Charlie Dunbar Broad (30 December 1887 – 11 March 1971), usually cited as C. D. Broad, was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

epistemologist, historian of philosophy,

philosopher of science A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

moral philosopher Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...

, and writer on the

philosophical Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

aspects of psychical research. He was known for his thorough and dispassionate examinations of

argument An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialecti ...

s in such works as ''Scientific Thought'' (1923), ''The Mind and Its Place in Nature'' (1925), and ''Examination of McTaggart's Philosophy'' (2 vols., 1933–1938). Broad's essay on "Determinism, Indeterminism, and Libertarianism" in ''Ethics and the History of Philosophy'' (1952) introduced the philosophical terms ''occurrent causation'' and ''non-occurrent causation'', which became the basis for the contemporary distinction between "agent-causal" and "event-causal" in debates on

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...

free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to ac ...

Biography

Broad was born in

Harlesden Harlesden is a district in the London Borough of Brent, North West London. Located north of the Grand Union Canal and Wormwood Scrubs, the Harrow Road flows through the centre of the area which goes eastwards to Central London and west toward ...

, in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, England.Harlesden was part of Middlesex until 1965; today it is part of the

London Borough of Brent The London Borough of Brent () is a London borough in north-west London. It borders the boroughs of Harrow to the north-west, Barnet to the north-east, Camden to the east, the City of Westminster to the south-east, as well as the Royal Borou ...

in Greater London. He was educated at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school for Single-sex education, boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, it began as the Col ...

from 1900 until 1906. He gained a scholarship in 1906 to study at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, graduating in 1910 with

First-Class Honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

, with distinction. He became a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of Trinity College the following year.

Career

As his fellowship at Trinity College was a non-residential position, he was also able to accept a position as an assistant lecturer that he had applied for at

St Andrews University (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, where he remained until 1920. That year, he was appointed professor at

Bristol University , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

, working there until 1923, when he returned to Trinity as a lecturer. From 1926 until 1931, he was a lecturer in '

moral science Human science (or human sciences in the plural), also known as humanistic social science and moral science (or moral sciences), studies the philosophical, biological, social, and cultural aspects of human life. Human science aims to expand our u ...

' at Cambridge University's Faculty of Philosophy. Later at Cambridge, he was appointed in 1931 as 'Sidgwick Lecturer', a role he would keep until 1933, when he was appointed Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University, a position he held for twenty years (until 1953). In 1927 he gave the British Academy's Master-Mind Lecture, entitled ''Sir Isaac Newton''. In addition, Broad was President of the

Aristotelian Society The Aristotelian Society for the Systematic Study of Philosophy, more generally known as the Aristotelian Society, is a philosophical society in London. History Aristotelian Society was founded at a meeting on 19 April 1880, at 17 Bloomsbury Squa ...

from 1927 to 1928, and again from 1954 to 1955. He was also President of the

Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to co ...

in 1935 and 1958.

Personal life

Broad was openly homosexual at a time when homosexual acts were illegal. In March 1958, Broad along with fellow philosophers A.J. Ayer and

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, a ...

, writer

J.B. Priestley John Boynton Priestley (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in '' The Good Comp ...

and 27 others sent a letter to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' which urged the acceptance of the ''

Wolfenden Report The Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution (better known as the Wolfenden report, after Sir John Wolfenden, the chairman of the committee) was published in the United Kingdom on 4 September 1957 after a suc ...

's'' recommendation that homosexual acts should "no longer be a criminal offence."

Theory

Psychical research

Broad argued that if research could demonstrate that psychic events occur, this would challenge philosophical theories of " basic limiting principles" in at least five ways: #

Backward causation Backward or Backwards is a relative direction. Backwards or Sdrawkcab (the word "backwards" with its letters reversed) may also refer to: * "Backwards" (''Red Dwarf''), episode of sci-fi TV sitcom ''Red Dwarf'' ** ''Backwards'' (novel), a nov ...

(i.e., the future affecting the past) is rejected by many philosophers, but would be shown to occur if, for example, people could predict the future. # One common argument against dualism (i.e., the belief that, while bodies are physical entities, minds are a different, non-physical sort of entity) is that physical and non-physical things cannot interact. However, this would be shown to be possible if people can move physical objects by thought (

telekinesis Psychokinesis (from grc, ψυχή, , soul and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), or telekinesis (from grc, τηλε, , far off and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), is a hypothetical psychic ability allowing a person ...

