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William de Burgh (philosopher)

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William de Burgh
FBA
de Burgh in 1939 by Walter Stoneman
Born
William George de Burgh

(1866-10-24)24 October 1866
Wandsworth, England
Died27 August 1943(1943-08-27) (aged 76)
Toller Porcorum, England
Spouse
Edith Mary Grace
​
(m. 1897)​
[1]
Academic background
Alma materMerton College, Oxford
Academic work
DisciplinePhilosophy
InstitutionsUniversity of Reading
Notable worksLegacy of the Ancient World (1924)

William George de Burgh FBA (English: /dəˈbɜːr/ də-BUR; 24 October 1866 – 27 August 1943) was an English philosopher who was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading.

Career

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Born on 24 October 1866 in Wandsworth, de Burgh was educated at Winchester and Merton College, Oxford.[2] At the latter he obtained a first in Literæ Humaniores ('Greats") in 1889.[3] He was then briefly an assistant master at Derby School, then a tutor at Toynbee Hall, and then a University Extension lecturer in Stepney.[4]

From 1896 de Burgh was a lecturer in Greek and Latin at the University Extension College at Reading.[4] This being an 'extension college' of the University of Oxford's Christ Church college that was formally opened in 1892, and intended to provide part-time adult education.[5]

In 1907 the College at Reading became a University College[4] (a college that delivered university-level teaching though it did not hold its own degree-awarding power)[6] still affiliated with Christ Church.[7] And in that year de Burgh became Professor of Philosophy and Dean of the Faculty of Letters. His lectureship in Classics was relinquished in 1910, but both of these two latter posts he retained until he retired in 1934.[4]

A. E. Taylor describes de Burgh as, after the first few years, devoting his life to the "making of a University College into a University, an independent centre of an education in ‘living well’, in the full Aristotelian sense."[8] Knox and Creffield record that whilst the credit for Reading becoming a university in 1926 "is generally ascribed to W. M. Childs" and "the acquisition of the necessary funds was Childs's work, the academic statesmanship was de Burgh's."[2]

A committed Anglican, de Burgh attempted to build a distinctly Christian philosophical argument for the truth of the gospel, a project that, as Knox and Creffield note, was "unfashionable at a time when protestant theologians were disparaging reason and when few philosophers were interested in religion,"[2]

W.G. de Burgh was, as Geoff Dumbreck notes, "deeply influenced by the classics and used ideas from ancient Greek philosophy to address modern philosophical problems."[9] He was also concerned that "the focus on the scientific method left little room"[9] for what Alan P. F. Sell refers to as the "moral-cum-spiritual dimension."[10] His main target being, as Dumbrek notes, the logical positivists,[9]

He died on 27 August 1943 in Toller Porcorum, Dorset.[4]

Works

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References

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Citations

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  1. ^ "William George De Burgh - The Gifford Lectures". 15 August 2020. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Knox, T. M.; Creffield, C. A. (2004). "Burgh, William George de (1866–1943), philosopher.". In Creffield, C. A. (ed.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 8 (online ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 796–797. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32766 – via Internet Archive. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ "de Burgh, William George, (24 Oct. 1866–27 Aug. 1943)". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u223247. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e Sell, Alan P. F. (2006). "de Burgh, William George". In Grayling, A.C.; Goulder, Naomi; Pyle, Andrew (eds.). The Continuum Encyclopedia of British Philosophy (1 ed.). Continuum. doi:10.1093/acref/9780199754694.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-975469-4.
  5. ^ Mcleod, Faye (16 May 2022). "Oxford and the Birth of Reading University". Archives and Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  6. ^ "Definition of UNIVERSITY COLLEGE". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 1 March 2024. 2 British : a college lacking the right to confer its own degrees and for this purpose attached to but physically separate from a university
  7. ^ Salter, Ruth (24 June 2016). "Before we were the University of Reading". READING HISTORY. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  8. ^ Taylor, A. E. (1943). "William George de Burgh, 1866–1943". Proceedings of the British Academy. 29: 375–376 – via Internet Archive.
  9. ^ a b c Dumbreck, Geoff (23 November 2011). "Alan P.F. Sell, Four Philosophical Anglicans: W.G. De Burgh, W.R. Matthews, O.C. Quick, H.A. Hodges (Farnham, UK and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2010), pp. x+327. ISBN 978 1 4094 0059 2". Journal of Anglican Studies. 10 (1). Cambridge Core: 130–131. doi:10.1017/S1740355311000246. ISSN 1740-3553. S2CID 147534028. The author of The Legacy of the Ancient World, de Burgh was deeply influenced by the classics and used ideas from ancient Greek philosophy to address modern philosophical problems. He was concerned that a focus on the scientific method left little room for the 'moral-cum-spiritual dimension' (p. 22). His main target was the logical positivists, who had missed the Aristotelian point that 'the human being's end is not simply to live, but to live well' (p. 26).
  10. ^ Sell, Alan P. F. (20 March 2015). "William George de Burgh (1866-1943)". Four Philosophical Anglicans: W. G. DeBurgh, W. R. Matthews, O. C. Quick, H. A. Hodges. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-7252-3540-3.
  11. ^ Gomme, A. W. (November 1924). "More About the Legacy - The Legacy of the Ancient World. By W. G. De Burgh. Pp. xvi + 462. London: Macdonald and Evans, 1924. 15s. net". The Classical Review. 38 (7–8): 177–178. doi:10.1017/S0009840X00040373. ISSN 1464-3561. JSTOR 700822. S2CID 162486896 – via JSTOR.
  12. ^ Ewing, A. C. (1937). "Review of Towards a Religious Philosophy". The Journal of Theological Studies. 38 (152): 436–440. doi:10.1093/jts/os-XXXVIII.152.436. ISSN 0022-5185. JSTOR 23956617 – via JSTOR.
  13. ^ "From Morality to Religion - The Gifford Lectures". 14 August 2020. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  14. ^ Barker, H. (1939). "Review of From Morality to Religion". Mind. 48 (190): 221–227. doi:10.1093/mind/XLVIII.190.221. ISSN 0026-4423. JSTOR 2250861 – via JSTOR.
  15. ^ Webb, Clement C. J. (1939). "Review of Knowledge of the Individual". Philosophy. 14 (56): 490–491. doi:10.1017/S0031819100027571. ISSN 0031-8191. JSTOR 3746335. S2CID 170131034 – via JSTOR.
  16. ^ Walsh, W. H. (1949). "Review of The Life of Reason". Philosophy. 24 (91): 376–379. doi:10.1017/S0031819100007701. ISSN 0031-8191. JSTOR 3747184. S2CID 170273827 – via JSTOR.

Further reading

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  • Sell, Alan P. F. (2015) [2010]. Four Philosophical Anglicans: W. G. deBurgh, W. R. Matthews, O. C. Quick, H. A. Hodges. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock. ISBN 978-1-4982-2008-8.


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