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Ernest André Gellner FRAI (9 December 1925 – 5 November 1995) was a British- Czech
philosopher 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 ...
and social anthropologist described by ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
'', when he died, as one of the world's most vigorous intellectuals, and by ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' as a "one-man crusader for
critical rationalism Critical rationalism is an epistemological philosophy advanced by Karl Popper on the basis that, if a statement cannot be logically deduced (from what is known), it might nevertheless be possible to logically falsify it. Following Hume, Popper ...
". His first book, ''Words and Things'' (1959), prompted a
leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets v ...
in ''
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'' ( ...
'' and a month-long correspondence on its letters page over his attack on linguistic philosophy. As the Professor of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at the
London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...
for 22 years, the William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology at the
University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
for eight years, and head of the new Centre for the Study of Nationalism in
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, Gellner fought all his life—in his writing, teaching and political activism—against what he saw as closed systems of thought, particularly
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
,
psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might ...
, relativism and the dictatorship of the
free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
. Among other issues in social thought, modernization theory and
nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
were two of his central themes, his multicultural perspective allowing him to work within the subject-matter of three separate
civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). ...
s: Western,
Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ma ...
, and Russian. He is considered one of the leading theoreticians on the issue of
nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
.


Background

Gellner was born in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
Chris Hann
Obituary
, ''The Independent'', 8 November 1995
to Anna, née Fantl, and Rudolf, a lawyer, an urban intellectual German-speaking
Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
Jewish couple from
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
(which, since 1918, was part of the newly established
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
). Julius Gellner was his uncle. He was brought up in
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, attending a
Czech language Czech (; Czech ), historically also Bohemian (; ''lingua Bohemica'' in Latin), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 10 million people, it serves as the official language of the Czech Re ...
primary school before entering the English-language grammar school. This was
Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typ ...
's tricultural Prague: antisemitic but "stunningly beautiful", a city he later spent years longing for. In 1939, when Gellner was 13, the rise of
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
in
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
persuaded his family to leave Czechoslovakia and move to
St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ...
, just north of
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, where Gellner attended St Albans Boys Modern School, now Verulam School (Hertfordshire). At the age of 17, he won a scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford, as a result of what he called "Portuguese colonial policy", which involved keeping "the natives peaceful by getting able ones from below into Balliol." At Balliol, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) and specialised in philosophy. He interrupted his studies after one year to serve with the
1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade The 1st Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade Group ( cs, Československá samostatná obrněná brigáda, Slovak: Československá samostatná obrnená brigáda) was an armoured unit of expatriate Czechoslovaks organised and equipped by the ...
, which took part in the Siege of Dunkirk (1944–45), and then returned to Prague to attend university there for half a term. During this period, Prague lost its strong hold over him: foreseeing the communist takeover, he decided to return to England. One of his recollections of the city in 1945 was a communist poster saying: "Everyone with a clean shield into the
Party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featu ...
", ostensibly meaning that those whose records were good during the occupation were welcome. In reality, Gellner said, it meant exactly the opposite: He returned to Balliol College in 1945 to finish his degree, winning the
John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism". Considered one of ...
prize and taking first class honours in 1947. The same year, he began his academic career at the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...
as an assistant to Professor
John Macmurray John MacMurray (16 February 1891 – 21 June 1976) was a Scottish philosopher. His thought both moved beyond and was critical of the modern tradition, whether rationalist or empiricist. His thought may be classified as personalist, as his wri ...
in the Department of Moral Philosophy. He moved to the
London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...
in 1949, joining the sociology department under
Morris Ginsberg Morris Ginsberg FBA (14 May 1889 – 31 August 1970) was a British sociologist, who played a key role in the development of the discipline. He served as editor of '' The Sociological Review'' in the 1930s and later became the founding chairm ...
. Ginsberg admired philosophy and believed that philosophy and sociology were very close to each other.
Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse, FBA (8 September 1864 – 21 June 1929) was an English liberal political theorist and sociologist, who has been considered one of the leading and earliest proponents of social liberalism. His works, culminating i ...
had preceded Ginsberg as Martin White Professor of Sociology at the LSE. Hobhouse's ''Mind in Evolution'' (1901) had proposed that society should be regarded as an organism, a product of evolution, with the individual as its basic unit, the subtext being that society would improve over time as it evolved, a teleological view that Gellner firmly opposed. Gellner's critique of linguistic philosophy in ''Words and Things'' (1959) focused on J. L. Austin and the later work of
Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian- British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is consi ...
, criticizing them for failing to question their own methods. The book brought Gellner critical acclaim. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1961 with a thesis on ''Organization and the Role of a Berber Zawiya'' and became Professor of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method just one year later. ''Thought and Change'' was published in 1965, and in ''State and Society in Soviet Thought'' (1988), he examined whether Marxist regimes could be liberalized. He was elected to the
British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars s ...
in 1974. He moved to Cambridge in 1984 to head the Department of Anthropology, holding the William Wyse chair and becoming a fellow of
King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...
, which provided him with a relaxed atmosphere where he enjoyed drinking beer and playing
chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
with the students. Described by the ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'' as "brilliant, forceful, irreverent, mischievous, sometimes perverse, with a biting wit and love of irony", he was famously popular with his students, was willing to spend many extra hours a day tutoring them, and was regarded as a superb public speaker and gifted teacher. His ''Plough, Sword and Book'' (1988) investigated the
philosophy of history Philosophy of history is the philosophical study of history and its discipline. The term was coined by French philosopher Voltaire. In contemporary philosophy a distinction has developed between ''speculative'' philosophy of history and ''crit ...
, and ''Conditions of Liberty'' (1994) sought to explain the collapse of
socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes th ...
. In 1993, he returned to Prague, now rid of communism, and to the new Central European University, where he became head of the Center for the Study of Nationalism, a program funded by George Soros, the American billionaire philanthropist, to study the rise of
nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
in the post-communist countries of eastern and central
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
. On 5 November 1995, after returning from a conference in
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...
, he suffered a heart attack and died at his flat in Prague, one month short of his 70th birthday. Gellner was a member of both the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
and the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
.


