Geoffrey Warnock
English philosopher and Vice-Chancellor
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Sir Geoffrey James Warnock (16 August 1923 – 8 October 1995)[1] was an English philosopher and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University.[2] Before his knighthood (in the 1986 New Year Honours), he was commonly known as G. J. Warnock.
16 August 1923
Geoffrey Warnock | |
|---|---|
| |
| Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford | |
| In office 1981–1985 | |
| Chancellor | The Earl of Stockton |
| Preceded by | Sir Rex Richards |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Neill of Bladen |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Geoffrey James Warnock 16 August 1923 Leeds, England |
| Died | 8 October 1995 (aged 72) Axford, Wiltshire, England |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 5 |
| Education | Winchester College New College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Philosopher |
Life
Warnock was born at Neville House, Chapel Allerton, Leeds, West Yorkshire, to James Warnock (1880–1953), OBE, a general practitioner from Northern Ireland who had been a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps,[3] and Kathleen (née Hall; 1890–1979). The Warnocks later lived at Grade II-listed[4] Pull Croft, Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire (historically Berkshire).[5][6]
Warnock was educated at Winchester College.[1] He then served with the Irish Guards until 1945, before entering New College, Oxford, with a deferred classics scholarship. At New College, he read for a degree in PPE, graduating with a first in 1948.[7] His tutors during his studies included Isaiah Berlin and H. L. A. Hart.[7]
He was elected to a Fellowship at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1949. After spending three years at Brasenose College, he returned to Magdalen as a Fellow and tutor in philosophy. In 1970, he was elected to Principal of Hertford College, Oxford (1971–1988), where there is now a society and student house named after him.[8] He was also the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1981 to 1985.[2]
Warnock, with co-editor J. O. Urmson, prepared for posthumous 1961 publication the Philosophical Papers of their friend, and fellow Oxford linguistic philosopher, J. L. Austin.[9] Warnock also reconstructed Austin's Sense and Sensibilia (1962) from manuscript notes.[10]
Warnock married Mary Wilson, a fellow philosopher of St Hugh's College, Oxford, and later Baroness Warnock, in 1949. They had two sons and three daughters.[11][12] In 1987 he appeared on Bryan Magee's The Great Philosophers in an episode on Immanuel Kant.[13]
He retired to live near Marlborough, Wiltshire, in 1988 and died of degenerative lung disease in 1995[14] at Axford in Wiltshire.
Works
Books
- Berkeley, Penguin Books, 1953.
- English Philosophy Since 1900, 1st edition, Oxford University Press, 1958; 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 1969.
- Contemporary Moral Philosophy (New studies in ethics), Palgrave Macmillan, 1967. ISBN 978-0333048979.
- The Object of Morality, Methuen, 1971. ISBN 0-416-13780-6.
- Morality and Language, Barnes & Noble. 1983
- J. L. Austin (The Arguments of the Philosophers), Routledge, 1989.[15]
Papers
- Metaphysics in Logic in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series, Vol. 51 (1950 - 1951), pp. 197-222.
- Verification and the Use of Language in Revue Internationale de Philosophie, Vol. 5, No. 17/18 (3/4) (1951), pp. 307-322
- Seeing in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series, Vol. 55 (1954 - 1955), pp. 201-218.
- Analysis and Imagination in A.J. Ayer et al., The Revolution in Philosophy. London: Macmillan, 1956.
- J. L. Austin (with J.O. Urmson) in Mind, New Series, Vol. 70, No. 278 (Apr., 1961), pp. 256-257.
- The Primacy of Practical Reason. Proceedings of the British Academy 52, 1966 (1967).
- Saturday Mornings in Essays on J.L. Austin (1973)
- Gilbert Ryle's Editorship (1976) in Mind, Vol. 85, No. 337 (Jan., 1976), pp. 47-56.
Reviews
- Reason and Analysis by Brand Blanshard (1963) in The Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 53 (Oct., 1963), pp. 373-375.
- What Philosophy Is: a guide to the elements by Arthur C. Danto (1970) in Metaphilosophy, Vol. 1, No. 2 (April 1970), pp. 166-168.
- Philosophical Problems by Leonard Goddard (1979) in The Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 114 (Jan., 1979), pp. 83-84.
For a more complete list of Warnock's works see his PhilPapers entry.