Elsie Matilda Maude Whetnall (24 December 1897, in Isleworth, Middlesex – c. 1998) was a British

analytic philosopher Analytic philosophy is a branch and tradition of philosophy using analysis, popular in the Western world and particularly the Anglosphere, which began around the turn of the 20th century in the contemporary era in the United Kingdom, United ...

Life and career

Elsie Whetnall was the daughter of Thomas William Ward Whetnall, a Staff Officer for the Board of Education, and Emma Cox. She was educated at Southall County Secondary School, then at Bedford College,

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

, where she obtained a first-class degree in 1921. Whetnall was an external doctoral student of

Susan Stebbing Lizzie Susan Stebbing (2 December 1885 – 11 September 1943) was a British philosopher. She belonged to the 1930s generation of analytic philosophy, and was a founder in 1933 of the journal ''Analysis.'' Stebbing was the first woman to hold a p ...

, at Bedford College where she wrote her thesis on the theory of symbols. They were friends, and Stebbing, in the preface to her book ''A Modern Introduction to Logic'' (1930), wrote: "...in personal discussion I owe more than I can say to my friend, Miss E.M. Whetnall". Whetnall was a non-resident Director of Studies and Lecturer in Moral Sciences (philosophy) for

Girton College Girton College is one of the Colleges of the University of Cambridge, 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1 ...

and

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millice ...

. She attended

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college statu ...

as a Jex-Blake student between 1924 and 1926. While at Cambridge, she was one of the first woman officers in the

Moral Sciences Club The Cambridge University Moral Sciences Club, founded in October 1878, is a philosophy discussion group that meets weekly at the University of Cambridge during term time. Speakers are invited to present a paper with a strict upper time limit of ...

, in her role as Club Secretary for a paper

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

delivered on 3 December 1926. After completing her doctorate in 1929, Whetnall subsequently held a number of teaching posts: first at Kingsley School, Hampstead, then as a lecturer at

Huguenot College The Huguenot College in Wellington, South Africa, is a private institute focused on training social and church service workers. Historical overview The Huguenot College has its origins in three educational institutions which previously existed ...

, University of South Africa. She returned to Bedford College as Stebbing's temporary replacement during 1930 and 1931 She also taught at the

Hillcroft College Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College is a further education college located in Richmond and Surbiton in Greater London. It was established in 2017 by a merger between Richmond Adult Community College and the specialist Hillcroft Colleg ...

for Working Women, Surbiton, a women's residential college from 1932 to 1943. In 1925, she became one of very few women to be elected to the membership of the Aristotelian Society and was an active member and frequent panel discussant in the company of other notable panellists including

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 ...

John Wisdom Arthur John Terence Dibben Wisdom (12 September 1904, in Leyton, Essex – 9 December 1993, in Cambridge), usually cited as John Wisdom, was a leading British philosopher considered to be an ordinary language philosopher, a philosopher of mind ...

C.D. Broad Charlie Dunbar Broad (30 December 1887 – 11 March 1971), usually cited as C. D. Broad, was an English epistemologist, historian of philosophy, philosopher of science, moral philosopher, and writer on the philosophical aspects of psych ...

, and Stace. In the early 1930s she considered metaphysical analysis to be useful for considering the psychological process of concept formation. She contributed to works on logic such as the revised edition of James Welton's ''An Intermediate Logic''. Whetnall married William James Smith on 30 August 1939.

Publications

* (1928). "Symbol Situations". ''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society'' 29:191 – 226. * (1931). "Formation of Concepts and Metaphysical Analysis". ''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society'' 32:121 - 138.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whetnall, Elsie 1897 births 1998 deaths 20th-century English philosophers Analytic philosophers British logicians British women philosophers Alumni of Bedford College, London People from Isleworth