''Words and Things''

With the publication in 1959 of ''Words and Things'', his first book, Gellner achieved fame and even notoriety among his fellow philosophers, as well as outside the discipline, for his fierce attack on "linguistic philosophy", as he preferred to call ordinary language philosophy, then the dominant approach at Oxbridge (although the philosophers themselves denied that they were part of any unified school). He first encountered the strong ideological hold of linguistic philosophy while at Balliol: ''Words and Things'' is fiercely critical of the work of
Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian- British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is consi ...
, J. L. Austin,
Gilbert Ryle Gilbert Ryle (19 August 1900 – 6 October 1976) was a British philosopher, principally known for his critique of Cartesian dualism, for which he coined the phrase " ghost in the machine." He was a representative of the generation of British o ...
,
Antony Flew Antony Garrard Newton Flew (; 11 February 1923 – 8 April 2010) was a British philosopher. Belonging to the analytic and evidentialist schools of thought, Flew worked on the philosophy of religion. During the course of his career he taught at ...
, P. F. Strawson and many others. Ryle refused to have the book reviewed in the philosophical journal '' Mind'' (which he edited), 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 ...
(who had written an approving foreword) protested in 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'' ( ...
''. A response from Ryle and a lengthy correspondence ensued.


Social anthropology

In the 1950s, Gellner discovered his great love of
social anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In ...
. Chris Hann, director of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, writes that following the hard-nosed empiricism of
Bronisław Malinowski Bronisław Kasper Malinowski (; 7 April 1884 – 16 May 1942) was a Polish-British anthropologist and ethnologist whose writings on ethnography, social theory, and field research have exerted a lasting influence on the discipline of anthro ...
, Gellner made major contributions to the subject over the next 40 years, ranging from "conceptual critiques in the analysis of kinship to frameworks for understanding political order outside the state in tribal
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...
(''Saints of the Atlas'', 1969); from sympathetic exposition of the works of Soviet Marxist anthropologists to elegant syntheses of the Durkheimian and Weberian traditions in western social theory; and from grand elaboration of 'the structure of human history' to path-breaking analyses of ethnicity and nationalism (''
Thought and Change ''Thought and Change'' is a 1964 book by the philosopher Ernest Gellner, in which the author outlines his views on "modernity" and looks at the processes of social change and historical transformation and, perhaps most forcefully, the power of nat ...
'', 1964; '' Nations and Nationalism'', 1983)". He also developed a friendship with the Moroccan-French sociologist Paul Pascon, whose work he admired.


