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'''William Ernest Johnson''' (23 June 1858 – 14 January 1931), usually cited as '''W. E. Johnson''', was a British philosopher and [[logician]] mainly remembered for his ''Logic'' (1921–1924), in 3 volumes. In 1924, in volume III he introduced the important concept of [[Exchangeable random variables|exchangeability]].<ref>Zabell (1992)</ref>
'''William Ernest Johnson''' (23 June 1858 – 14 January 1931), usually cited as '''W. E. Johnson''', was a British philosopher and [[logician]] mainly remembered for his ''Logic'' (1921–1924), in 3 volumes. In 1924, in volume III he introduced the important concept of [[Exchangeable random variables|exchangeability]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zabell|first=S. L.|date=1992|title=Predicting the unpredictable|url=https://www.ece.uvic.ca/~bctill/papers/mocap/Zabell_1991.pdf|journal=Synthese|language=en|volume=90|issue=2|pages=205–232|doi=10.1007/BF00485351|issn=0039-7857|via=}}</ref>


==Life and career==
==Life and career==
Johnson was born in Cambridge on 23 June 1858 to William Henry Farthing Johnson and his wife, Harriet (nee Brimley). He was their fifth child. The family were baptists and political liberals.<ref>{{cite book|author=Broad, C.D.| chapter=William Ernest Johnson|editor=Broad, C. D.|title=Ethics and the History of Philosophy|date=1952|publisher=Routledge & K. Paul|location=London|pages=94–95}}</ref>
Johnson was born in Cambridge on 23 June 1858 to William Henry Farthing Johnson and his wife, Harriet (nee Brimley).<ref name=":0" /> He was their fifth child.<ref name=":0" /> The family were Baptists and political liberals.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|title=Ethics and the History of Philosophy|author=Broad, C.D.|first=|date=1952|publisher=Routledge & K. Paul|year=|isbn=|editor=Broad, C. D.|location=London|pages=94–95, 99|chapter=William Ernest Johnson}}</ref>


He attended the Llandaff House School, Cambridge where his father was the proprietor and headteacher, then the Perse School, Cambridge, and the Liverpool Royal Institution School.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Braithwaite|first1=R. B.|title=Johnson, William Ernest (1858–1931)|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34206|website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|accessdate=20 June 2017}}</ref> At the age of around eight he became seriously ill and he developed severe asthma and lifelong ill health. Due to this his education was frequently disrupted.<ref>{{cite book|author=Broad, C.D.| chapter=William Ernest Johnson|editor=Broad, C. D.|title=Ethics and the History of Philosophy|date=1952|publisher=Routledge & K. Paul|location=London|page=99}}</ref>
He attended the Llandaff House School, Cambridge where his father was the proprietor and headteacher, then the Perse School, Cambridge, and the Liverpool Royal Institution School.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|last1=Braithwaite|first1=R. B.|title=Johnson, William Ernest (1858–1931)|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34206|website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|accessdate=20 June 2017}}</ref> At the age of around eight he became seriously ill and developed severe asthma and lifelong ill health. Due to this his education was frequently disrupted.<ref name=":1" />


In 1879 he entered [[King's College, Cambridge]] to read mathematics having won a scholarship and he was 11th Wrangler in 1882. He stayed on to study for the Moral Sciences Tripos from which graduated in 1883 with a First Class degree.<ref>{{acad|id=JHN878WE|name=Johnson, William Ernest}}</ref>
In 1879 he entered [[King's College, Cambridge]] to read mathematics having won a scholarship and was placed 11th [[Wrangler (University of Cambridge)|Wrangler]] in 1882.<ref name=":2" /> He stayed on to study for the Moral Sciences Tripos from which he graduated in 1883 with a First Class degree.<ref name=":2">{{acad|id=JHN878WE|name=Johnson, William Ernest}}</ref>


In 1895 he married Barbara Keymer. After her sudden death in 1904 his sister Fanny moved in with him to care for his two sons
In 1895 he married Barbara Keymer. After her sudden death in 1904 his sister Fanny moved in with him to care for his two sons.<ref name=":0" />


