Alfred William Benn (1843–1915) was an

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

and an honorary associate of the Rationalist Press Association. His book ''A History of Modern Philosophy'' (first published in 1912) was republished in the

Thinker's Library The Thinker's Library was a series of 140 small hardcover books published between 1929 and 1951 for the Rationalist Press Association by Watts & Co., London, a company founded by the brothers Charles and John Watts. The series was launched at ...

series in 1930. He was the author of ''The Greek Philosophers'' (2 vols, 1882); ''The History of English Rationalism in the Nineteenth Century'' (2 vols, 1906); and ''The History of Ancient and Modern Philosophy'' (2 vols, 1912). Benn was also a member of the

London Positivist Society The London Positivist Society was an atheistic philosophical, humanist, and political circle that met in London, England, between May 1867 and 1974. The conditions of membership originally included "emancipation from theology and metaphysics and ...

and a friend of the lawyer and positivist Vernon Lushington. Lushington's daughter Susan recorded in her diary on 3 September 1889 that Benn and his wife visited the Lushington's Surrey home - Pyports, Cobham - and how Mrs Benn told her "how she came to be a positivist."

References

*Obituary: ''Alfred William Benn'', International Journal of Ethics, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Jan., 1916), pp. 282–283 *Obituary: ''A. W. Benn'', R. G. Bury, The Classical Review, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Mar., 1916), p. 63

External links

* * * 1843 births 1915 deaths 20th-century English philosophers English agnostics 19th-century English philosophers Freethought writers {{UK-philosopher-stub