Walter Bryce Gallie (5 October 1912 – 31 August 1998) was a Scottish

social theorist Social theories are analytical frameworks, or paradigms, that are used to study and interpret social phenomena.Seidman, S., 2016. Contested knowledge: Social theory today. John Wiley & Sons. A tool used by social scientists, social theories relat ...

political theorist A political theorist is someone who engages in constructing or evaluating political theory, including political philosophy. Theorists may be Academia, academics or independent scholars. Here the most notable political theorists are categorized b ...

, and philosopher."Walter Bryce Gallie, M.A., Emeritus Fellow of Peterhouse and Emeritus Professor of Political Science, died on Monday, 31 August 1998, aged 85 years." (''Cambridge University Reporter'', 7 October 1998.)

Career

Early life

Gallie was born in

Lenzie Lenzie () is an affluent town by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in the East Dunbartonshire council area of Scotland. It is about north-east of Glasgow city centre and south of Kirkintilloch. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 8,873. ...

East Dunbartonshire East Dunbartonshire ( sco, Aest Dunbartanshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Bhreatainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north of Glasgow and contains many of the affluent areas to the north of the city, including Bear ...

, near

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

, the son of an engineer. He worked as a classics teacher at

Sedbergh School Sedbergh School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, in North West England. It comprises a junior school for children aged 4 to 13 and the main school for 13 to 18 year olds. ...

between the wars and later published his memoirs of this in the book ''An English School''.

Military career

He served in the British Army from 1940 to 1945, leaving the service with the rank of

major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

. He was awarded the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

Academic career

Gallie was became an Assistant Lecturer in Philosophy at

University College of Swansea , former_names=University College of Swansea, University of Wales Swansea , motto= cy, Gweddw crefft heb ei dawn , mottoeng="Technical skill is bereft without culture" , established=1920 – University College of Swansea 1996 – University of Wa ...

in 1935, a Lecturer in Philosophy at University College of Swansea in 1938 and Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at University College of Swansea in 1948. He moved on to become Professor of Philosophy at University College of North Staffordshire in 1950, Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at

Queen's University, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

in 1954 and Professor of Political Science at

Cambridge University , 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 ...

1967. He was also a fellow of

Peterhouse Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite o ...

from 1967 to 1978. In Gallie's paper on ' Essentially contested concepts', he argued that it is impossible to conclusively define key appraisive concepts such as '

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals ...

,' 'democracy,' '

Christian life ''Satan Is Real'' is a gospel bluegrass album by American country music duo The Louvin Brothers, released in 1959. History Producer Ken Nelson set up recording sessions in August 1958 to record enough tracks for two albums. The first was to b ...

', 'art', ' moral goodness' and '

duty A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; fro, deu, did, past participle of ''devoir''; la, debere, debitum, whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may ...

', although it is possible and rational to discuss one's justifications for holding one interpretation over competing ones. Clarification of such concepts involves not the examination of predictive relations (as is the case for most scientific concepts), but rather, consideration of how the concept has been used by different parties throughout its history.''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society'', volume 56, 1956, pp. 167–198

Personal life and death

Gallie married Menna Patricia Humphreys in 1940. They had a son and a daughter. He died in Cardigan,

Ceredigion Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cer ...

, on 31 August 1998.

Works

* 1939: "An Interpretation of Causal Laws",

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 ...

Vol.48, No.192, pp. 409–426. * 1949: ''An English School'',

Cresset Press The Cresset Press was a publishing company in London, England, active as an independent press from 1927 for 40 years, and initially specializing in "expensively illustrated limited editions of classical works, like Milton's ''Paradise Lost''" goi ...

. * 1952: ''Peirce and Pragmatism'',

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Basil Blackwell Sir Basil Henry Blackwell (29 May 18899 April 1984) was born in Oxford, England. He was the son of Benjamin Henry Blackwell (18491924), founder of Blackwell's bookshop in Oxford, which went on to become the Blackwell family's publishing and books ...

. * 1955: "Explanations in History and the Genetic Sciences", ''Mind'', Vol.64, No.254, pp. 160–180. * 1955: "Essentially Contested Concepts",

Proceedings 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 ...

, Vol.56, (1956), pp. 167–198. * 1956: "Art as an Essentially Contested Concept",

The Philosophical Quarterly ''The Philosophical Quarterly'' is a quarterly academic journal of philosophy established in 1950 and published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Scots Philosophical Club and the University of St Andrews. Since 2014 its publisher is Oxford Acad ...

Vol.6, No.23, pp. 97–114. * 1957: ''Free Will and Determinism Yet Again: An Inaugural Lecture Delivered on 15 May 1957 at the Queen's University of Belfast'', Marjory Boyd, (Belfast). * 1957: "What Makes a Subject Scientific?",

The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science ''British Journal for the Philosophy of Science'' (''BJPS'') is a peer-reviewed, academic journal of philosophy, owned by the British Society for the Philosophy of Science (BSPS) and published by University of Chicago Press. The journal publishes ...

8(30): 118–139. * 1957: "The Lords' Debate on Hanging July 1956: Interpretation and Comment", ''Philosophy'', Vol.32, No.121, pp. 132–147. * 1960: ''A New University: A. D. Lindsay and the Keele Experiment'',

Chatto & Windus Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his business ...

. * 1964: ''Philosophy and the Historical Understanding'', Chatto & Windus, (London). ** "Narrative and Historical Understanding" [reprint of "The Historical Understanding" (1964), pp. 40–51 in Roberts, G. (ed), ''The History and Narrative Reader'', Routledge, (London), 2001. * 1968: ''Philosophy and the Historical Understanding'', 2nd ed. Schocken Books. * 1968: "The Idea of Practice", ''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society'' 68: 63–86. * 1973: "Wanted: A Philosophy of International Relations", Political Studies (journal), Political Studies 27(3): 484–492. * 1978: ''Philosophers of Peace and War: Kant, Clausewitz, Marx, Engels and Tolstoy he Wiles Lectures, delivered at Belfast University in May 1976',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...

. * 1979: "Kant's View of Reason in Politics", ''Philosophy'', Vol.54, No.207, pp. 19–33. * 1983: ''How to Think about Nuclear Weapons: J.R. Jones Memorial Lecture Delivered at the College on 26 April 1983'',

. * 1991: ''Understanding War: An Essay on the Nuclear Age'', Routledge, (London).