Charles Kay Ogden (; 1 June 1889 – 20 March 1957) was an English linguist, philosopher, and writer. Described as a polymath but also an

eccentric Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off-center, in geometry * Eccentricity (graph theory) of a v ...

and outsider, he took part in many ventures related to literature, politics, the arts, and philosophy, having a broad effect particularly as an editor, translator, and activist on behalf of a

reformed Reform is beneficial change Reform may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine *''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...

version of the English language. He is typically defined as a linguistic psychologist, and is now mostly remembered as the inventor and propagator of Basic English.

Early life and education

Charles Kay Ogden was born at Rossall School in Fleetwood, Lancashire, on 1 June 1889 to Charles Burdett Ogden (13 July 1849 – 10 December 1923) and Fanny Hart (1850 – 21 December 1944), who were married in 1888 at Chorlton, Lancashire. His father was employed in various capacities at the Rossall School during the years 1873–1909. Charles Kay Ogden was educated at Buxton and Rossall, won a scholarship to

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, and commenced his undergraduate study of Classics in 1908. He visited continental Europe to investigate methods of

language teaching Language education – the process and practice of teaching a second or foreign language – is primarily a branch of applied linguistics, but can be an interdisciplinary field. There are four main learning categories for language education: ...

in 1912 and 1913. Ogden obtained a M.A. in 1915.

Career

The Heretics Society

In 1909, while still an undergraduate, Ogden co-founded the Heretics Society in Cambridge which questioned traditional authorities in general and religious dogmas in particular, in the wake of the paper ''Prove All Things'', read by William Chawner, Master of Emmanuel College, a past Vice-Chancellor. The Heretics began as a group of 12 undergraduates interested in Chawner's agnostic approach. The Society was nonconformist and open to women, and Jane Harrison found an audience there, publishing her inaugural talk for the Society of 7 December 1909 as the essay ''Heresy and Humanity'' (1911), an argument that warned of the dangers of group-think and implored the audience to realize that we are constantly negotiating the line between egotism and herd instinct, but that how we navigate that line matters. Investigating the origins of the word 'heresy,' her lecture, later published in ''Alpha and Omega'' (1915), challenged many of the religious restrictions and rules of the Anglican Church and its connections with the university. The talk of the following day was from J. M. E. McTaggart, and was also published, as ''Dare to Be Wise'' (1910). Another early member with anthropological interests was John Layard; Herbert Felix Jolowicz (1890–1954), Frank Plumpton Ramsey and Philip Sargant Florence were among the members. Alix Sargant Florence, sister of Philip, was active both as a Heretic and on the editorial board of the ''Cambridge Magazine''. Ogden was President of the Heretics from 1911, for more than a decade; he invited a variety of prominent speakers and linked the Society to his role as editor. In November 1911

G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...

used a well-publicised talk to the Heretics, titled ''The Future of Religion'', to reply to George Bernard Shaw, who in May had talked on ''The Religion of the Future''. On this occasion Chesterton produced one of his well known ''bons mots'': :Questioner: ... I say it is perfectly true that I have an intuition that I exist. :Mr. Chesterton: Cherish it. In 1912 T. E. Hulme and Bertrand Russell spoke. Hulme's talk on ''Anti-Romanticism and Original Sin'' was written up by Ogden for the ''Cambridge Magazine'', where in 1916 both Hulme and Russell would write on the war, from their opposite points of view.

Rupert Brooke Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915)The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. was an En ...

addressed them on contemporary theatre, and an article based on his views of Strindberg appeared in the ''Cambridge Magazine'' in October 1913. Another talk from 1913 that was published was from Edward Clodd on ''Obscurantism in Modern Science''. Ogden was very active at this period in seeing these works into print. On 4 February 1923, the biologist J.B.S. Haldane lectured the Society on "

Daedalus; or, Science and the Future ''Daedalus; or, Science and the Future'' is a book by the British scientist J. B. S. Haldane, published in England in 1924. It was the text of a lecture read to the Heretics Society (an intellectual club at the University of Cambridge) on 4 Febru ...

", a speculative vision that enjoy some success in print and spurred in 1924 a less optimistic response from Bertrand Russell entitled "Icarus or the Future of Science". The Heretics continued as a well-known forum, with Virginia Woolf on 18 May 1924 using it to formulate a reply to criticisms from Arnold Bennett arising from her ''

Jacob's Room ''Jacob's Room'' is the third novel by Virginia Woolf, first published on 26 October 1922. The novel centres, in a very ambiguous way, around the life story of the protagonist Jacob Flanders and is presented almost entirely through the impress ...

