J.O. Urmson
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James Opie Urmson (4 March 1915 – 29 January 2012), was a philosopher and classicist who spent most of his professional career at
Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12t ...
. He was a prolific author and expert on a number of topics including British analytic/linguistic philosophy, George Berkeley, ethics, and
Greek philosophy Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empi ...
(especially
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
).


Life and career

J. O. Urmson was born in
Hornsea Hornsea is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The settlement dates to at least the early medieval period. The town was expanded in the Victorian era with the coming of the Hull and Hornsea Railway in 18 ...
. He was named after his father, the Rev. James Opie Urmson (1881–1954), a
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
Minister. Urmson was educated at
Kingswood School (''In The Right Way Quickly'') , established = , closed = , type = Independent , religious_affiliation = Methodist , president = , head_label = Headmaste ...
, Bath (1928–1934) and Corpus Christi College, Oxford (1934–38). When
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
broke out, he joined the Army, where he served for 6 years. He was captured and spent three years in Germany as a prisoner of war, where he spent his time "playing bridge and doing mathematics". After the war, he was awarded the
Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...
. After the war he was a Student (i.e. a Fellow) of Christ Church, Oxford from 1945 to 1955. During this period he lived i
Monckton Cottage
in
Headington Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames valley below, and bordering Marston to the north-west, Cowley to the south, and Barton and Risinghurst to the east. Th ...
, Oxford. In 1955 he accepted an appointment as Professor of Philosophy at Queen's College Dundee, then part of the
University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...
in Scotland. In 1959 he returned to Oxford as a Fellow of
Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12t ...
and a Tutor in Philosophy. Except for visiting appointments in the United States (e.g. Visiting Associate Professor of philosophy at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
in 1950–51), he remained at Oxford until his retirement, at which point he assumed the position of Henry Waldgrave Stuart Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Stanford University.


Achievements

Urmson and his co-editor G. J. Warnock performed an invaluable service to the development of "analytic" or "linguistic" philosophy by preparing for publication the papers of the Oxford linguistic philosopher
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 u ...
. After World War II, Urmson's book ''Philosophical Analysis'' (1956) – an overview of the development of analytic philosophy at
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
and
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
universities between World War I and World War II – was influential in the post-war spread of analytic philosophy in Anglophone countries. David Heyd records that "the history of
supererogation Supererogation (Late Latin: ''supererogatio'' "payment beyond what is needed or asked", from ''super'' "beyond" and ''erogare'' "to pay out, expend", itself from ''ex'' "out" and ''rogare'' "to ask") is the performance of more than is asked for; ...
in non-religious ethical theory" began with Urmson's 'seminal' "Saints and Heroes" (1958). This paper, according to Heyd, "opened the contemporary discussion of supererogation," while hardly mentioning the term, "by challenging the traditional threefold classification of moral action: the obligatory, the permitted (or indifferent) and the prohibited." Urmson translated or wrote notes for a number of volumes of
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
, and commentaries on Aristotle's ''Physics'' by Simplicius, for the ''Ancient Commentators on Aristotle'' series published in the USA by
Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University; currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, making it the first university publishing enterprise in t ...
, in the UK initially by Duckworth, now by Bloomsbury, under the distinguished general editorship of Richard K.R. Sorabji. His book ''Aristotle's Ethics'' was praised by no less than J. L. Ackrill and
Julius Moravcsik Julius Matthew Emil Moravcsik (26 April 1931 – 3 June 2009) was an American philosopher who specialized in ancient Greek philosophy. His main professional interests were in Greek philosophy – especially Plato, Aristotle, and the pre-So ...
as an excellent introduction to Aristotle's ''Ethics''. Although, as Jonathan Rée notes, many of Urmson's writings "focus on theories about the nature of philosophy", Urmson holds that "on the whole the best philosophy is little affected by theory; the philosopher sees what needs doing and does it."


