John Andrew Foster (5 May 1941 - 12 March 2009), known as John Foster, was a British philosopher and tutorial Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, from 1966 to 2005 (and then a Emeritus Fellow until his death in 2009). He authored several books, including ''The Case for Idealism'' (1982) and ''A World for Us: The Case for Phenomenalistic Idealism'' (2008). His ''A. J. Ayer'' (1985) was described by

Anthony Quinton Anthony Meredith Quinton, Baron Quinton, FBA (25 March 192519 June 2010) was a British political and moral philosopher, metaphysician, and materialist philosopher of mind. He served as President of Trinity College, Oxford from 1978 to 1987; a ...

as "the only serious monograph" about Ayer's philosophy".

Biography

Foster was born in North London on 5 May 1941 and grew up in

Southgate Southgate or South Gate may refer to: Places Australia *Southgate, Sylvania *Southgate Arts and Leisure Precinct, an area within Southbank, Victoria Canada *Southgate, Ontario, a township in Grey County * Southgate, Middlesex County, Ontario Ed ...

. He studied at

Mercers' School The Mercers' School was an independent school in the City of London, England, with a history going back at least to 1542, and perhaps much further. It was operated by the Worshipful Company of Mercers and was closed in 1959. History After the dis ...

, but had to transfer to the

City of London School , established = , closed = , type = Public school Boys' independent day school , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Alan Bird , chair_label = Chair of Governors , chair = Ian Seaton , founder = John Carpenter , special ...

to do A-levels after Mercers' closure (about which he wrote a letter to ''The Times'' in protest). He started studying classics at Lincoln College, Oxford, but transferred to psychology, philosophy and physiology after discovering a distaste for studying ancient history. Foster stayed a further year at Lincoln, after obtaining a First in 1964, and began a D.Phil. The support of his doctoral supervisor, A. J. Ayer, ensured Foster’s election to a Stone-Platt Junior Research Fellowship at New College in 1965 and, a year later, to his tutorial Fellowship at Brasenose. He retained this position until ill health finally forced his early retirement, as a "Mr" in 2005. (As

Peter J. N. Sinclair Peter James Niven Sinclair (18 September 1946 – 31 March 2020)''Old Greshamian Club Address Book'' (Cheverton & Son Ltd., Cromer, 1999) p. 43 was a British economist. He was Professor, and subsequently Emeritus Professor, in Economics at t ...

notes, most Brasenose Arts tutors of Foster's generation, never completed a doctoral thesis). Foster was a devoted Christian and an outspoken pro-life campaigner. Foster met his wife-to-be Helen in 1963 and the two married in

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. ...

in 1967. He joined the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

. In 1989 both John and Helen converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism. Foster died on 1 January 2009.

Philosophical work

In 2008, he put forward a thesis called phenomenalistic idealism, which combines

phenomenalism In metaphysics, phenomenalism is the view that physical objects cannot justifiably be said to exist in themselves, but only as perceptual phenomena or sensory stimuli (e.g. redness, hardness, softness, sweetness, etc.) situated in time and in ...

and

idealism 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 t ...

Works

Books authored *(1982) '' The Case for Idealism''. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London. . *(1985) ''

A. J. Ayer Sir Alfred Jules "Freddie" Ayer (; 29 October 1910 – 27 June 1989), usually cited as A. J. Ayer, was an English philosopher known for his promotion of logical positivism, particularly in his books '' Language, Truth, and Logic'' (1936) ...

''. Routledge & Kegan Paul, Boston. . *(1991) ''The Immaterial Self: A Defence of the Cartesian Dualist Conception of Mind''. Routledge, New York. . *(2000) ''The Nature of Perception''. Oxford University Press, Oxford. . *(2004) ''The Divine Lawmaker: Lectures on Induction, Laws of Nature, and the Existence of God''. Oxford University Press, Oxford. . *(2008) ''A World for Us: The Case for Phenomenalistic Idealism''. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Select papers/chapters * (1976) "Meaning and Truth Theory" in: Gareth Evans,

John McDowell John Henry McDowell, FBA (born 7 March 1942) is a South African philosopher, formerly a fellow of University College, Oxford, and now university professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Although he has written on metaphysics, epistemology, ...

(eds.) ''Truth and Meaning: Essays in Semantics'' Oxford. 1976.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, John 1941 births 2009 deaths Anglican philosophers Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism Idealists Catholic philosophers People educated at Mercers' School 20th-century British philosophers