George Edward Hughes (8 June 1918 – 4 March 1994) was an Irish-born New Zealand philosopher and

logician Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

whose principal scholarly works were concerned with

modal logic Modal logic is a collection of formal systems developed to represent statements about necessity and possibility. It plays a major role in philosophy of language, epistemology, metaphysics, and natural language semantics. Modal logics extend other ...

and

medieval philosophy Medieval philosophy is the philosophy that existed through the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century until after the Renaissance in the 13th and 14th centuries. Medieval philosophy, ...

Biography

Hughes was born on 8 June 1918 in

Waterford city "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

, Ireland. His English parents George James Hughes and Gertrude Sparks moved to Scotland in the early 1920s, as a result of the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...

. George graduated MA with First Class Honours in Philosophy and English, and then in pure Philosophy, from the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. He then studied for a year at the

University of Cambridge , 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 ...

, before being called back to Glasgow as an

assistant lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct res ...

. Subsequently, he held lectureships at the University College of South Wales at

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, and then the

University College of North Wales , former_names = University College of North Wales (1884–1996) University of Wales, Bangor (1996–2007) , image = File:Arms_of_Bangor_University.svg , image_size = 250px , caption = Arms ...

at Bangor. In 1951 he was appointed to the first Chair in Philosophy at the

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

in New Zealand, a position from which he retired in 1984. He died in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

on 4 March 1994.

Career

Notable influences on Hughes' philosophical development included

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 an ...

and

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is considere ...

, from whom he took classes at Cambridge;

J. L. Austin John Langshaw Austin (26 March 1911 – 8 February 1960) was a British philosopher of language and leading proponent of ordinary language philosophy, perhaps best known for developing the theory of speech acts. Austin pointed out that we use l ...

, a leading exponent of

ordinary language philosophy Ordinary language philosophy (OLP) is a philosophical methodology that sees traditional philosophical problems as rooted in misunderstandings philosophers develop by distorting or forgetting how words are ordinarily used to convey meaning in ...

; and

Arthur Prior Arthur Norman Prior (4 December 1914 – 6 October 1969), usually cited as A. N. Prior, was a New Zealand–born logician and philosopher. Prior (1957) founded tense logic, now also known as temporal logic, and made important contribution ...

, with whom he found much in common when they met in New Zealand. Hughes was a gifted and revered teacher who played a prominent role in academic affairs at Victoria University. He is well remembered for his passion for clarity, his uncompromising intellectual honesty, and his humanity and gentleness. His early interests were in

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

and the

philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known texts concerning ph ...

, but he is most widely known for books on modal logic co-authored with his colleague and former student

Max Cresswell Maxwell John Cresswell (born 19 November 1939) is a New Zealand philosopher and logician, known for his work in modal logic.''Festschrift for Max Cresswell on the occasion of his 65th birthday.'' In: ''Logique et Analyse.'' Number 181, March 20 ...

. In 1968 they published ''An Introduction to Modal Logic'', the first modern textbook in the area. This book, which has been translated into German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish, was influential in introducing many generations of students and researchers to

Kripke semantics Kripke semantics (also known as relational semantics or frame semantics, and often confused with possible world semantics) is a formal semantics for non-classical logic systems created in the late 1950s and early 1960s by Saul Kripke and André Jo ...

, a mathematical theory of meaning that revolutionised the study of modal logics and led to applications ranging from the semantics of

natural languages In neuropsychology, linguistics, and philosophy of language, a natural language or ordinary language is any language that has evolved naturally in humans through use and repetition without conscious planning or premeditation. Natural languages ...

reasoning Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, lang ...

about the behaviour of

computer programs A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components. A computer program i ...

Vaughan Pratt Vaughan Pratt (born April 12, 1944) is a Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, who was an early pioneer in the field of computer science. Since 1969, Pratt has made several contributions to foundational areas such as search algorithms, sorti ...

, the creator of dynamic logic, has written in reference to his own motivation that "a weekend with Hughes and Cresswell convinced me that a most harmonious union between modal logic and programs was possible". Hughes' other special interest was in medieval philosophical logic, where his main projects were the preparation of philosophical commentaries on

Latin manuscripts Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

John Buridan Jean Buridan (; Latin: ''Johannes Buridanus''; – ) was an influential 14th-century French philosopher. Buridan was a teacher in the faculty of arts at the University of Paris for his entire career who focused in particular on logic and the wo ...

and

Paul of Venice Paul of Venice (or Paulus Venetus; 1369–1429) was a Catholic philosopher, theologian, logician and metaphysician of the Order of Saint Augustine. Life Paul was born, according to the chroniclers of his order, at Udine, about 1369 and died at Ve ...

