Lizzie Susan Stebbing (2 December 1885 – 11 September 1943) was a British philosopher. She belonged to the 1930s generation of
analytic philosophy
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 ...
, and was a founder in 1933 of the journal ''
Analysis
Analysis ( : analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (38 ...
.'' Stebbing was the first woman to hold a philosophy chair in the United Kingdom, as well as the first female President of
Humanists UK
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 be ...
.
Biography
Born in
North Finchley
North Finchley is a suburb of London in the London Borough of Barnet, situated 7 miles (11 km) north-west of Charing Cross.
North Finchley is centred on Tally Ho Corner, the junction of the roads to East Finchley, Church End, Friern Ba ...
,
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
, ''Susan'' Stebbing (as she preferred to be called),
was the youngest of six children born to Alfred Charles Stebbing and Elizabeth (née Elstob), and was orphaned at an early age.
Stebbing was educated at
James Allen's Girls' School
James Allen's Girls' School, abbreviated JAGS, is an independent day school situated in Dulwich, South London, England. It is the second oldest girls’ independent school in Great Britain - Godolphin School in Salisbury being the oldest, founde ...
,
Dulwich
Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of ...
, until she went, in 1904, to
Girton College, Cambridge
Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status ...
, to read history (though Cambridge did not award degrees or full University membership to women at the time).
Having come across
F. H. Bradley's ''
Appearance and Reality
''Appearance and Reality'' (1893; second edition 1897) is a book by the English philosopher Francis Herbert Bradley, in which the author, influenced by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, argues that most things are appearances and attempts to descri ...
'' she became interested in philosophy and stayed on to take part I of the
Moral Sciences
Human science (or human sciences in the plural), also known as humanistic social science and moral science (or moral sciences), studies the philosophical, biological, social, and cultural aspects of human life. Human science aims to expand our ...
tripos
At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...
in 1908.
This was followed by a
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
M.A.
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
in philosophy in 1912 that was awarded with distinction.
Her thesis for the same, ''Pragmatism and French Voluntarism'', subsequently being published in the Girton College Studies series.
From 1911 to 1924 she held a number of teaching appointments. She was lecturer in philosophy at
King's College, London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...
, from 1913 to 1915, when she became part-time lecturer in philosophy at
Bedford College, London
file:Bedford College in York place - photographer is unknown but guess 1908.png, Bedford College was in York Place after 1874
Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for education of women, women in th ...
; this was made a full-time position in 1920 and in 1924 she was appointed as a
Reader
A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to:
Computing and technology
* Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader
* Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application
* A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...
there.
She also held visiting lectureships at Westfield College, London (1912–20), Girton College, Cambridge (1911–14), and
Homerton College, Cambridge
Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its first premises were acquired in Homerton, London in 1768, by an informal gathering of Protestant dissenters with origins in the seventeenth century. In 1894, the co ...
(1911–14).
From 1915 until her death she was principal of the Kingsley Lodge School for Girls, Hampstead.
In 1927 the London University title of reader in philosophy was conferred upon her and held in conjunction with her position at Bedford College. She gained a
DLitt
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...
in 1931.
Stebbing was promoted to professor in 1933, thus becoming the first woman to hold a philosophy chair in the United Kingdom, an event that was, as Siobhan Chapman notes, "headline news". She was also a visiting professor at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
from 1931 to 1932.
She was president of the
Mind Association
The Mind Association is a philosophical society whose purpose is to promote the study of philosophy. The association publishes the journal '' Mind'' quarterly.
It was established in 1900 on the death of Henry Sidgwick
Henry Sidgwick (; 31 ...
from 1931 to 1932 and 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 1933 to 1934.
Stebbing was a pupil of
William Ernest Johnson
William Ernest Johnson, FBA (23 June 1858 – 14 January 1931), usually cited as W. E. Johnson, was a British philosopher, logician and economic theorist.Zabell, S.L. (2008"Johnson, William Ernest (1858–1931)"In: Durlauf S.N., Blume L.E. ( ...
; according to
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 ...
she was most 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 ...
, and was a point of contact with the
Vienna Circle
The Vienna Circle (german: Wiener Kreis) of Logical Empiricism was a group of elite philosophers and scientists drawn from the natural and social sciences, logic and mathematics who met regularly from 1924 to 1936 at the University of Vienna, cha ...
, first inviting
Rudolf Carnap
Rudolf Carnap (; ; 18 May 1891 – 14 September 1970) was a German-language philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United States thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle and an advocate of logical positivism. He ...
to talk in the UK.
Stebbing died, following the return of a cancer, on 11 September 1943 at
Mount Vernon Hospital
Mount Vernon Hospital is located in Northwood, an area of north-west Greater London. It is one of two hospitals run by The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
History
The hospital was founded as The North London Hospital for Co ...
, in
Northwood, Middlesex.