Having failed to win a prize-fellowship, he spent some time teaching mathematics. His first teaching post was as a lecturer in Psychology and Education at the Cambridge Women's Training College which he held for several years. In 1896 thanks to [[Henry Sidgwick]]'s efforts he was appointed as University lecturer at the [[University of Cambridge]]. In 1902 he was elected a [[Fellow]] of [[King's College, Cambridge|King's College]], and Sidgwick Lecturer in Moral Sciences,.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=University intelligence |day_of_week=Monday |date=17 March 1902 |page_number=11 |issue=36717| }}</ref> His students included [[John Maynard Keynes]], [[Frank P. Ramsey|Frank Ramsey]], [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]], [[C.D. Broad]] and [[Dorothy Wrinch]]. He held these positions for nearly thirty years until his death in 1931.<ref>{{acad|id=JHN878WE|name=Johnson, William Ernest}}</ref>
Having failed to win a prize-fellowship, he spent some time teaching mathematics. His first teaching post was as a lecturer in Psychology and Education at the Cambridge Women's Training College which he held for several years. In 1896 thanks to [[Henry Sidgwick]]'s efforts he was appointed as University lecturer at the [[University of Cambridge]]. In 1902 he was elected a [[Fellow]] of [[King's College, Cambridge|King's College]], and appointed to the (newly-created) Sidgwick Lecturership in Moral Sciences, positions he held until his death.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> In 1923 he was elected a Fellow of the [[British Academy]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> His students included [[John Maynard Keynes]], [[Frank P. Ramsey|Frank Ramsey]], [[C.D. Broad]], [[Dorothy Wrinch]] and [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]].


⚫
He died in St Andrew's Hospital, Northampton, on 14 January 1931 and is buried at Grantchester, Cambridgeshire.<ref name=":0" />
In 1923 he was elected a Fellow of the [[British Academy]].

⚫
He died in St Andrew's Hospital, Northampton, on 14 January 1931 and is buried at Grantchester, Cambridgeshire.


==Work==
==Work==
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Johnson had ill health and was a famous procrastinator and he therefore published little. (That Johnson, though "very able", was "lacking in vigour" and had "published almost nothing" is a matter [[Bertrand Russell]] commented upon unsympathetically in a letter to [[Lady Ottoline Morrell|Ottoline Morrell]] of 23 February 1913).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LU6heg3jfHcC&pg=PA433&dq=very+able,+but+lacking+in+vigour,+and+has+published+almost+nothing&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEw926vdriAhXXThUIHZSwBpYQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=very%20able%2C%20but%20lacking%20in%20vigour%2C%20and%20has%20published%20almost%20nothing&f=false|title=The selected letters of Bertrand Russell. The private years, 1884-1914|last=Russell, Bertrand, 1872-1970.|first=|date=2002|publisher=Routledge|others=Griffin, Nicholas.|year=|isbn=0415260140|location=London|pages=433-434|oclc=49594254|quote=W. E. Johnson ... is very able, but lacking in vigour, and has published almost nothing. His family make a cult of him, and talk as if having the ideas were everything, and writing them out a mere vulgar mechanical labour. It vexes me, because anybody who has ever written knows the intolerable labour of getting one's ideas into proper shape, long after they have seemed all right as mere thoughts. Universities are full of people who ought to write and don't — I always feel annoyed with them, and with people who minimize the labour of actually producing something.}}</ref>
Johnson had ill health and was a famous procrastinator and he therefore published little. (That Johnson, though "very able", was "lacking in vigour" and had "published almost nothing" is a matter [[Bertrand Russell]] commented upon unsympathetically in a letter to [[Lady Ottoline Morrell|Ottoline Morrell]] of 23 February 1913).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LU6heg3jfHcC&pg=PA433&dq=very+able,+but+lacking+in+vigour,+and+has+published+almost+nothing&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEw926vdriAhXXThUIHZSwBpYQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=very%20able%2C%20but%20lacking%20in%20vigour%2C%20and%20has%20published%20almost%20nothing&f=false|title=The selected letters of Bertrand Russell. The private years, 1884-1914|last=Russell, Bertrand, 1872-1970.|first=|date=2002|publisher=Routledge|others=Griffin, Nicholas.|year=|isbn=0415260140|location=London|pages=433-434|oclc=49594254|quote=W. E. Johnson ... is very able, but lacking in vigour, and has published almost nothing. His family make a cult of him, and talk as if having the ideas were everything, and writing them out a mere vulgar mechanical labour. It vexes me, because anybody who has ever written knows the intolerable labour of getting one's ideas into proper shape, long after they have seemed all right as mere thoughts. Universities are full of people who ought to write and don't — I always feel annoyed with them, and with people who minimize the labour of actually producing something.}}</ref>