, as well as English translations of the originals. He was also a priest in the Anglican (

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

) Church, having been ordained in

Bangor Cathedral Bangor Cathedral ( cy, Eglwys Gadeiriol Bangor) is a cathedral in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It is dedicated to its founder, Saint Deiniol. The site of the present building of Bangor Cathedral has been in use as a place of Christian worship since ...

in 1950. At that time there was a need for clergy who could conduct services in both Welsh and English, so the then Bishop of Bangor ordained several men whom he considered suitable, but who had not had the usual theological training. Hughes had a flair for languages that enabled him to quickly learn how to pronounce the set words of the service even though he was not a Welsh speaker. He was married with five children. His wife Beryl Hughes (1920 – 2015), an historian, taught in the History Department of Victoria University for 25 years, and was one of the founders of the

Women's Studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

programme there.

Publications

Books

* ''The Elements of Formal Logic'', by G. E. Hughes and D. G. Londey, Methuen 1965. * ''An Introduction to Modal Logic'', by G. E. Hughes and M. J. Cresswell, Methuen 1968. * ''John Buridan on Self-Reference: Chapter Eight of Buridan's 'Sophismata', with a Translation, an Introduction, and a Philosophical Commentary'', by G. E. Hughes, Cambridge University Press, 1982. * ''A Companion to Modal Logic'', by G. E. Hughes and M. J. Cresswell, Methuen 1984. * ''Paul of Venice. Logica magna, Part II, Fascicule 4, Capitula De Conditionali et De Rationali''. Edited with an English Translation and Notes by G. E. Hughes. ''The British Academy Classical and Medieval Logic Texts, VI''. Published for The British Academy by Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1990.
''A New Introduction to Modal Logic''
by G. E. Hughes and M. J. Cresswell, Routledge, 1996.

Selected papers

* Motive and Duty, by George E. Hughes. ''Mind'', New Series, Vol. 53, No. 212, (Oct. 1944), pp. 314–331. * An Examination of the Argument from Theology to Ethics, by George E. Hughes. ''Philosophy'', Vol. 22, No. 81, (Apr. 1947), pp. 3–24. * The Ethical Relevance of Consequences, by George E. Hughes. ''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society'', New Series, Vol. 48, (1947–1948), pp. 59–74. * Has God's Existence Been Disproved?: A Reply to Professor J. N. Findlay, by George E. Hughes. ''Mind'', New Series, Vol. 58, No. 229, (Jan. 1949), pp. 67–74. * Symposium: Is There Knowledge by Acquaintance?, by

H. L. A. Hart Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart (18 July 190719 December 1992), known simply as H. L. A. Hart, was an English legal philosopher. He was Professor of Jurisprudence (University of Oxford), Professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford University an ...

, G. E. Hughes, and J. N. Findlay. ''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society'', Supplementary Volumes, Vol. 23, Politics, Psychology and Art, (1949), pp. 69–128. * Moral Condemnation, by G. E. Hughes. In ''Essays in Moral Philosophy'', edited by A. I. Melden, University of Washington Press, 1958, pp. 108–134. * Plantinga on the Rationality of God's Existence, by G. E. Hughes. ''The Philosophical Review'', Vol. 79, No. 2, (Apr. 1970), pp. 246–252. * Omnitemporal Logic and Converging Time, by G. E. Hughes and M. J. Cresswell. ''Theoria'', 41 (1975), no. 1, 11–34. * Modal Systems With No Minimal Proper Extensions, by G. E. Hughes. ''Reports on Mathematical Logic'', No. 6 (1976), pp. 93–98. * Omnitemporal Logic and Nodal Time, by George E. Hughes. ''Reports on Mathematical Logic'', No. 8 (1977), pp. 41–61. * Equivalence Relations and S5, by G. E. Hughes. ''Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic'', 21 (1980), no. 3, pp. 577–584. * Some Strong Omnitemporal Logics, by G. E. Hughes. ''Synthese'', 53 (1982), no. 1, pp. 19–42.
The Modal Logic of John Buridan
by G. E. Hughes. In ''Atti del Convegno internazionale di storia della logica: la teoria delle modalità'', ed. G. Corsi, C. Mangione, and M. Mugnani, CLUEB, Bologna, 1989, pp. 93–112. * Every World Can See a Reflexive World, by G. E. Hughes. ''Studia Logica'', 49 (1990), no. 2, 175–181.

Notes

References

* Obituary: George Hughes. ''Australasian Journal of Philosophy'', Vol. 72, No. 4; December 1994, page 548. * Vaughan R. Pratt (1980). Application of modal logic to programming. ''Studia Logica'', Vol. 39, pages 257–274.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, George Edward 1918 births 1994 deaths New Zealand philosophers Victoria University of Wellington faculty Irish philosophers Irish logicians Irish Anglicans New Zealand logicians 20th-century Irish philosophers Irish emigrants to New Zealand Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom