John Passmore AC (9 September 1914 – 25 July 2004) was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

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 ...

Life

John Passmore was born on 9 September 1914 in Manly,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

, where he grew up. He was educated at

Sydney Boys High School , motto_translation = With Truth and Courage , established = , location = Cleveland Street, Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pu ...

Sydney High School , motto_translation = With Truth and Courage , established = , location = Cleveland Street, Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pu ...

Old Boys Union
ORDER OF AUSTRALIA
/ref> He originally aspired to be a school teacher, but the terms of his employment required him to do coursework in philosophy, a discipline which was to absorb him. He subsequently graduated from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

with first-class honours in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

and

philosophy 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. ...

whilst studying with a view to become a secondary-school teacher. In 1934 he accepted the position of assistant lecturer in philosophy at the University of Sydney, continuing teaching there until 1949. In 1948 he went to study at the

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 degr ...

. From 1950 to 1955 he was (the first) professor of philosophy at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

. In 1955 he spent a year at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

on a Carnegie grant. Upon his return to Australia he took up a post at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

, where he was professor of Philosophy in the Research School of Social Sciences from 1958 to 1979. In 1960 he was Ziskind visiting professor at

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , p ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. He subsequently lectured in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, the United States,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, and in various

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an countries. He also served as a director and then later as governor of the

Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust is a theatre and performing arts company that was founded in September 1954, with the aim of establishing drama, opera and ballet companies nationally. Founding In 1954 the Australian Elizabethan Theatre T ...

. In 1994 he was appointed a Companion of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...

(AC), Australia's highest civilian honour. He died on 25 July 2004 and was survived by his wife Doris and two daughters.

Work

Passmore was as much a historian of ideas as a philosopher, and his scholarship always paid careful attention to the complex historical context of philosophical problems. He published about twenty books, many of which have been translated. Philosopher Frank Jackson notes that Passmore "shaped public debate and opened up philosophy and history of ideas to the wider world". In his book ''Man's Responsibility for Nature'' (1974) Passmore argued that there is urgent need to change our attitude to the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

, and that humans cannot continue unconstrained exploitation of the

biosphere The biosphere (from Greek βίος ''bíos'' "life" and σφαῖρα ''sphaira'' "sphere"), also known as the ecosphere (from Greek οἶκος ''oîkos'' "environment" and σφαῖρα), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also ...

. However, he rejected the view that we need to abandon the Western tradition of

scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification".Lacey, A.R. (1996), ''A Dictionary of Philosophy' ...

, and was unsympathetic towards attempts to articulate environmental concern through radical revisions of our ethical framework, as advocated by

deep ecologists Deep ecology is an environmental philosophy that promotes the inherent worth of all living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, and the restructuring of modern human societies in accordance with such ideas. Deep ecolo ...

, which he conceived as misguided mysticism or

irrationalism Irrationalism is a philosophical movement that emerged in the early 19th century, emphasizing the non-rational dimension of human life. As they reject logic, irrationalists argue that instinct and feelings are superior to the reason in the researc ...

. Passmore was very skeptical about attempts to attribute intrinsic value to nature, and his preferred position was of valuing nature in terms of what it contributes to the flourishing of sentient creatures (including humans). According to William Grey of the

International Society for Environmental Ethics Since 1990, The International Society of Environmental Ethics (ISEE) has striven to advance research and education in the field of environmental ethics and philosophy, and to promote appropriate human use, respect, conservation, preservation, and u ...

, his "unequivocal

anthropocentrism Anthropocentrism (; ) is the belief that human beings are the central or most important entity in the universe. The term can be used interchangeably with humanocentrism, and some refer to the concept as human supremacy or human exceptionalism. ...

made him a reference point in the discourse of

environmental ethics In environmental philosophy, environmental ethics is an established field of practical philosophy "which reconstructs the essential types of argumentation that can be made for protecting natural entities and the sustainable use of natural resour ...

and many treatises in field begin with (or include) a refutation of his views". Passmore described himself as a "

pessimistic Pessimism is a negative mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation. Pessimists tend to focus on the negatives of life in general. A common question asked to test for pessimism is " Is the glass half emp ...

