John Anderson (philosopher)
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| Western Philosophy 20th-century philosophy |
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|---|---|
| Name: | John Anderson |
| Birth: | 1893 |
| Death: | 1962 |
| School/tradition: | Australian Realism |
| Main interests: | Political philosophy, Ethics |
| Influences: | influenced = John Passmore, David Armstrong, David Stove, J. L. Mackie Eugene Kamenka |
John Anderson (1893-1962) was a Scottish born philosopher who occupied the post of Challis Professor of Philosophy at Sydney University in the years 1927-1958.
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[edit] Life
Anderson was born in Stonehouse and educated at Hamilton Academy and the University of Glasgow.
After arriving in Sydney in 1927 he became a member of the Communist Party of Australia and remained a member until 1932, at which time he began to realise, perhaps before many of his time, the direction of communism under Stalin in the Soviet Union. After leaving the Communist Party he became aligned with the Trotskyist movement for a period of time.
Anderson later abandoned socialism altogether and became what would today be called a libertarian, an opponent of all forms of authoritarianism. Sometimes he described himself as an anarchist, but after the 1930s he gave up all forms of political activism.
Anderson was a significant figure in the group of intellectuals known as the Sydney Push. He was a defender of free speech and was critical of the Australian government's bans on certain political publications (1928). He advocated religious and sexual freedoms and free discussion of issues.
Anderson was censured by the Sydney University Senate in 1931 after criticising the role of war memorials in sanctifying war. In 1943 he was censured by the Parliament of New South Wales after arguing that religion has no place in schools. He founded the Sydney University Free Thought Society which ran from 1931 to 1951. He was president of the society throughout that period.
At a time when Australia had few genuinely first-rate intellectuals, Anderson's influence in Sydney intellectual life was enormous. The failure of the Communist Party to build a significant influence at Sydney University during the 1930s and 1940s, compared with the Party's greater success at Melbourne University, is often attributed to the influence of "Andersonian individualism" among Sydney students. Anderson's influence spread through his personal impact on several generations of students, the "Andersonians". They included the philosophers John Passmore, David Armstrong, David Stove, J. L. Mackie and Eugene Kamenka, the World War II organiser Alf Conlon, many members of the Sydney Push and Governor-General John Kerr.
In the later part of his life beginning in the 1950s he tended toward more conservative views. Although personally opposed to communism he opposed Menzies's attempt to ban the party in the referendum of 1951.
[edit] Thought and influence
John Anderson was also a firm naturalist. Anderson argued that there is only one realm of "being" and it can be best understood through science and naturalistic philosophy. He stated that there is no supernatural god and that there are no non-natural realms which are along the lines of Platonic ideals. He was also considered a strict empiricist who threw out the idea that knowledge could be obtained by means other than descriptions of facts. Those that believed this thought that revelation or mysticism could not be sources for obtaining truth. Anderson's view of morality was considered relatively Nietzschean. He was arguing that traditional christian beliefs that were in reference to good and evil were only meant for slaves and that, in actuality the idea of morality was empty. The concept of "good" should be applied to those human activities that are free and creative but for Anderson it was also an objective description of certain human activities. Anderson was definitely not an ethical relativist.
John Anderson was an influential philosopher in Australia. Many people say that he did a great deal to develop a uniquely Australian way of philosophy, one focusing almost exclusively on materialism, naturalism, and realism. For nearly thirty years, he was the chair of the University of Sydney's philosophy department. Anderson's career in Australia was very controversial because he criticized many different beliefs and institutions, including as examples, christianity, communism, and the Australian social welfare system.
| Academic Genealogy | |
|---|---|
| Notable teachers | Notable students |
| To be noted | David Armstrong Futa Helu Eugene Kamenka J. L. Mackie John Passmore David Stove |
[edit] Further reading
- J. Anderson, Regular contributions to The Australasian Journal of Psychology and Philosophy
- J. Anderson, Studies in Empirical Philosophy Sydney University Press, 1962 (ISBN 1920898174)--link below
- J. Anderson, Mark Weblin (ed), A Perilous and Fighting Life: From Communist to Conservative; The Political Writings of Professor John Anderson (ISBN 1-86403-248-0)
- A.J. Baker, Australian Realism: The Systematic Philosophy of John Anderson (Cambridge University Press, 1986)
- B. Kennedy, A Passion to Oppose: John Anderson, Philosopher (Melbourne University Press, 1995)
- J. Franklin, Corrupting the Youth: A History of Philosophy in Australia (Macleay Press, 2003), chs 1-2