Nationalism

In 1983, Gellner published '' Nations and Nationalism''. For Gellner, "
nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
is primarily a political principle that holds that the political and the national unit should be congruent".Gellner, ''Nationalism'', 1983, p. 1 Gellner argues that nationalism appeared and became a sociological necessity only in the modern world. In previous times ("the agro-literate" stage of history), rulers had little incentive to impose cultural homogeneity on the ruled. But in modern society, work becomes technical; one must operate a machine, and to do so, one must learn. There is a need for impersonal, context-free communication and a high degree of cultural standardisation. Furthermore,
industrial society In sociology, industrial society is a society driven by the use of technology and machinery to enable mass production, supporting a large population with a high capacity for division of labour. Such a structure developed in the Western world in ...
is underlined by the fact that there is perpetual growth: employment types vary and new skills must be learned. Thus, generic employment training precedes specialised job training. On a territorial level, there is competition for the overlapping
catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...
s (such as Alsace-Lorraine). To maintain its grip on resources and its survival and progress, the state and culture must for these reasons be congruent. Nationalism, therefore, is a necessity.


Selected works

*''Words and Things, A Critical Account of Linguistic Philosophy and a Study in Ideology'', London: Gollancz; Boston: Beacon (1959). Also see correspondence in ''The Times'', 10 November to 23 November 1959. * ''
Thought and Change ''Thought and Change'' is a 1964 book by the philosopher Ernest Gellner, in which the author outlines his views on "modernity" and looks at the processes of social change and historical transformation and, perhaps most forcefully, the power of nat ...
'' (1964) *''Populism: Its Meaning and Characteristics'' (1969). With . New York: Macmillan. * ''Saints of the Atlas'' (1969) * ''Contemporary Thought and Politics'' (1974) * ''The Devil in Modern Philosophy'' (1974) * ''Legitimation of Belief'' (1974) * ''Spectacles and Predicaments'' (1979) * ''Soviet and Western Anthropology'' (1980) (editor) * ''Muslim Society'' (1981) * '' Nations and Nationalism'' (1983) * ''Relativism and the Social Sciences'' (1985) * ''The Psychoanalytic Movement'' (1985) * ''The Concept of Kinship and Other Essays'' (1986) * ''Culture, Identity and Politics'' (1987) * ''State and Society in Soviet Thought'' (1988) * ''Plough, Sword and Book'' (1988) * ''Postmodernism, Reason and Religion'' (1992) * ''Reason and Culture'' (1992) * ''Conditions of Liberty'' (1994) * ''Anthropology and Politics: Revolutions in the Sacred Grove'' (1995) * ''Liberalism in Modern Times: Essays in Honour of José G. Merquior'' (1996) * ''Nationalism'' (1997) * ''Language and Solitude: Wittgenstein, Malinowski and the Habsburg Dilemma'' (1998)