Works

;Edited volumes *J. L. Austin ''How to do Things with Words'' *J. L. Austin ''Philosophical Papers'' (joint editor with G. J. Warnock) *''Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy and Philosophers'' with Jonathan Ree (first edition 1960, s econd edition 1989, third edition 2004) *''The British Empiricists: Locke, Berkeley, Hume'' (with John Dunn and A. J. Ayer) ;Translations *Aristotle ''
The Nicomachean Ethics The ''Nicomachean Ethics'' (; ; grc, Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια, ) is Aristotle's best-known work on ethics, the science of the good for human life, which is the goal or end at which all our actions aim. (I§2) The aim of the inquiry is ...
'' (translated David O. Ross, 1925; revised J. O. Urmson and J. L. Ackrill, 1980)
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
*''Simplicius: Corollaries on Place and Time'' Cornell University Press (June 1992) translated by J.O. Urmson *''On Aristotle's "Physics 3'' by Simplicius, translated by J.O. Urmson & Peter Lautner, 2002, . ;Books *'' Philosophical Analysis: Its Development between the Two World Wars'',
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 1956 *'' The Emotive Theory of Ethics'' (1968) *''The Greek Philosophical Vocabulary'', Duckworth (1990) *'' Berkeley'' Oxford University Press, 1982 *'' Aristotle's Ethics'' (1988) Blackwell Publishers ;Articles *"On Grading", ''Mind'' (April 1950), 59(234):145–169, reprinted in '' Logic and Language (Second Series)'' (ed.
Antony Flew Antony Garrard Newton Flew (; 11 February 1923 – 8 April 2010) was a British philosopher. Belonging to the analytic and evidentialist schools of thought, Flew worked on the philosophy of religion. During the course of his career he taught a ...
, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1953) *"Parenthetical Verbs" ''Mind'' (October 1952), 61(244):480–496. *"The interpretation of the Moral Philosophy of J. S. Mill", ''
The Philosophical Quarterly ''The Philosophical Quarterly'' is a quarterly academic journal of philosophy established in 1950 and published by Wiley-Blackwell Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wil ...
'', Vol. 3 (1953 pp. 33–39. Reprinted in ''Theories of Ethics'' (ed. Philippa Foot)
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 1967 * "Saints and Heroes", in '' Essays in Moral Philosophy'', A. Melden (ed.), Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1958 * "Austin, John Langshaw" in J.O. Urmson, ed., ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy and Philosophers'', p. 54. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960. *"J. L. Austin" ''Journal of Philosophy'' 1965, reprinted in ''The Linguistic Turn'' ed.
Richard Rorty Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 – June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, he had strong interests and training in both the history of philosophy and in contemporary analytic ...
1967 *"The History of Analysis" in ''The Linguistic Turn'' ed.
Richard Rorty Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 – June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, he had strong interests and training in both the history of philosophy and in contemporary analytic ...
1967 * "Literature", in George Dickie and R. J. Sclafani, '' Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology'', New York: St. Martin's Press, 1977. *"Aristotle on Excellence of Character", ''
New Blackfriars ''New Blackfriars'' is an academic journal published by John Wiley & Sons that is formally linked with the English Province of the Order of Preachers (also known as the Dominican Order). The journal was launched in 1920 as a monthly review called ...
'' Volume 71 Issue 834 Page 33–37, January 1990 Related Works *''Human Agency: Language, Duty, and Value. Philosophical Essays in Honor of J. O. Urmson'' ed. Jonathan Dancy, J. M. E. Moravcsik, C. C. W. Taylor, Stanford University Press, 1988, . ''Contains a bibliography of Urmson's philosophical works''


See also

*
Quantifier variance The term quantifier variance refers to claims that there is no uniquely best ontological language with which to describe the world. The term "quantifier variance" rests upon the philosophical term 'quantifier', more precisely existential quantifier. ...


References


External links

*
Professor James Urmson
The Daily Telegraph, ''Telegraph'' obituary, 4 April 2012
Professor J. O. Urmson
''London Times, Times'' obituary, 16 March 2012
"Urmson, James Opie (1915–2012), philosopher"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' entry archived by Wayback Machine.
‘Memorial resolution: James Opie Urmson’
Stanford Historical Society 28 April 2015 archived by Wayback Machine.
''The Pelican Record'' [Corpus Christi College, Oxford
48 (Dec 2012),] 45–51, "J.O. Urmson 1915–2012" by C. C. W. Taylor, "Appreciation" by William Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North Hill, William Waldegrave. {{DEFAULTSORT:Urmson 1915 births 2012 deaths British philosophers