'' (1922), in a talk ''Character in Fiction'' that was then published in ''

The Criterion ''The Criterion'' was a British literary magazine published from October 1922 to January 1939. ''The Criterion'' (or the ''Criterion'') was, for most of its run, a quarterly journal, although for a period in 1927–28 it was published monthly. It ...

''. This paper contains the assertion, now proverbial, that "on or about December 1910 human character changed." The Heretics met in November 1929, when Ludwig Wittgenstein lectured to it on ethics, at Ogden's invitation, producing in ''A Lecture on Ethics'' a work accepted as part of the early Wittgenstein canon.

''Cambridge Magazine''

In 1912 Ogden founded the weekly ''Cambridge Magazine'', which he edited until it ceased publication in 1922. The initial period was troubled. Ogden was studying for Part II of the Classical Tripos when offered the chance to start the magazine by Charles Granville, who ran a small but significant London publishing house, Stephen Swift & Co. Thinking that the editorship would mean giving up first class honours, Ogden consulted Henry Jackson, who advised him not to miss the opportunity. Shortly after, Stephen Swift & Co. went bankrupt. Ogden continued to edit the magazine during World War I, when its nature changed, because

rheumatic fever Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful jo ...

as a teenager had left him unfit for military service. Ogden often used the pseudonym ''Adelyne More'' (add-a-line more) in his journalism. The magazine included literary contributions by

Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both describ ...

, John Masefield,

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

, George Bernard Shaw and Arnold Bennett. It evolved into an organ of international comment on politics and the war, supported in the background by a group of Cambridge academics including Edward Dent (who sent Sassoon's work),

Theo Bartholomew Augustus Theodore (Theo) Bartholomew (26 August 1882 – 14 March 1933) was a librarian at Cambridge University Library from 1900 until his death in 1933. He maintained friendships with a number of significant individuals, including Siegfrie ...

and Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson. A survey of the foreign press filled more than half of each issue, being the ''Notes from the foreign press'' supplied by

Dorothy Buxton Dorothy Frances Buxton ( née Jebb; 3 March 1881 – 8 April 1963) was an English humanitarian, social activist and commentator on Germany. Life Dorothy Frances Jebb was born 3 August 1881 in Ellesmere, Shropshire, the youngest of three sisters ...

which appeared there from October 1915 onwards until 1920, and its circulation rose to over 20,000. Buxton was in fact then leading a large team translating and collating articles from up to 100 foreign newspapers; for instance Italian articles were supplied in translation in numbers by Dent. This digest of European press coverage was exclusive to the ''Magazine'', and gave it disproportionate influence in political circles. For example, Robert Reid, 1st Earl Loreburn, used the ''Notes from the foreign press'' to advocate to the Marquess of Lansdowne in 1916 against bellicose claims and attitudes on the British side. During 1917 the ''Magazine'' came under heavy criticism, with its neutral use of foreign press extracts being called pacifism, particularly by the pro-war patriotic

Fight for Right Movement The Fight for Right Movement was founded in August 1915 by Francis Younghusband. Its aim was to increase support for the First World War in Great Britain and to boost morale in the armed forces. History Membership cost five shillings and members w ...

headed by Francis Younghusband. Dorothy Buxton's husband

Charles Roden Buxton Charles Roden Buxton (27 November 1875 – 16 December 1942) was an English philanthropist and radical British Liberal Party politician who later joined the Labour Party. He survived an assassination attempt during a mission to the Balkans in 1 ...

was closely associated with the Union of Democratic Control. Sir Frederick Pollock who chaired Fight for Right wrote to '' The Morning Post'' in February 1917 charging the ''Magazine'' with pacifist propaganda, and with playing on its connection with the university as if it had official status. Gilbert Murray, a supporter of Fight for Right but also a defender of many conscientious objectors and the

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic News media, media, especially publication, published materials, should be conside ...

, intervened to protest, gaining support from Bennett and Hardy.

John George Butcher John George Butcher, 1st Baron Danesfort, KC (15 November 1853 – 30 June 1935), known as Sir John Butcher, Bt, between 1918 and 1924, was a British barrister and Conservative Party politician. Background and education Butcher was the second ...