Notes


References


Obituary A Philosopher on Nationalism Ernest Gellner Died at 69
written by Eric Pace ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' 10 November 1995 *Davies, John. Obituary in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'', 7 November 1995 *Dimonye, Simeon. ''A Comparative Study of Historicism in Karl Marx and Ernest Gellner'' (Saarbrücken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2012) *Hall, John A. ''Ernest Gellner: An Intellectual Biography'' (London: Verso, 2010) *Hall, John A. and Ian Jarvie (eds). ''The Social Philosophy of Ernest Gellner'' (Amsterdam: Rodopi B.V., 1996) *Hall, John A. (ed.) ''The State of the Nation: Ernest Gellner and the Theory of Nationalism'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998) *Lessnoff, Michael. ''Ernest Gellner and Modernity'' (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2002) *Lukes, Steven
"Gellner, Ernest André (1925–1995)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, retrieved 23 September 2005 (requires subscription) *Malesevic, Sinisa and Mark Haugaard (eds). ''Ernest Gellner and Contemporary Social Thought'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007) *O'Leary, Brendan. Obituary in ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'', 8 November 1995 *Stirling, Paul. Obituary in ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
'', 9 November 1995
"The Social and Political Relevance of Gellner's Thought Today"
papers and webcast of conference organised by the Department of Political Science and Sociology in the National University of Ireland, Galway, held on 21–22 May 2005 (10th anniversary of Gellner's death). * Kyrchanoff, Maksym. Natsionalizm: politika, mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia, regionalizatsiia (Voronezh, 2007

Detailed review of Gellner's works for students. In Russian language.


External links


Gellner resource page
(at the
London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...
)
Ethics and Logic
Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society LV (1954–1955), 157–178.
Catalogue of the Gellner papers
at th

of the
London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...
.
Gellner video materials
at Dspace at Cambridge repository ( MP4 files). * Special Issue of the journal ''
Social Evolution & History ''Social Evolution & History'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal focused on the development of human societies in the past, present, and future. In addition to original research articles, ''Social Evolution & History'' includes critical notes a ...
''
"The Intellectual Legacy of Ernest Gellner"
(guest editor Peter Skalnik). * Special Issue of the journal '' Thesis Eleven

Ernest Gellner and Historical Sociology (guest editor Sinisa Malesevic).
''The Words and Things of Ernest Gellner'' by Czeglédy, André P.
*
Linguistic Philosophy
' 1959 review of ''Words and Things'' by A. J. Ayer, A.J. Ayer for ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...
'' ia_Wayback_Machine.html" ;"title="Wayback_Machine.html" ;"title="ia Wayback Machine">ia Wayback Machine">Wayback_Machine.html" ;"title="ia Wayback Machine">ia Wayback Machine*
Words and Ideas
' review of ''Words and Things'' by Iris Murdoch for ''The Partisan Review'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gellner, Ernest 1925 births 1995 deaths 20th-century anthropologists 20th-century British male writers 20th-century British philosophers 20th-century educational theorists 20th-century educators 20th-century essayists 20th-century English historians 20th-century social scientists Academics of the London School of Economics Academics of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Analytic philosophers Anthropologists of religion Anti-capitalists British academics British anthropologists British anti-communists British educational theorists British essayists British ethicists British logicians British male non-fiction writers British social sciences writers British social scientists British sociologists Central European University faculty Critical rationalists Critics of alternative medicine Cultural anthropologists Cultural critics Czech anti-communists Czech Jews Czech scientists Czechoslovak refugees Economic anthropologists Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Jewish anthropologists Jewish educators Jewish ethicists Jewish historians Jewish non-fiction writers Jewish philosophers Jewish refugees Jewish social scientists Jewish sociologists Jews who immigrated to the United Kingdom to escape Nazism Literacy and society theorists Members of the American Philosophical Society Moral philosophers Ordinary language philosophy People educated at St Albans School, Hertfordshire Philosophers of culture Philosophers of economics Philosophers of education Philosophers of ethics and morality Philosophers of history Philosophers of language Philosophers of linguistics Philosophers of logic Philosophers of religion Philosophers of social science Philosophers of war Philosophy academics Philosophy teachers Philosophy writers Populism scholars Political philosophers Political sociologists Presidents of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Rationality theorists Revolution theorists Rhetoric theorists Scholars of nationalism Social anthropologists Social commentators Social critics Social philosophers Sociologists of education Sociologists of religion Sociologists of science Theoretical historians Theorists on Western civilization William Wyse Professors of Social Anthropology Writers about activism and social change Writers about communism Writers about globalization Writers about religion and science Writers from Prague