Sir Geoffrey James Warnock (16 August 19238 October 1995)
was an English
philosopher
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
and Vice-Chancellor of
Oxford University
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
.
Before his
knighthood
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
(in the 1986
New Year Honours
The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...
), he was commonly known as G. J. Warnock.
Life
Warnock was born at Neville House,
Chapel Allerton
Chapel Allerton is an inner suburb of north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, from the city centre.
It sits within the Chapel Allerton ward of Leeds City Council and had a population of 18,206 and 23,536 at the 2001 and 2011 census respe ...
,
Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
, West
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
, to James Warnock (1880–1953),
OBE, a
general practitioner
A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice.
GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...
from
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
who had been a Captain in the
Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace.
On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...
, and Kathleen (née Hall; 1890–1979). The Warnocks later lived at
Grade II-listed Pull Croft,
Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire (historically
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
).
Warnock was educated at
Winchester College
Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...
.
He then served with the
Irish Guards
The Irish Guards (IG) is one of the Foot guards#United Kingdom, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army and is part of the Guards Division. Together with the Royal Irish Regiment (1992), Royal Irish Regiment, it is one of the two Irish infant ...
until 1945, before entering
New College, Oxford
New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...
, with a deferred
classics
Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
scholarship. At New College, he read for a degree in
PPE, graduating with a first in 1948.
His tutors during his studies included
Isaiah Berlin
Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...
and
H. L. A. Hart
Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart (; 18 July 190719 December 1992) was a British legal philosopher. One of the most influential legal theorists of the 20th century, he was instrumental in the development of the theory of legal positivism, which wa ...
.
He was elected to a Fellowship at
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...
, in 1949. After spending three years at
Brasenose College
Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...
, he returned to Magdalen as a
Fellow
A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
and tutor in philosophy. In 1970, he was elected to
Principal of
Hertford College, Oxford
Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main ga ...
(1971–1988), where there is now a society and student house named after him. He was also the
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford
The vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford is the chief executive and leader of the University of Oxford. The following people have been vice-chancellors of the University of Oxford (formally known as The Right Worshipful the Vice-Chancel ...
from 1981 to 1985.
Warnock, with co-editor
J. O. Urmson, prepared for posthumous 1961 publication the ''Philosophical Papers'' of their friend, and fellow Oxford
linguistic
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
philosopher
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
,
J. L. Austin
John Langshaw Austin (26 March 1911 – 8 February 1960) was an English philosopher of language and leading proponent of ordinary language philosophy, best known for developing the theory of speech acts.
Austin pointed out that we use lan ...
. Warnock also reconstructed Austin's ''
Sense and Sensibilia'' (1962) from manuscript notes.
Warnock married
Mary Wilson, a fellow philosopher of
St Hugh's College, Oxford
St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...
, and later Baroness Warnock, in 1949. They had two sons and three daughters. He retired to live near
Marlborough, Wiltshire
Marlborough ( , ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the England, English Counties of England, county of Wiltshire on the A4 road (England), Old Bath Road, the old main road from London to Bath, Somerset, Bath. Th ...
, in 1988 and died of degenerative lung disease in 1995
at
Axford in Wiltshire.
Works
Books
*''
Berkeley'',
Penguin Books
Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English 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 ...
, 1953.
*''
English Philosophy Since 1900'', 1st edition,
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 1958; 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 1969.
*''Contemporary Moral Philosophy (New studies in ethics)'',
Palgrave Macmillan
Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains offi ...
, 1967. .
*''The Object of Morality'',
Methuen, 1971. .
*''
Morality and Language,''
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States.
Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...
. 1983
*''J. L. Austin (The Arguments of the Philosophers)'',
Routledge
Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...
, 1989.
Papers
*
Analysis and Imagination' in A.J. Ayer et al., ''The Revolution in Philosophy''. London: Macmillan, 1956.
"The Primacy of Practical Reason" ''Proceedings of the British Academy 52, 1966'' (1967).
*
Gilbert Ryle's Editorship' (1976) in ''Mind'', Vol. 85, No. 337 (Jan., 1976), pp. 47-56.
Reviews
*
Reason and Analysis by Brand Blanshard' (1963) in ''The Philosophical Quarterly'', Vol. 13, No. 53 (Oct., 1963), pp. 373-375.
*
What Philosophy Is: a guide to the elements by Arthur C. Danto' (1970) in ''Metaphilosophy'', Vol. 1, No. 2 (April 1970), pp. 166-168.
*
Philosophical Problems by Leonard Goddard' (1979) in ''The Philosophical Quarterly'', Vol. 29, No. 114 (Jan., 1979), pp. 83-84.
For a more complete list of Warnock's works see his
PhilPapers
PhilPapers is an interactive academic database of journal articles in philosophy. It is maintained by the Centre for Digital Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, and it has "394,867 registered users, including the majority of profes ...
br>
entry
References
External links
* – Discussion with
Bryan Magee
Bryan Edgar Magee (; 12 April 1930 – 26 July 2019) was a British philosopher, broadcaster, politician and author, best known for bringing philosophy to a popular audience.
Early life
Born of working-class parents in Hoxton, London, in 1930, ...
*
Behaviour control: freedom and morality' (video) Warnock in discussion with
B. F Skinner and host Godfrey Vesey (
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...
, 1972)
Photograph of Geoffrey and Mary Warnock by Steve Pyke
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warnock, Geoffrey
1923 births
1995 deaths
Military personnel from Leeds
20th-century English historians
Alumni of New College, Oxford
Analytic philosophers
Fellows of Brasenose College, Oxford
Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford
George Berkeley scholars
Knights Bachelor
People educated at Winchester College
People from Chapel Allerton
British philosophers of education
Philosophers of history
Principals of Hertford College, Oxford
Spouses of life peers
Vice-chancellors of the University of Oxford
20th-century English philosophers
British Army personnel of World War II
Irish Guards soldiers