, Conservative Member of Parliament for the City of York, asked a question in Parliament about government advertising in the ''Magazine'', during November 1917. The parliamentary exchange had two Liberal Party politicians,

William Pringle William Pringle may refer to: * William Pringle (cricketer) (1881-1966), South African cricketer * William Pringle (Liberal MP) (1874–1928), British Liberal Party politician, Member of Parliament for Penistone 1922–1924 * William Hende ...

and Josiah Wedgwood, pointing out that the ''Magazine'' was the only way they could read German press comments. The ''Cambridge Magazine'' continued in the post-war years, but wound down to quarterly publication before closing in 1922. When

Claude McKay Festus Claudius "Claude" McKay OJ (September 15, 1890See Wayne F. Cooper, ''Claude McKay, Rebel Sojourner In The Harlem Renaissance (New York, Schocken, 1987) p. 377 n. 19. As Cooper's authoritative biography explains, McKay's family predated ...

arrived in London in 1919 he had a letter of introduction to Ogden from Walter Fuller. He contacted Ogden in March 1920 and Ogden published his poetry in the ''Magazine''.

Author, bookseller and editor

Ogden published four books during WWI. One was ''The Problem of the Continuation School'' (1914), with Robert Hall Best (1843–1925) of the Best & Lloyd lighting company of Handsworth, and concerned industrial training. He also translated a related work by

Georg Kerschensteiner Georg Michael Anton Kerschensteiner (July 29, 1854 in München – January 15, 1932 in München) was a German professor and educational theorist. He was director of public schools in Munich from 1895 to 1919 and became a professor at the U ...

(1854–1932) who had introduced him to Best, which appeared as ''The Schools and the Nation'' (1914). ''Militarism versus Feminism'' (1915, anonymous) was co-written with Mary Sargant Florence mother of Alix. ''Uncontrolled Breeding, or, Fecundity versus Civilization'' (1916) was a tract in favour of

birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

, published under his pseudonym Adelyne More. Ogden ran two bookshops in Cambridge as well as a gallery where he sold works of art by members of the

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group—or Bloomsbury Set—was a group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strac ...

. One of his bookshops was looted on the day the First World War ended. Ogden built up a position as editor for Kegan Paul, publishers in London. In 1920, he was one of the founders of the psychological journal ''Psyche'', and later took over the editorship; ''Psyche'' was initially the ''Psychic Research Quarterly'' set up by

Walter Whately Smith Walter Whately Carington (1892 – March 2, 1947) was a British parapsychologist. His name, originally Walter Whately Smith, was changed in 1933.The International Library of Psychology, Philosophy and Scientific Method"; the latter series included about 100 volumes after one decade. From its launch in 1924, he edited the "

To-day and To-morrow ''To-day and To-morrow'' (sometimes written ''Today and Tomorrow'') was a series of over 150 speculative essays published as short books by the London publishers Kegan Paul between 1923 and 1931 (and published in the United States by E. P. Dutton, ...

" series, another extensive series running to about 150 volumes, of popular books in essay form with provocative titles. The first of the series after an intervention by Fredric Warburg was ''

'' by J. B. S. Haldane, an extended version of a talk to the Heretics Society. Other series were "Science for You" and "Psyche Miniatures".

Language and philosophy

Ogden helped with the English translation of Wittgenstein's '' Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus''. The translation itself was the work of

F. P. Ramsey Frank Plumpton Ramsey (; 22 February 1903 – 19 January 1930) was a British philosopher, mathematician, and economist who made major contributions to all three fields before his death at the age of 26. He was a close friend of Ludwig Wittgenst ...

; Ogden as a commissioning editor assigned the task of translation to Ramsey, supposedly on earlier experience of Ramsey's insight into another German text, of

Ernst Mach Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach ( , ; 18 February 1838 – 19 February 1916) was a Moravian-born Austrian physicist and philosopher, who contributed to the physics of shock waves. The ratio of one's speed to that of sound is named the Mach ...

. Ogden adopted the Latinate title now given to the work in English, with its nod to

Baruch Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, b ...

's '' Tractatus Theologico-Politicus'', which is attributed to G. E. Moore. Ogden's most durable work is his monograph (with

I. A. Richards Ivor Armstrong Richards CH (26 February 1893 – 7 September 1979), known as I. A. Richards, was an English educator, literary critic, poet, and rhetorician. His work contributed to the foundations of the New Criticism, a formalist movement ...

) titled '' The Meaning of Meaning'' (1923), which went into many editions. This book straddled the boundaries among linguistics, literary analysis, and philosophy. It drew attention to the

significs Significs ( nl, significa) is a linguistic and philosophical term introduced by Victoria, Lady Welby in the 1890s. It was later adopted by the Dutch Significs Group (or movement) of thinkers around Frederik van Eeden, which included L. E. J. Brouwe ...