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

" who regarded neither human beings nor human societies as perfectible.

Bibliography

Books *''Reading and Remembering'' (1942, 1943, 1963) *''Talking Things Over'' (1945) *''

Ralph Cudworth Ralph Cudworth ( ; 1617 – 26 June 1688) was an English Anglican clergyman, Christian Hebraist, classicist, theologian and philosopher, and a leading figure among the Cambridge Platonists who became 11th Regius Professor of Hebrew ...

'' (1951) *'' Hume's Intentions'' (1952) *'' Philosophical Reasoning'' (1961) *''Joseph Priestley'' (1965) *'' A Hundred Years of Philosophy'' (1957, 1968) *'' The Perfectibility of Man'' (1970) *'' Man's Responsibility for Nature'' (1974, 1980) *'' Science and Its Critics'' (1978) *'' The Philosophy of Teaching'' (1980) *''The Limits of Government'' (1981) (the 1981

Boyer Lectures The Boyer Lectures are a series of talks by prominent Australians, presenting ideas on major social, scientific or cultural issues, and broadcast on ABC Radio National. The Boyer Lectures began in 1959 as the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commi ...

) *'' Recent Philosophers'' (1985) *'' Serious Art: A Study of the Concept in All the Major Arts'' (1991) *''Memoirs of a Semi-detached Australian'' (1997) Select Articles
"Locke and the Ethics of Belief"
(1978) ''For a more complet
list of publications
see

PhilPapers PhilPapers is an interactive academic database of Academic journal, journal articles in philosophy. It is maintained by the Centre for Digital Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, and as of 2022, it has "394,867 registered users, incl ...

References

External links

"Papers of John Passmore"
— National Library of Australia

— tribute from Allan Saunders (ABC Radio National transcript)

— ''Daily Telegraph'' obituary (Archived by

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

)
"His ideas shaped public debate"
— obituary by Frank Jackson in ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

''
"Interview with Emeritus Professor John Passmore"

ANU , image=Detail, upper part, Kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125-1104 BCE. British Museum.jpg , caption=Symbols of various deities, including Anu (bottom right corner) on a kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125–1104 BCE , ...

Oral History Archive Interview conducted 17 May 1991
"Passmore, John"

Max Charlesworth Maxwell John Charlesworth Order of Australia, AO Australian Academy of the Humanities, FAHA (30 December 1925 – 2 June 2014) was an Australian philosopher and public intellectual. He taught and wrote on a wide range of areas including the philo ...

, ''A Companion to Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand''
''Bryan Magee talks to John Passmore about Hume''
for '' The Great Philosophers'' (1987) t_YouTube.html" ;"title="YouTube.html" ;"title="t YouTube">t YouTube">YouTube.html" ;"title="t YouTube">t YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Passmore, John 1914 births 2004 deaths 20th-century Australian historians 20th-century Australian philosophers 20th-century biographers 20th-century essayists 21st-century Australian historians Alumni of the University of London Alumni of the University of Oxford Analytic philosophers Australian biographers Australian essayists Australian ethicists Australian humanists Australian male non-fiction writers Australian memoirists Australian social commentators Companions of the Order of Australia Cultural critics Environmental philosophers Environmental writers Epistemologists Film theorists Green thinkers Historians of philosophy Lecturers Metaphysicians Metaphysics writers Moral philosophers Ontologists People educated at Sydney Boys High School People from Manly, New South Wales Philosophers of art Philosophers of culture Philosophers of education Philosophers of ethics and morality Philosophers of history Philosophers of literature Philosophers of mind Philosophers of pessimism Philosophers of science Philosophers of social science Philosophers of technology Philosophy academics Philosophy teachers Philosophy writers Political philosophers Rationality theorists Secular humanists Social critics Social philosophers Sustainability advocates Theorists on Western civilization University of Otago faculty University of Sydney alumni Writers about activism and social change