David Hugh Mellor (; 10 July 1938 – 21 June 2020) was a British
philosopher. He was a Professor of Philosophy and
Pro-Vice-Chancellor, later Professor Emeritus, of
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
.
Biography
Mellor was born in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
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 ...
at
Pembroke College, Cambridge (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 land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...
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 ult ...
,
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 add ...
,
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 is to occur, or how likely it is that a proposition is true. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1, where, roughly speakin ...
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 an ...
, 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, a French philosopher known for his theory of “
deconstruction”. 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"](_blank)
(1993) in ''Key Philosophers in Conversation: the Cogito interviews''. Pyle, Andrew. London: Routledge. 1999. pp. 110–111 . .
Mellor was president of the
Aristotelian Society 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 spa ...
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'' (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
tribute page
by Tim Crane.
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'':
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''_70,_243-62__(1995).html" ;"title="Philosophy_(journal).html" ;"title="reviously published in ''Philosophy (journal)">Philosophy'' 70, 243-62 (1995)">Philosophy_(journal).html" ;"title="reviously published in ''Philosophy (journal)">Philosophy'' 70, 243-62 (1995)br>"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'
homepage
an
Tribute page
by Tim Crane
{{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