John Wisdom
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This article is about the philosopher. For the U.S. court of appeals judge, see John Minor Wisdom.
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Arthur John Terence Dibben Wisdom (John Wisdom; 12 September 1904, Leyton, Essex – 9 December 1993, Cambridge) was a leading British philosopher considered to be an ordinary language philosopher, a philosopher of mind and a metaphysician. He was influenced by G.E. Moore, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Sigmund Freud, and in turn explained and extended their work.
Wisdom was for most of his career at Trinity College, Cambridge, and became Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge University. Near the end of his career he was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oregon. He was president of the Aristotelian Society from 1950 to 1951.
His famous "Parable of the Invisible Gardener" is a dialectic on the existence or absence of God.
[edit] Major Writings
- Interpretation and Analysis. (1931)
- Problems of Mind and Matter. (1934)
- "Philosophical Perplexity". Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 1936-37.
- Other Minds. (1952)
- Philosophy & PsychoAnalysis. (1953)
- Paradox and Discovery. (1965)
- Proof and Explanation (The Virginia Lectures 1957). (1991)
