W. B. Gallie

Walter Bryce Gallie (5 October 1912 – 31 August 1998) was a Scottish social theorist, political theorist, and philosopher. He put forth the notion of essentially contested concepts. In 1940 he married Welsh-speaking novelist Menna Patricia Humphreys, with whom he had a son and a daughter.[1]

Life

W. B. Gallie was born in Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, near Glasgow, the son of an engineer.[2] He was educated at Sedbergh School, a public school in Sedbergh, Cumbria, and Balliol College, Oxford.[3] In 1934 he graduated with first class honours in Philosophy, politics and economics. In 1937 he received his Bachelor of Literature for his research into 'The part played by symbols in the achievement of knowledge'. In 1935 he obtained a post in University College of Swansea as an assistant lecturer in philosophy. In 1938 he was appointed as a lecturer. In 1948 he was appointed as a senior lecturer.[4]

While employed as a lecturer, Gallie met Menna Patricia Humphreys, who was studying for an English degree[5], who he married. In 1949 he had published his first book An English School in which he discussed the public schools system of education.[6] Gallie died in Cardigan, Ceredigion, on 31 August 1998.[7] In 2000 an article was published in Philosophical Investigations which comprises extracts from his partly-autobiographical projected book Apologia Pro Opusculo Suo.[8]

Military career

Gallie served in the British Army from 1940 to 1945, and left the service with the rank of major.[9] He was awarded the Croix de Guerre.[10] Philosopher R.A. Sharpe commented: 'The time he spent in the army] evidently made an (sic) great impression upon him. He was a very out-going man. However, he never spoke of his wartime experiences, although he repeatedly returned to the philosophical aspects of war in conversation.'[11]

Academic career

Gallie left Swansea after never having been 'much in sympathy with the Wittgensteinian influence which was beginning to dominate there'.[12] (British philosopher Christopher Hookway observed: 'In the 1930s, ... under the influence of Wittgenstein and Oxford philosophy, few British philosophers were sufficiently stirred by pragmatism or pragmaticism for Peirce to become a major topic for research.'[13])

In 1950 Gallie became Professor of Philosophy at University College of North Staffordshire. In 1954 he became Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at Queen's University, Belfast. In 1967 he became Professor of Political Science at Cambridge University.[14] While at Cambridge he was a fellow of Peterhouse from 1967 to 1978.[15]

Notable contributions

In 1952 Gallie had his book 'Peirce and pragmatism' published, which introduced the work of Charles Sanders Peirce to an international readership. A.J. Ayer, the English philosopher, provided the Editorial Foreword to the book. In it he credited Peirce's philosophy as being 'not only of great historical significance, as one of the original sources of American pragmatism, but also extremely important in itself.' Ayer concluded: 'it is clear from Professor Gallie’s exposition of his doctrines that he is a philosopher from whom we still have much to learn.'[16]

Gallie argued in his 1955 paper Essentially contested concepts that it is impossible to conclusively define key appraisive concepts such as social justice, democracy, Christian life, art, moral goodness and duty, although it is possible and rational to discuss one's justifications for holding one interpretation over competing ones. Clarification of such concepts involves not the examination of predictive relations (as is the case for most scientific concepts), but rather, consideration of how the concept has been used by different parties throughout its history.[17]

Publications

Gallie was a prolific author and the articles that he had published which are listed below are only a sample. Works by Gallie, W.B. may be consulted for a complete listing.

Pre 1950

  • 1939: "An Interpretation of Causal Laws". Mind. 48 (192): 409–426. 1939. doi:10.1093/mind/XLVIII.192.409. JSTOR 2250703.
  • 1949: An English School. London: Cresset Press.

1950s

1960s

1970s

Post 1980

Notes

  1. ^ Sharpe 1998.
  2. ^ Sharpe 1998.
  3. ^ Watt 2005, p. 305.
  4. ^ Sharpe 1998.
  5. ^ John 1996, p. viii.
  6. ^ Gallie revisited the field of education in 1960 with his book 'A new university: A.D. Lindsay and the Keele experiment', see 'Publications' below.
  7. ^ Anon 1998.
  8. ^ Gallie 2000.
  9. ^ Sharpe (1998).
  10. ^ Sharpe (1998).
  11. ^ Sharpe 1998.
  12. ^ The faculty included Rush Rhees, who was a student, friend and literary executor of Ludwig Wittgenstein. See Von der Ruhr 2009 for his account of the 'Swansea School' and Sandry (2025) for a retrospective update, see 'References' below.
  13. ^ Hookway 2014.
  14. ^ Sharpe 1998.
  15. ^ Sharpe 1998.
  16. ^ Gallie, 1952.
  17. ^ Gallie, 1956.

References

Further reading


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