Arthur John Terence Dibben Wisdom (12 September 1904, in

Leyton, Essex Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford, London, Stratford to the south, with Clapton, London, Clapton, Hackney Wick ...

– 9 December 1993, in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a 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. Cambridge bec ...

), usually cited as John Wisdom, was a leading

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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 ...

considered to be an

ordinary language 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 ...

philosopher, a

philosopher 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 addre ...

and a

metaphysician 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 ...

. He was influenced by

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 ...

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 ...

and

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

, and in turn explained and extended their work. Wisdom was educated at Aldeburgh Lodge School, Suffolk, and Fitzwilliam House, Cambridge, where he graduated with a first-class BA degree in Moral Sciences in 1924. He is not to be confused with the philosopher

John Oulton Wisdom John Oulton Wisdom (29 December 1908 – 30 January 1993), cousin of Cambridge professor John Wisdom (with whom he is sometimes confused) was "an important contributor to philosophy and to psychoanalysis" who made "original contributions to the ...

(1908–1993), his cousin, who shared his interest in psychoanalysis.

Philosophical work

Before the posthumous publication of Wittgenstein's ''

Philosophical Investigations ''Philosophical Investigations'' (german: Philosophische Untersuchungen) is a work by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, published posthumously in 1953. ''Philosophical Investigations'' is divided into two parts, consisting of what Wittgens ...

'' in 1953, Wisdom's writing was one of the few published sources of information about Wittgenstein's later philosophy. His article "Philosophical Perplexity" has been described as ‘something of a landmark in the history of philosophy’ being ‘the first which throughout embodied the new philosophical outlook’. According to David Pole "in some directions at least Wisdom carries Wittgenstein's work further than he himself did, and faces its consequences more explicitly." Wisdom was for most of his career at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, and became Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge University. Near the end of his career he was Professor of Philosophy at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

. A festrchrift titled ''Wisdom: Twelve Essays'' (1974), edited by

Renford Bambrough John Renford Bambrough (29 April 1926 – 17 January 1999) was a British philosopher. He was fellow of St John's College, Cambridge from 1950-1999, where he held the positions of Dean (1964–1979) and President (1979–1983). Life John Renfor ...

, was published near the time of his retirement from the same. He was president of the

Aristotelian Society The Aristotelian Society for the Systematic Study of Philosophy, more generally known as the Aristotelian Society, is a philosophical society in London. History Aristotelian Society was founded at a meeting on 19 April 1880, at 17 Bloomsbury Squar ...

from 1950 to 1951. His famous "

Parable of the Invisible Gardener The Parable of the Invisible Gardener is a tale originally told by John Wisdom. It was later developed in the university debate by Antony Flew, who made several important alterations such as changing the gardeners to explorers and making the origin ...

" is a

dialectic Dialectic ( grc-gre, διαλεκτική, ''dialektikḗ''; related to dialogue; german: Dialektik), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing ...

on the existence or absence of God. The first recorded use of the term "

analytic philosophers 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 Sta ...

" occurred in Wisdom's 1931 work, "Interpretation and Analysis in Relation to Bentham's Theory of Definition", which expounded on Bentham's concept of " paraphrasis": "that sort of exposition which may be afforded by transmuting into a proposition, having for its subject some real entity, a proposition which has not for its subject any other than a fictitious entity". At first Wisdom referred to "logic-analytic philosophers", then to "analytic philosophers". According to Michael Beaney, "the explicit articulation of the idea of paraphrasis in the work of both Wisdom in Cambridge and Ryle in Oxford represents a definite stage in the construction of analytic philosophy as a tradition". He was cremated and his ashes were buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge.

Quotes

Major writings

* ''Interpretation and Analysis'' ''in Relation to Bentham's Theory of Definition'' (1931) * '' Problems of Mind and Matter'' (1934) * "Philosophical Perplexity," ''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society,'' Volume 37, Issue 1, 1 June 1937, Pages 71–88, * '' Other Minds'' (1952, 1965) * '' Philosophy and Psycho-analysis'' (1953) * '' Paradox and Discovery'' (1965) * ''Proof and Explanation'', the Virginia Lectures, 1957 (1991)

References

External links

Arthur John Terence Dibben Wisdom
memorial page from Trinity College Chapel.
Obituary: Professor John Wisdom
by Ilham Dilman in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' 15 December 1993
Obituary: Professor John Wisdom
by Andor Gomm in ''

'' 29 December 1993 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wisdom, John 1904 births 1993 deaths 20th-century British philosophers Philosophers of language Philosophers of mind Presidents of the Aristotelian Society Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge University of Oregon faculty Bertrand Russell Professors of Philosophy