Victoria Lady Welby Victoria, Lady Welby (27 April 1837 – 29 March 1912), more correctly Lady Welby-Gregory, was a self-educated British philosopher of language, musician and watercolourist. Life Welby was born to the Hon. Charles Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie an ...

of whom Ogden was a disciple and the semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce. A major step in the "linguistic turn" of 20th century British philosophy, ''The Meaning of Meaning'' set out principles for understanding the function of language and described the so-called

semantic triangle The triangle of reference (also known as the triangle of meaning and the semiotic triangle) is a model of how linguistic symbols relate to the objects they represent. The triangle was published in ''The Meaning of Meaning'' (1923) by Charles Ka ...

. It included the inimitable phrase "The gostak distims the doshes."

Advocacy for Basic English

From 1925 until his death in 1957, the advocacy of Basic English became Ogden's primary activity. Basic English is an auxiliary international language of 850 words comprising a system that covers everything necessary for day-to-day purposes. These 850 words, together with its five combinatory rules, were designed to do the work of some 20,000 English words, which appealed to many of the leading communications philosophers and theorists of the time, including Otto Neurath and

Willard C. Brinton Willard Cope Brinton (December 22, 1880 – November 29, 1957''Mechanical Engineering,'' Vol. 80, 1958. p. 158) was an American consulting engineer, president of Brinton Associates, and information visualisation pioneer, particularly known for publi ...

. To promote Basic English, Ogden in 1927 founded the Orthological Institute, from ''orthology'', the abstract term he proposed for its work (see orthoepeia). Its headquarters were on King's Parade in Cambridge. From 1928 to 1930 Ogden set out his developing ideas on Basic English and Jeremy Bentham in ''Psyche''. In 1929 the Orthological Institute published a recording by James Joyce of a passage from a draft of '' Finnegans Wake''. In summer of that year ''Tales Told of Shem and Shaun'' had been published, an extract from the work as it then stood, and Ogden had been asked to supply an introduction. When Joyce was in London in August, Ogden approached him to do a reading for a recording. In 1932 Ogden published a translation of the ''Finnegans Wake'' passage into Basic English. By 1943 the Institute had moved to Gordon Square in London. Ogden was also a consultant with the International Auxiliary Language Association, which presented Interlingua in 1951. He furthermore was the editor for

Kenneth Searight Kenneth Searight (born Arthur Kenneth Searight) (15 November 1883–28 February 1957) was the creator of the international auxiliary language Sona. His book ''Sona; an auxiliary neutral language'' outlines the language's grammar and vocabulary. ...

's book

Sona (constructed language) Sona is an international auxiliary language created by Kenneth Searight and described in a book he published in 1935. The word in the language itself means "auxiliary neutral thing". Contrary to popular belief, the similarity to the English wo ...

Personal life

Ogden collected a large number of books. His ''

incunabula In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...

'', manuscripts, papers of the Brougham family, and Jeremy Bentham collection were purchased by University College London. The balance of his enormous personal library was purchased after his death by the University of California - Los Angeles. Ogden died on 20 March 1957 in London.

Legacy

Although neither a trained philosopher nor an academic, Ogden had a material effect on British academic philosophy. ''The Meaning of Meaning'' enunciated a theory of emotivism. Ogden went on to edit as ''Bentham's Theory of Fictions'' (1932) a work of Jeremy Bentham, and had already translated in 1911 as ''The Philosophy of ‘As If’'' a work of Hans Vaihinger, both of which are regarded as precursors of the modern theory of fictionalism. In 1973 Georg Henrik von Wright edited Wittgenstein's ''Letters to C.K. Ogden with Comments on the English Translation of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'', including correspondence with Ramsey.Nils-Eric Sahlin, ''The Philosophy of F. P. Ramsey'' (1990), p. 227.

References

External links

* * * *
Ogden papers collected by his lawyer, Mark Haymon

*
Ogden Library
at University College London
Ogden Manuscript Collection
at University College London {{DEFAULTSORT:Ogden, Charles Kay 1889 births 1957 deaths 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English non-fiction writers 20th-century English philosophers 20th-century essayists 20th-century linguists 20th-century translators Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Analytic philosophers British activists British cultural critics British ethicists British semioticians British social commentators Constructed language creators English activists English logicians English male non-fiction writers English non-fiction writers English social commentators Epistemologists History of linguistics Interlinguistics Linguists from England Metaphysicians Moral philosophers Ontologists People associated with University College London People educated at Rossall School People from Fleetwood Philosophers of art Philosophers of culture Philosophers of education Philosophers of ethics and morality Philosophers of language Philosophers of literature Philosophers of logic Philosophers of mind Philosophers of psychology Philosophers of social science Philosophy writers Political philosophers Pragmatists Social critics Social philosophers Writers about activism and social change