John Henry Muirhead (28 April 1855 – 24 May 1940) was a British
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
best known for having initiated the
Muirhead Library of Philosophy The Muirhead Library of Philosophy was an influential series which published some of the best writings of twentieth century philosophy. The original programme was drawn up by John Muirhead and published in Erdmann's ''History of Philosophy'' in 189 ...
in 1890. He became the first person named to the Chair of Philosophy at the
University of Birmingham in 1900.
Biography
Born in
Glasgow, Scotland
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Muirhead was educated at
Gilbertfield House School Gilbertfield House School was an academy at Hamilton, Lanarkshire, which between 1863 and 1878 prepared boys for entrance to universities, the Civil Service and commerce. Among its pupils were the statesman Bonar Law, the philosopher John Henry M ...
, the
Glasgow Academy (1866–70), and proceeded to
Glasgow University, where he was deeply influenced by the Hegelianism of
Edward Caird, the Professor of Moral Philosophy. He graduated MA in 1875. The same year he won a Snell exhibition at
Balliol College,
Oxford, to which he went up in Trinity Term 1875. His Library was originally published by
Allen & Unwin
George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...
and continued through to the 1970s. His Library is seen as a crucial landmark in the history of modern philosophy, publishing a number of prominent 20th century philosophers including
Ernest Albee,
Brand Blanshard
Percy Brand Blanshard (; August 27, 1892 – November 19, 1987) was an American philosopher known primarily for his defense of reason and rationalism. A powerful polemicist, by all accounts he comported himself with courtesy and grace in philosop ...
,
Francis Herbert Bradley
Francis Herbert Bradley (30 January 1846 – 18 September 1924) was a British idealist philosopher. His most important work was ''Appearance and Reality'' (1893).
Life
Bradley was born at Clapham, Surrey, England (now part of the Greater ...
,
Axel Hagerstrom
Axel may refer to:
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* Axel (name), all persons with the name
Places
* Axel, Netherlands, a town
** Capture of Axel, a battle at Axel in 1586
Arts, entertainment, media
* ''Axel'', a 1988 short film by Nigel Wingrove
* ''Axel'', a Cirque d ...
,
Henri Bergson
Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson ,
Edmund Husserl,
Bernard Bosanquet,
Irving Thalberg, Jr.
Irving Grant Thalberg Jr. (August 25, 1930August 21, 1987) was an author and the son of 1930s Hollywood producer Irving Thalberg and Academy Award-winning actress Norma Shearer.
Thalberg was six years old when his father died from pneumonia at ...
,
Georg Wilhelm Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...
,
Bertrand Russell and
George Edward Moore. In 2002, the Library was made available in a 95 volume set ().
Muirhead was a philosophical
idealist
In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...
and was involved in the
British idealist movement.
[Mander, W. J. (2011). ''British Idealism: A History''. Oxford University Press. p. 222. ]
Selected bibliography
''The Inner Life in Relation to Morality: A Study in the Elements of Religion''(an article in ''International Journal of Ethics'' January 1891, pages 169 to 186)
''The Elements of Ethics: an Introduction to Moral Philosophy''(1892) - Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
''Abstract and Practical Ethics''(an article in ''American Journal of Sociology'' November 1896, Volume II, pages 341 to 357).
''Chapters from Aristotle's Ethics''(1900) - John Murray, London.
''Philosophy and Life; and other Essays''(1902) - Swan Sonnenschein & Co. Ltd, London.
''Wordsworth's Ideal of Early Education''(an article in ''International Journal of Ethics'' April 1904, pages 339 to 352).
''The Service of the State: four lectures on the Political Teaching of T. H. Green''(1908) - John Murray, London.
''The Ethical Aspect of the New Theology''(an article in ''International Journal of Ethics'' April 1904 January 1910, pages 129 to 140).
''German Philosophy in relation to the War''(1915) - John Murray, London.
''Social Purpose: a contribution to a Philosophy of Civic Society''with H. J. W. Hetherington (1918) - London: G. Allen & Unwin; New York: Macmillan.
''The Life and Philosophy of Edward Caird''(written with
Sir Henry Jones) (1921) – Maclehose, Jackson and Co., Glasgow.
''Coleridge as Philosopher''(1930) - Macmillan, New York.
''The Platonic Tradition in Anglo-Saxon Philosophy: Studies in the History of Idealism in England and America''(1931) - London: G. Allen & Unwin; New York: Macmillan.
* ''The Use of Philosophy: Californian Addresses'' (1979) - Greenwood Press.
* ''Rule and End in Morals'' (1969) - Books for Libraries Press
References
External links
*
Works by John Henry Muirhead
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muirhead, John Henry
1855 births
1940 deaths
Academics of the University of Birmingham
Idealists
Scottish humanists
Scottish philosophers
Writers from Glasgow
People from Rotherfield