Edward Ingram Watkin (27 September 1888 - 1981) was an English Catholic philosopher, pacifist and writer.

Life

He studied at St Paul's School, London and

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

. Joseph Pearce, ''Literary Converts'' (1999), p. 39. In 1908, Watkin became a convert to Catholicism. He publicly opposed

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

in 1916, a position he upheld in his 1939 pamphlet ''The Crime of Conscription''. In 1927, Watkin befriended the exiled Italian priest Don Luigi Sturzo, whose work Watkin would later publish in the '' Dublin Review''. Watkin's best known works were ''Philosophy of Mysticism'' (1920) and ''A Philosophy of Form'' (1938). He has been described as "one of the few non-Thomist Catholic philosophers of the early twentieth century."

Pacifism

Watkin was a pacifist and joined the pacifist organization The Guild of Pope's Peace in 1916 which promoted peaceful solutions to World War I.Brown, Stuart. (2005). ''The Dictionary of Twentieth-Century British Philosophers, Volume 2''. Thoemmes Continuum. pp. 1094-1095. He founded in 1936 with Eric Gill and

Donald Attwater Donald Attwater by Eric Gill, 1929, private collection. Donald Attwater (24 December 1892 – 30 January 1977) was a British Catholic author, editor and translator, and a visiting lecturer at the University of Notre Dame. Life Attwater was born ...

the inter-war Catholic

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

movement Pax. This movement was prominently supported by Dorothy Day. Watkin was opposed to fascism, and his book ''The Catholic Centre'' includes a critique of

Fascist Italy Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

and Nazi Germany as being part of "a social revolt against reason".

Family

His maternal grandfather was Herbert Ingram; Edward Watkin was a great-uncle on his father's side.The Early History of the Illustrated London News
/ref> His daughter was

Magdalen Goffin Magdalen Goffin, FRSL (23 July 1925 – 2015) was an English writer, born in Sheringham, Norfolk, England, UK. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL) from 1980. She wrote biographies of her grandmother, Maria Pasqua, and her ...

Works

*''Some Thoughts on Catholic Apologetics: A Plea for Interpretation'' (1915) *''A Little Book of Prayers for Peace'' (1916)
''The Philosophy of Mysticism''
(1920) *''The Bow in the Clouds: An Essay Towards the Integration of Experience'' (1931) *''Theism, Agnosticism And Atheism'' (1936) *''Men and Tendencies'' (London: Sheed & Ward, 1937) *''A Philosophy of Form'' (1938) *''The Crime of Conscription'' (1939) *''The Catholic Center'' (1939) *''Praise of Glory'' (1943) *''The Balance of Truth'' (1943) * *''Poets and Mystics'' (1953) *''Neglected Saints'' (1955) *''Roman Catholicism in England from the Reformation to 1950'' (1957) *''The Church in Council'' (1960)

Life

Pacifism

Family

Works

References

Further reading