Johnson's major publication was a three volume work ''Logic'' (1921–1924) which was based on his lectures. This may never have been published if it hadn't been for the efforts of Newnham student Naomi Bentwich (1891–1988). Naomi persuaded him to publish, typed and co-edited the manuscript and encouraged him to finish the project. The preface to the first volume carries the acknowledgement: "I have to express my great obligations to my former pupil, Miss Naomi Bentwich, without whose encouragement and valuable assistance in the composition and arrangement of the work, it would not have been produced in its present form".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=W. E.|title=Logic|date=1921|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>
Johnson's major publication was a three volume work ''Logic'' (1921–1924) which was based on his lectures. This may never have been published if it hadn't been for the efforts of Newnham student Naomi Bentwich (1891–1988). Naomi persuaded him to publish, typed and co-edited the manuscript and encouraged him to finish the project. The preface to the first volume carries the acknowledgement: "I have to express my great obligations to my former pupil, Miss Naomi Bentwich, without whose encouragement and valuable assistance in the composition and arrangement of the work, it would not have been produced in its present form".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=W. E.|title=Logic|date=1921|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>


''Logic'' ensured his election to the British Academy but by his death it appeared dated. Johnson can be seen as a member of the British logic "old guard" pushed aside by the ''[[Principia Mathematica]]'' of [[Alfred North Whitehead]] and Bertrand Russell. Yet an article entitled "The Logical Calculus" (Johnson 1892) reveals that he had nontrivial technical capabilities in his youth, and that he was significantly influenced by the formal logical work of [[Charles Sanders Peirce]]. The article begins as follows:
''Logic'' ensured his election to the British Academy but by his death it appeared dated. Johnson can be seen as a member of the British logic "old guard" pushed aside by the ''[[Principia Mathematica]]'' of [[Alfred North Whitehead]] and Bertrand Russell. Yet an article entitled "The Logical Calculus" (Johnson 1892) reveals that he had nontrivial technical capabilities in his youth, and that he was significantly influenced by the formal logical work of [[Charles Sanders Peirce]]. The article begins as follows:
Line 60: Line 58:
* Johnson, W. E. (1892), "The Logical Calculus", ''Mind'' 1 (New Series), 3–30, 235–250, 340–357.
* Johnson, W. E. (1892), "The Logical Calculus", ''Mind'' 1 (New Series), 3–30, 235–250, 340–357.
* {{cite book|last=Passmore|first=John|authorlink=John Passmore|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.135724|title=A Hundred Years of Philosophy|publisher=Gerald Duckworth And Co. Ltd|year=1917|isbn=|location=London|pages=}} [At [[Internet Archive]]]
* {{cite book|last=Passmore|first=John|authorlink=John Passmore|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.135724|title=A Hundred Years of Philosophy|publisher=Gerald Duckworth And Co. Ltd|year=1917|isbn=|location=London|pages=}} [At [[Internet Archive]]]
* [[David H. Sanford|Sanford, David H.]] (2011), "Determinates vs. Determinables" in the online ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''.
* [[David H. Sanford|Sanford, David H.]] (2011), [https://stanford.library.sydney.edu.au/archives/sum2010/entries/determinate-determinables/ ''Determinates vs. Determinables''] in the ''[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]''.[Archived article now supplanted by Jessica Wilson's [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/determinate-determinables/ ''Determinables and Determinates''] (2017)]
* {{ cite journal | author=Zabell, S. L. | title=Predicting the unpredictable | year=1992 | journal=Synthese | volume=90 | issue=2 | page=205 | doi=10.1007/bf00485351}}
* {{cite journal|author=Zabell, S. L.|first=|title=Predicting the unpredictable|url=https://www.ece.uvic.ca/~bctill/papers/mocap/Zabell_1991.pdf|date=|year=1992|journal=Synthese|volume=90|issue=2|page=205|pages=|doi=10.1007/bf00485351|via=}}


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}

Revision as of 06:50, 9 June 2019

For other people named William Johnson, see William Johnson (disambiguation).

William Ernest Johnson (23 June 1858 – 14 January 1931), usually cited as W. E. Johnson, was a British philosopher and logician mainly remembered for his Logic (1921–1924), in 3 volumes. In 1924, in volume III he introduced the important concept of exchangeability.[1]

Life and career

Johnson was born in Cambridge on 23 June 1858 to William Henry Farthing Johnson and his wife, Harriet (nee Brimley).[2] He was their fifth child.[2] The family were Baptists and political liberals.[3]

He attended the Llandaff House School, Cambridge where his father was the proprietor and headteacher, then the Perse School, Cambridge, and the Liverpool Royal Institution School.[2] At the age of around eight he became seriously ill and developed severe asthma and lifelong ill health. Due to this his education was frequently disrupted.[3]

In 1879 he entered King's College, Cambridge to read mathematics having won a scholarship and was placed 11th Wrangler in 1882.[4] He stayed on to study for the Moral Sciences Tripos from which he graduated in 1883 with a First Class degree.[4]

In 1895 he married Barbara Keymer. After her sudden death in 1904 his sister Fanny moved in with him to care for his two sons.[2]

Having failed to win a prize-fellowship, he spent some time teaching mathematics. His first teaching post was as a lecturer in Psychology and Education at the Cambridge Women's Training College which he held for several years. In 1896 thanks to Henry Sidgwick's efforts he was appointed as University lecturer at the University of Cambridge. In 1902 he was elected a Fellow of King's College, and appointed to the (newly-created) Sidgwick Lecturership in Moral Sciences, positions he held until his death.[4][2] In 1923 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.[4][2] His students included John Maynard Keynes, Frank Ramsey, C.D. Broad, Dorothy Wrinch and Ludwig Wittgenstein.

