Allen Phillips Griffiths

A. Phillips Griffiths (as he was published) or "Griff" (as he was known to colleagues) was born in Llandaff, in Cardiff, Wales on 11 June 1927.^[1] He was the son of John Phillips Griffiths (d. 1941) and Elsie Maud née Jones (d. 1975).^[2][3]

After schooling at Whitchurch Cardiff Grammar,^[1] in 1943 he began undergraduate studies of History at (the then) University College, Cardiff.^[4] His studies were interrupted by national service begun at the end of the war for which he served in the Intelligence Corps and was deployed to the Middle East.^[4]

After his military service, he returned to study at Cardiff, graduating with first class honours in 1951. In 1953, under the supervision of Professor H.H. Price,^[1] he received a B.Phil. at Oxford.^[4][5] He first taught at University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (1955–7),^[1] before moving to Birkbeck College (1957–64).^[4][1]

In 1964, Griffiths became founding Professor of Philosophy of the new University of Warwick. At the time, he was the youngest professor of philosophy in the UK.^[4][1] He served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor there from 1970 to 1977, retiring in 1992 as professor emeritus.^[1] He served as the Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy from 1979 to 1994.^[5]

He died on 1 December 2014.^[5][4]

He had been a noted enthusiast of snuff.^[4][6]

Authored papers/chapters

• (1956) "Formulating Moral Principles" Mind. 65 (1): 38–48.
• (1957) ‘"Justifying Moral Principles" Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. 58: 103–124
• (1963) "On Belief’" Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, vol. 63 (1962–3) Reprinted in Knowledge and Belief (1967)
• (1967) "Ultimate Moral Principles: Their Justification" in: (ed.) Edwards, Paul, Encyclopedia of Philosophy vol. 8, pp. 177–82
• (1972) "A Deduction of Universities" in: (ed.) Archambault, Reginald D., Philosophical Analysis and Education

Edited books

• (ed.) Knowledge and Belief (Oxford, 1967).
• (ed.) Of Liberty,(Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements,15) Cambridge University Press, (1983)
• (ed.) Philosophy and literature (Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements,16) (1984)
• (ed.) Philosophy and practice (Royal Institute of Philosophy lecture series: 18) (1985)
• (ed.) Contemporary French philosophy (Royal Institute of Philosophy lecture series: 21) (1987)
• (ed.) Key themes in philosophy (Royal Institute of Philosophy lecture series: 24) (1989)
• (ed.) Wittgenstein centenary essays (Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements, 28) (1991)
• (ed.) A.J. Ayer: Memorial Essays (Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements, 30) (1992)
• (ed.) The Impulse to Philosophise (Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements, 33) (1993)
• (ed.) Ethics (Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements, 35) (1993)
• (ed.) Philosophy, psychology and psychiatry (Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements, 37) (1994)