). # Similarly, philosophers tend to be skeptical about claims that non-physical 'stuff' could interact with anything. This would also be challenged if

mind The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...

s are shown to be able to communicate with each other, as would be the case if mind-reading is possible. # Philosophers generally accept that we can only learn about the world through

reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, lang ...

and

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

. This belief would be challenged if people were able to psychically perceive events in other places. # Physicalist philosophers believe that there cannot be persons without bodies. If ghosts were shown to exist, this view would be challenged.

Free will

In his essay "Determinism, Indeterminism, and Libertarianism", Broad argued for non-occurrent causation as "literally determined by the agent or self." The agent could be considered as a substance or continuant, and not by a total cause which contains as factors events in and dispositions of the agent. Thus, our efforts would be completely determined, but their causes would not be prior events. New series of events would then originate, which he called "continuants", which are essentially ''

causa sui ''Causa sui'' (; ) is a Latin term that denotes something that is generated within itself. Used in relation to the purpose that objects can assign to themselves, the concept was central to the works of Baruch Spinoza, Sigmund Freud, Jean-Paul Sar ...

''.

Peter van Inwagen Peter van Inwagen (; born September 21, 1942) is an American analytic philosopher and the John Cardinal O'Hara Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is also a Research Professor of Philosophy at Duke University each spring. ...

says that Broad formulated an excellent version of what van Inwagen has called the "Consequence Argument" in defence of incompatibilism.

Works

* 1914
''Perception, physics and reality. An Enquiry into the Information that Physical Science can Supply about the Real.''
London: Cambridge University Press. . * 1923. '' Scientific thought.'' New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co. (). * 1925
''The Mind and Its Place in Nature.''
London: Kegan. * 1926

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * 1930

New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co. * 1931

London: Humphrey Milford. * 1933

Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press. * 1934

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * 1938

Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. * 1952/2000. '' Ethics and the History of Philosophy''. Routledge. . * 1953/2000. '' Religion, Philosophy and Psychic Research''. Routledge. . * 1955.
Human Personality and the Possibility of Its Survival.
' University of California Press. * 1958.
Personal Identity and Survival
'' London:

. * 1962. '' Lectures on Psychical Research. Incorporating the Perrott Lectures given in Cambridge University in 1959 and 1960.'' New York: Humanities Press. ** contain
Saltmarsh's Investigation of Mrs Warren Elliott's Mediumship
" ''Lectures on Psychical Research. Incorporating the Perrott Lectures given in Cambridge University in 1959 and 1960.'' New York: Humanities Press. * 1968. '' Induction, Probability, and Causation. Selected Papers of C. D. Broad'', Dordrecht: Reidel. * 1971. '' Broad's Critical Essays in Moral Philosophy'', New York: Humanities Press. * 1975. '' Leibniz: An Introduction'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * 1976.
Berkeley's Argument
'' Haskell House Pub Ltd. * 1978. ''Kant: An Introduction''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * 1985. ''Ethics''. Dordrecht: Nijhoff.

Notes

References

Sources

* Borchert, Donald M., ed. 2006. ''Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', Volume 1 (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference.

External links

Charlie Dunbar Broad
entry at

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') combines an online encyclopedia of philosophy with peer-reviewed publication of original papers in philosophy, freely accessible to Internet users. It is maintained by Stanford University. Eac ...

C. D. Broad: a bibliography
Provides full pdf's of most of Broad's writings.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Broad, C. D. 1887 births 1971 deaths 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English philosophers 20th-century essayists Academics of the University of St Andrews Action theorists Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Analytic philosophers Aristotelian philosophers British ethicists British gay writers British historians of philosophy British male essayists British male non-fiction writers British consciousness researchers and theorists English essayists English gay writers English historians of philosophy English logicians English writers on paranormal topics Epistemologists Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge George Berkeley scholars Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz scholars Historians of science Kant scholars LGBT historians LGBT philosophers LGBT rights activists from England LGBT rights activists from the United Kingdom LGBT writers from England Libertarian theorists Metaphysics writers Moral philosophers Ontologists British parapsychologists People educated at Dulwich College People from Harlesden Philosophers of ethics and morality Philosophers of logic Philosophers of mind Philosophers of religion Philosophers of science Philosophers of time Philosophers of war Presidents of the Aristotelian Society Probability theorists Writers about activism and social change Writers about religion and science Knightbridge Professors of Philosophy