986) * ''Social Pluralism: A Realistic Analysis'', Wild and Woolley, Glebe NSW (1997).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, A. J. 1922 births 2017 deaths 20th-century atheists 20th-century Australian male writers 20th-century Australian philosophers 20th-century educators 20th-century essayists 21st-century atheists 21st-century Australian male writers 21st-century Australian philosophers 21st-century educators 21st-century essayists Analytic philosophers Atheist philosophers Australian atheists Australian essayists Australian libertarians Australian male non-fiction writers Australian social commentators Australian sociologists Epistemologists Metaphysicians Ontologists Philosophers of culture Philosophers of education Philosophers of social science Philosophy writers Social philosophers University of Sydney alumni Writers about activism and social change