Legacy
Following her early death, a group of scholars, including
C. D. Broad
Charlie Dunbar Broad (30 December 1887 – 11 March 1971), usually cited as C. D. Broad, was an English people, English epistemology, epistemologist, history of philosophy, historian of philosophy, philosophy of science, philosopher of sc ...
,
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 ...
,
Helen Wodehouse
Helen Marion Wodehouse (12 October 1880 – 20 October 1964) was a British philosopher and Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge. She was also the first woman to hold a professorial chair at the University of Bristol.
Life and education
Helen ...
and
Dorothy Tarrant
Dorothy Tarrant (1885–1973) was a British classical scholar, specialising in Plato. She was the first female Professor of Greek in the United Kingdom, teaching at Bedford College, London from 1909 to 1950. She researched the work of Plato, pione ...
. set up the L. S. Stebbing Memorial Fund to endow a scholarship for graduate study in philosophy. The Susan Stebbing Studentship now offers a stipend each year to a female graduate student in Philosophy at
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...
, which also now has a chair of philosophy named in her honour.
A posthumous ''
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 ...
'' titled ''Philosophical Studies. Essays in Memory of L. Susan Stebbing,'' was published in 1948 on behalf of the Aristotelian Society.
It included an appreciation by John Wisdom and a full bibliography of Stebbing's writings.
And essay contributions from, amongst others,
H.B. Acton,
Beatrice Edgell
Beatrice Edgell (26 October 1871 – 10 August 1948) was a British psychologist, researcher and university teacher. She taught at Bedford College in the University of London from 1897 to 1933. She was the first British woman to earn a PhD in psyc ...
,
A.C. Ewing,
Ruth L. Saw. and (her best known student)
Max Black
Max Black (24 February 1909 – 27 August 1988) was an Azerbaijani-born British-American philosopher who was a leading figure in analytic philosophy in the years after World War II. He made contributions to the philosophy of language, the philo ...
.
In a 1949 review of that work for ''
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
,'' physicist
F. I. G. Rawlins noted that in "a life not free from controversy":
"Prof. Stebbing assuredly selected her targets with a refined academic glee, as, for example, in her ''Philosophy and the Physicists'' (1937). The thrusts she delivered seem somewhat on the harsh side; maybe they were not intended to endure. Her whole being brings into relief the difference between logic bent upon truth, and aesthetics bent upon beauty. In her greatness, she lived for the former, others perhaps for the latter. But one day a 'pontiff' will arise and throw a bridge across the narrows; when that happens, the sheer weight of her thought will help to anchor it well and truly on her territory."
Stebbing's philosophical significance has been more recently recognised by, and explored within, the ''
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') combines an online encyclopedia of philosophy with peer-reviewed publication of original papers in philosophy, freely accessible to Internet users. It is maintained by Stanford University. Eac ...
,'' which commissioned, and in 2017 published, a publicly accessible online entry on her life and work by Michael Beaney and Siobhan Chapman.
The first book-length study of Stebbing's life and thought was published by Chapman in 2013.
''Thinking to Some Purpose''
Stebbing's most popular work is ''Thinking to Some Purpose'' (1939), a book commissioned by
and described on the cover as: "A manual of first-aid to clear thinking, showing how to detect illogicalities in other people's mental processes and how to avoid them in our own." One of the more quoted passages of the book did not in fact appear in the main body of the work but on the first inside of the
dust jacket
The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back book ...
of the 1939 printing and in the
front matter
Book design is the art of incorporating the content, style, format, design, and sequence of the various components and elements of a book into a coherent unit. In the words of renowned typographer Jan Tschichold (1902–1974), book design, "though ...
of subsequent printings prior to 1952. As it appeared in print (in both 1939 and 1941) it runs, in full, as follows:
"There is an urgent need to-day," writes Professor Stebbing, "for the citizens of a democracy to think well. It is not enough to have freedom of the Press and parliamentary institutions. Our difficulties are due partly to our own stupidity, partly to the exploitation of that stupidity, and partly to our own prejudices and personal desires."
The work arose out of a synopsis she wrote for a series of radio broadcasts intended for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. Published on the eve of the Second World War, Stebbing wrote in the Preface:
, ''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society'', Volume 33, Issue 1, 1 June 1933, Pages 65–94,
*''Logical Positivism and Analysis'' (1933)
*''
'' (1943)
*''Men and Moral Principles''.
Memorial Trust Lecture No. 13. (1944)
*Chapman, Siobhan, ''Susan Stebbing and the Language of Common Sense.'' Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (2013)
*
''Mind'', vol. 53, no. 211, 1944, pp. 283–285.
*
(1943-10).
''. 152 (3857): 377–377.
'' (Summer 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
being successive chapters from Stebbing's ''A Modern Introduction to Logic'' (1931),
reprinted online, first published in ''Babel: The Language Magazine'', no.18 (Feb. 2017)