Austin Ernest Duncan-Jones (5 August 1908 – 2 April 1967) was a British philosopher, with a primary focus on meta-ethics. He was Professor of Philosophy at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

from 1951 until his death. He was president of the Aristotelian Society for 1960-61.

Early life and education

Duncan-Jones was son of the Very Reverend Arthur Stuart Duncan-Jones, Dean of Chichester, and was educated at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

.Dictionary of Twentieth-Century British Philosophers, vol. 1, A-L, ed. Stuart Brown, Hugh Terence Bredin, Thoemmes Continuum, 2005, p. 245

Career

In 1934, Duncan-Jones was appointed assistant lecturer in philosophy at the

, becoming professor in 1951. "In both motivation and style", Duncan-Jones was influenced by

G. E. Moore George Edward Moore (4 November 1873 – 24 October 1958) was an English philosopher, who with Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein and earlier Gottlob Frege was among the founders of analytic philosophy. He and Russell led the turn from ideal ...

. One of Duncan-Jones's concerns was to endorse the method of analysis he considered characteristic of Cambridge philosophy at the time; with

A. J. Ayer Sir Alfred Jules "Freddie" Ayer (; 29 October 1910 – 27 June 1989), usually cited as A. J. Ayer, was an English philosopher known for his promotion of logical positivism, particularly in his books '' Language, Truth, and Logic'' (1936) ...

, he made his most important contribution in this vein with a paper for a symposium "Does Philosophy Analyse Common Sense?" at the Joint Session of the Aristotelian Society and the Mind Association in 1937. He was the founding editor of ''

Analysis Analysis ( : analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (3 ...

'' (this being suggested to be "his most significant contribution to twentieth-century philosophy"), which he edited from 1933 to 1940, until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

intervened, and restarted it in 1947, remaining editor until 1948, and president of the

Mind Association The Mind Association is a philosophical society whose purpose is to promote the study of philosophy. The association publishes the journal '' Mind'' quarterly. It was established in 1900 on the death of Henry Sidgwick Henry Sidgwick (; 31 ...

in 1952. He was president of the Aristotelian Society for 1960-61.

Personal life

In 1933, Duncan-Jones married the literary scholar and playwright Elsie Elizabeth Phare. They had two children, Richard Duncan-Jones, a historian, and

Katherine Duncan-Jones Katherine Dorothea Duncan-Jones, (13 May 1941 – 16 October 2022) was an English literature and Shakespeare scholar. She was a Fellow of New Hall, Cambridge (1965–1966) and then Somerville College, Oxford (1966–2001). She was also Professo ...

, a Shakespeare scholar. His widow gave his papers and correspondence- including letters from

G. E. M. Anscombe Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe (; 18 March 1919 – 5 January 2001), usually cited as G. E. M. Anscombe or Elizabeth Anscombe, was a British analytic philosopher. She wrote on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, ...

Gilbert Ryle Gilbert Ryle (19 August 1900 – 6 October 1976) was a British philosopher, principally known for his critique of Cartesian dualism, for which he coined the phrase "ghost in the machine." He was a representative of the generation of British ord ...

, and

Moritz Schlick Friedrich Albert Moritz Schlick (; ; 14 April 1882 – 22 June 1936) was a German philosopher, physicist, and the founding father of logical positivism and the Vienna Circle. Early life and works Schlick was born in Berlin to a wealthy Prussian f ...

- to the

Library.

Works

* ''Butler's moral philosophy'', 1952

References

* DUNCAN-JONES, Austin Ernest’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 200
accessed 19 Feb 2012
* R. B. Braithwaite, 'Austin Duncan-Jones' Philosophical Writings', ''

'', Vol. 28, No. 3 (Jan., 1968), pp. 71–77 1908 births 1967 deaths 20th-century British philosophers Presidents of the Aristotelian Society Academics of the University of Birmingham {{UK-philosopher-stub