He died in St Andrew's Hospital, Northampton, on 14 January 1931 and is buried at Grantchester, Cambridgeshire.[2]

Work

Johnson had ill health and was a famous procrastinator and he therefore published little. (That Johnson, though "very able", was "lacking in vigour" and had "published almost nothing" is a matter Bertrand Russell commented upon unsympathetically in a letter to Ottoline Morrell of 23 February 1913).[5]

Johnson's major publication was a three volume work Logic (1921–1924) which was based on his lectures. This may never have been published if it hadn't been for the efforts of Newnham student Naomi Bentwich (1891–1988). Naomi persuaded him to publish, typed and co-edited the manuscript and encouraged him to finish the project. The preface to the first volume carries the acknowledgement: "I have to express my great obligations to my former pupil, Miss Naomi Bentwich, without whose encouragement and valuable assistance in the composition and arrangement of the work, it would not have been produced in its present form".[6]

Logic ensured his election to the British Academy but by his death it appeared dated. Johnson can be seen as a member of the British logic "old guard" pushed aside by the Principia Mathematica of Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell. Yet an article entitled "The Logical Calculus" (Johnson 1892) reveals that he had nontrivial technical capabilities in his youth, and that he was significantly influenced by the formal logical work of Charles Sanders Peirce. The article begins as follows:

"As a material machine economises the exertion of force, so a symbolic calculus economises the exertion of intelligence ... the more perfect the calculus, the smaller the intelligence compared to the results."

A. N. Prior's Formal Logic cites this article several times.[7]

John Passmore tells us:

"His neologisms, as rarely happens, have won wide acceptance: such phrases as “ostensive definition”, such contrasts as those between ... “determinates” and “determinables”, “continuants” and “occurrents”, are now familiar in philosophical literature" (Passmore, 1917, p.346)

Johnson also wrote three papers on economics (1891; 1894; 1913). ‘The Pure Theory of Utility Curves’ (1913)[8] was an important paper, representing "a considerable advance in the development of utility theory".[9] Johnson was an influence on his student, John Maynard Keynes. Johnson was a colleague of Keynes's father, John Neville Keynes. He was a Cambridge Apostle.

Selected publications

See also

References

  1. ^ Zabell, S. L. (1992). "Predicting the unpredictable" (PDF). Synthese. 90 (2): 205–232. doi:10.1007/BF00485351. ISSN 0039-7857.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Braithwaite, R. B. "Johnson, William Ernest (1858–1931)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  3. ^ a b Broad, C.D. (1952). "William Ernest Johnson". In Broad, C. D. (ed.). Ethics and the History of Philosophy. London: Routledge & K. Paul. pp. 94–95, 99.
  4. ^ a b c d "Johnson, William Ernest (JHN878WE)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  5. ^ Russell, Bertrand, 1872-1970. (2002). The selected letters of Bertrand Russell. The private years, 1884-1914. Griffin, Nicholas. London: Routledge. pp. 433–434. ISBN 0415260140. OCLC 49594254. W. E. Johnson ... is very able, but lacking in vigour, and has published almost nothing. His family make a cult of him, and talk as if having the ideas were everything, and writing them out a mere vulgar mechanical labour. It vexes me, because anybody who has ever written knows the intolerable labour of getting one's ideas into proper shape, long after they have seemed all right as mere thoughts. Universities are full of people who ought to write and don't — I always feel annoyed with them, and with people who minimize the labour of actually producing something.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Johnson, W. E. (1921). Logic. Cambridge University Press.
  7. ^ Prior, A. N. (1949). "Determinables, Determinates and Determinants". Mind. 58 (229): 1–20. doi:10.1093/mind/lviii.229.1. JSTOR 2254522.
  8. ^ Johnson, W. E. (1913). "The Pure Theory of Utility Curves". The Economic Journal. 23 (92): 483–513. doi:10.2307/2221661. JSTOR 2221661.
  9. ^ Baumol, W. J.; Goldfeld, S.N., eds. (1968). Precursors in Mathematical Economics: An Anthology. London School of Economics and Political Science. p. 96.

Further reading

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