George Elder Davie (18 March 1912 – 20 March 2007) was a prominent Scottish philosopher whose well-received book, '' The Democratic Intellect'' (1961), concerns the treatment of philosophy in 19th century Scottish universities.

Life

He was born at no. 4 Baxter Park Terrace,

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

on 18 March 1912. His father, George Myles Davie was a

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

and chemistry teacher, and his mother was Isabella Calder Elder. He married Elspeth Mary Dryer, an art teacher, on 5 October 1944 at

Bonnyrigg Bonnyrigg ( sco, Bonnyrigg) is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, eight miles (13 kilometres) southeast of Edinburgh city centre. The town had a population of 14,663 in the 2001 census which rose to 15,677 in the 2011 census, both figures based ...

Church in

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...

. Elspeth Davie later became a respected writer and was awarded the

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer, essayist and journalist, widely considered one of the most influential and important authors of the modernist movement. Her works are celebra ...

Prize in 1978. They had one daughter with whom he resided at

Sutton Veny Sutton Veny is a village and civil parish in the Wylye valley, to the southeast of the town of Warminster in Wiltshire, England; the village is about from Warminster town centre. 'Sutton' means 'south farmstead' in relation to Norton Bavant, on ...

, Wiltshire at the time of his death on 20 March 2007.

Career

* George Davie was educated at the

High School of Dundee The High School of Dundee is an independent, co-educational, day school in Dundee, Scotland, which provides nursery, primary and secondary education to just over one thousand pupils. Its foundation has been dated to 1239, and it is the only priv ...

after which he was offered a place at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

but turned it down in favour of

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

where graduated MA in 1935 with a

first class honours degree The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

. * In 1939 he was appointed assistant lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Edinburgh University. He was assistant to

Norman Kemp Smith Norman Duncan Kemp Smith, FBA, FRSE (5 May 1872 – 3 September 1958) was a Scottish philosopher who was Professor of Psychology (1906–1914) and Philosophy (1914–1919) at Princeton University and was Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at t ...

and he later co-edited the latter's collected papers. * His war service between 1941 and 1945 was in the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

. *He gained a Ph.D., with a thesis on The Scotch metaphysics, from the University of Edinburgh in 1954. * After the war, he was appointed lecturer in philosophy at Queens University, Belfast where he remained till 1959 when he returned to

as Lecturer. He retired in 1982 and was appointed Reader Emeritus at Edinburgh in 1987. * In 1953 he was awarded the degree of DLitt by

for his thesis, "A Scotch Metaphysics – the Theory of Knowledge in the Scottish Universities 1730–1860". This thesis was published in 2000 under the title, ''The Scotch Metaphysics : a Century of Enlightenment in Scotland.'' * A Conference was held in his honour at

on 13 to 15 September 1996. It was entitled: 'The Legacy of Empiricism, A Conference in Honour of George Davie', and held in the David Hume Tower. On Sunday 15 September 1996, he delivered a conference paper entitled “Five Philosophical Theses from Ferrier". In spite of suffering blindness by that time he held the rapt attention of his audience for an hour and a half.

Honours

* Honorary Doctorate at

Dundee University , mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord" , established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College , t ...

* Honorary Doctorate at

, awarded 1995. * Fellow of

the Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

* Fellow of the

Educational Institute of Scotland The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) is the oldest teachers' trade union in the world, having been founded in 1847 when dominies became concerned about the effect of changes to the system of education in Scotland on their professional s ...

Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun Award
of

the Saltire Society The Saltire Society is a membership organisation which aims to promote the understanding of the culture and heritage of Scotland. Founded in 1936, the society was "set up to promote and celebrate the uniqueness of Scottish culture and Scotland’s ...

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 ...

published in his honour by Dr. Vincent Hope in 1984

''The Democratic Intellect''

In this book, Davie deals with the struggle during the 19th century in Scotland to maintain a generalist form of education which is not only philosophical but also scientific, humanistic and democratic. The book has been described as "a thesis about liberal education – pursued by a micro-historical investigation of the culture and academic politics of Scotland's universities in the 19th century. More than 40 years on, the book's discussions of the restriction of academic independence by centralisation, inter-university competition for prestige, research versus teaching and even versus scholarship, notions of abandoning moral discourse for ill-examined claims regarding scientific advance, are still relevant."
Davie's somewhat prolix style of writing is exemplified here:
“It is possible to confirm still further the importance which this ideal of a philosophical education had for the Scots if we turn from the achieved pattern of national pedagogy to the plans which were being mooted for its development. What these plans reveal – until well on in the nineteenth century – is the remarkable hold on the country of the belief in the possibility of general education through philosophy. Not that the Scots had any dislike of professional accomplishment; on the contrary, they admired it even to excess, and were eager for the introduction into their educational system of training centres for higher education and specialisation in the new subjects. But the distinctive mark of their thinking about these matters and of the organised projects it inspired was that they wanted to retain philosophy as a compulsory part of what we would now call secondary education (fifteen to nineteen), and that admission to the specialist schools – though it was to be granted early – nevertheless would require, as a preliminary, philosophical education in the old style.”''The Democratic Intellect'', second edition, 1964, paperback edition, 1981, p.20.

Publications

* '' The Democratic Intellect: Scotland and her Universities in the Nineteenth Century.'' Edinburgh: University Press, 1961, 1964 and 1999, * ''The social significance of the Scottish philosophy of common sense'', being the Dow lecture delivered before the University of Dundee on 30 November 1972. * ''The Scottish Enlightenment.'' London Historical Association, 1981. * '' The Crisis of the Democratic Intellect: The Problem of Generalism and Specialisation in Twentieth-Century Scotland.'' Edinburgh: Polygon, 1986, * 'Scottish Philosophy and Specialisation: a Long View'. ''Occasional papers of the Royal Society of Edinburgh'', nos. 2–6. Edinburgh: 1985, p. 41–56. * ''The Scottish Enlightenment and Other Essays''. Edinburgh: Polygon, 1991, * ''A Passion for Ideas: Essays on the Scottish Enlightenment 2''. Edinburgh: Polygon, 1994. * ''The Scotch Metaphysics : a Century of Enlightenment in Scotland.'' London & New York: Routledge, 2000.

Reviews

* Maxwell, Stephen (1986), ''The Crisis of the Democratic Intellect'', in Lawson, Alan (ed.), ''Radical Scotland'', Oct/Nov 1986, pp. 16 & 17,

References

Sources

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in The Herald (Glasgow), The Herald: http://www.heraldscotland.com/george-davie-1.854872 *

obituary An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...

: http://www.philosophy.ed.ac.uk/documents/GeorgeDavieobituary.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Davie, George Elder 1912 births 2007 deaths People from Dundee People educated at the High School of Dundee Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish educators Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish philosophers Royal Corps of Signals soldiers Academics of Queen's University Belfast Academics of the University of Edinburgh 20th-century British philosophers British Army personnel of World War II