David Hugh Mellor (; 10 July 1938 – 21 June 2020) was a British

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 ...

. He was a Professor of Philosophy and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, later Professor Emeritus, of

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Biography

Mellor was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 10 July 1938, and educated at

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a Grammar school#free tuition, free grammar school next to Manchester C ...

. He studied

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

(BA 1960). His first formal study of philosophy was at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

where he took a minor in Philosophy of Science under

Herbert Feigl Herbert Feigl (; ; December 14, 1902 – June 1, 1988) was an Austrian-American philosopher and an early member of the Vienna Circle. He coined the term " nomological danglers". Biography The son of a trained weaver who became a textile designer, ...

. From Minnesota he obtained an MSc in 1962. He obtained his PhD in philosophy, with a thesis written under the supervision of

Mary Hesse Mary Brenda Hesse FBA (15 October 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English philosopher of science, latterly a professor in the subject at the University of Cambridge. Biography Mary Hesse was born in Reigate, Surrey, to Ethelbert (Bertie) Thom ...

, at Pembroke in 1968. He was awarded a Sc.D. from Cambridge in 1990. His primary work was in

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

, although his philosophical interests included

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...

philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the ontology and nature of the mind and its relationship with the body. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a number of other issues are addre ...

philosophy of time 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 ...

probability Probability is the branch of mathematics concerning numerical descriptions of how likely an Event (probability theory), event is to occur, or how likely it is that a proposition is true. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and ...

and causation, laws of nature and

properties Property is the ownership of land, resources, improvements or other tangible objects, or intellectual property. Property may also refer to: Mathematics * Property (mathematics) Philosophy and science * Property (philosophy), in philosophy and ...

, and

decision theory Decision theory (or the theory of choice; not to be confused with choice theory) is a branch of applied probability theory concerned with the theory of making decisions based on assigning probabilities to various factors and assigning numerical ...

. Mellor was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Darwin College from 1971 to 2005. Mellor was in the news in 1992, when he argued against Cambridge awarding an honorary degree to

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...

, a French philosopher known for his theory of “

deconstruction The term deconstruction refers to approaches to understanding the relationship between text and meaning. It was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who defined it as a turn away from Platonism's ideas of "true" forms and essences w ...

”. A formal ballot decided to award the degree, but Mellor said it was undeserved, explaining: "He is a mediocre, unoriginal philosopher — he is not even interestingly bad." He also commented that it had been "a bad year for bullshit in Cambridge.""An Interview with Hugh Mellor"
(1993) in ''Key Philosophers in Conversation: the Cogito interviews''. Pyle, Andrew. London: Routledge. 1999. pp. 110–111 . . Mellor was president of the

Aristotelian Society The Aristotelian Society for the Systematic Study of Philosophy, more generally known as the Aristotelian Society, is a philosophical society in London. History Aristotelian Society was founded at a meeting on 19 April 1880, at 17 Bloomsbury Squar ...

from 1992 to 1993, a member of the Humanist Philosophers' Group of the

British Humanist Association Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious b ...

and Honorary Fellow of the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australia ...

. He was a Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

between 1983 and 2008. In retirement Mellor held the title of

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. A ''

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'', ''Real Metaphysics: Essays in Honour of D. H. Mellor,'' was published in 2003. Mellor was also an amateur theatre actor. He died on 21 June 2020.

Publications

*'' The Matter of Chance'' (1971). Cambridge University Press. *''

Real Time Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...

'' (1981). Cambridge University Press. *''Matters of Metaphysics'' (1991). Cambridge University Press. *''The Facts of Causation'' (1995). Routledge. *''Real Time II'' (1998). Routledge.Routledge, 22 Jun 1998
Retrieved 2012-01-25 . *''Probability: A Philosophical Introduction'' (2005). Routledge. *''Mind, Meaning, and Reality'' (2012). Oxford University Press *For more complete publication details see th
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Tim Crane Timothy Martin Crane (born 17 October 1962) is a British philosopher specialising in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of perception, philosophy of psychology and metaphysics. His contributions to philosophy include a defence of a non-physical ...

References

Sources

* ''Real Metaphysics: Essays in Honour of D. H. Mellor'' (2003). Hallvard Lillehammer and Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra ed.

External links

Australian Academy of the Humanities obituary
by Stewart Candlish *Interviews with ''

Philosophy Bites ''Philosophy Bites'' is a podcast series featuring philosophy, philosophers being interviewed for 15–20 minutes on a specific topic. The series, which has been running since 2007, is hosted by Nigel Warburton, freelance lecturer, and David Edmo ...

'':
Hugh Mellor on Time
(2008) *

(2011)

(2014) *
Better Than The Stars
' 1978 BBC Radio programme made by Mellor about Frank Ramsey (featuring interviews 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) ...

and

Richard Braithwaite Richard Bevan Braithwaite (15 January 1900 – 21 April 1990) was an English philosopher who specialized in the philosophy of science, ethics, and the philosophy of religion. Life Braithwaite was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, son of the ...

). ** an
"Cambridge Philosophers I: F. P. Ramsey"
text of an article derived from the 1978 radio programme

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 ...

'' 70, 243-62 (1995)]
"An Interview with Hugh Mellor"
[reproduced, with permission, from ''Key Philosophers in Conversation: the Cogito interviews''. Pyle, Andrew. London: Routledge. 1999. . .] *Archived versions of Mellor'
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an
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mellor, Hugh 20th-century British philosophers 2020 deaths 1938 births Fellows of Darwin College, Cambridge Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge British humanists Presidents of the Aristotelian Society Fellows of the British Academy Academics from London Bertrand Russell Professors of Philosophy