George Dawes Hicks
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George Dawes Hicks FBA (14 September 1862 – 16 February 1941) was a British philosopher who was the first professor of moral philosophy at
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
from 1904 until 1928 and
professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...
thereafter until his death.


Biography

Hicks, eldest son of solicitor Christopher Hicks, was born in
Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...
on 14 September 1862 and educated at the
Royal Grammar School, Guildford The Royal Grammar School, Guildford (originally 'The Free School'), also known as the RGS, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private selective day school for boys in Guildford, Surrey in England. The school dates its founding to the de ...
. He initially went on to study law within his father's legal practice. Hicks won a scholarship and went, in 1884, to Owens College Manchester to study philosophy (and gain some knowledge of the natural sciences). He did so under Robert Adamson "whose philosophical scholarship and acuteness exercised the most radical and lasting effect upon his. pupil's life and teaching". Hicks graduated in 1888 with first class honours. Hicks then went to
Manchester College, Oxford Harris Manchester College (HMC) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It was founded in Warrington in 1757 as a college for Unitarian students and moved to Oxford in 1893. It became a full college of the un ...
, and followed the lectures of Wallace, Nettleship and Cook Wilson. Elected a Hibbert Scholar 1891–96, Hicks did further research at the
University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...
under Wundt, Heinze, and Volelt and assisted Meumann in his experimental investigations on apprehension of time. Hicks also advanced his earlier studies in physiology but concentrated his greater efforts on a detailed textual study of Kant (and mastering the relevant literature). He gained his PhD at Leipzig in 1896 with a '' thesis on Kant'' which was to be published the following year. On his return from Germany in 1897 Hicks became minister of Unity Church in Islington until 1903, and lectured for the London School of Ethics and Sociology. In 1904 he was made Litt.D. by
Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...
and was appointed to the Chair of Moral Philosophy at University College London (UCL). Hicks was the first person to fill the position which had lain vacant since UCL first advertised for two Chairs in philosophy in 1827.
Carveth Read Carveth Read (1848–1931) was a 19th- and 20th-century British philosopher and logician. Life He was born 16 March 1848 in Falmouth, Cornwall, England. He was the third son of Edward Read and Elizabeth Truscott. He attended the University o ...
then the Grote Professor of Mind and Logic, as Jonathan Wolff reports, persuaded the College to make such an appointment and thus fulfill "for the first time the original conception of the Department". (Wollf notes that Hicks is sometimes referred to as a Grote Professor, but that he was never given the title and, indeed may not have been entitled to hold it, due to his involvement in religious ministry.) During his time at UCL, Hicks continued to live, at least partly, in Cambridge where he regularly lectured at the
university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
, under the auspices of the Faculty of Moral Science, on Psychology and on the Philosophy of Kant (and examined in the Moral Sciences Tripos on the former). He also "as a labour of love" gave annual lectures at Carmarthen College (a training college for teachers at religious schools) which were to be published in 1928 under the title "Ways towards the Spiritual Life". (Hicks was also for thirty years a trustee of
Dr. Williams's Library Dr Williams's Library was a small English research library located in Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, London, the contents have now been relocated to Manchester. Historically, it has had a strong Unitarian focus. The library has also been known as ...
.) S.V. Keeling (whose early studies at UCL were directed under Hick's advisement and who would later return there as an MA student and then as a lecturer during his tenure) describes Hicks as being, as a teacher "a man of single-mind, wholly engrossed in philosophy". Keeling reports that Hicks believed that philosophy "as no other subject, could impart to … students an influence and a training such as would render them habitually reflective about their existence and destiny". Hicks "ever saw clearly that the spiritual value of philosophical studies far outweighed their academic importance" but denied "that philosophy could legitimately serve as a substitute for religion or for religious faith". Hicks' significant efforts and influence as a teacher at UCL are testified to by Keeling, de Burgh and Stebbing alike and reported on by Wolff. Having already been secretary 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 Squar ...
for many years, Hicks was made its president in 1913 and was elected a fellow of the
British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies 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 sa ...
in 1927. He retired from UCL the following year and thereafter lived entirely in Cambridge but continued his long serving work as a sub-editor of the ''
Hibbert Journal ''The Hibbert Journal'' was a large, quarterly magazine in softback book format, issued since 1902 by the Hibbert Trust, best described by its subtitle: ''A Quarterly Review of Religion, Theology and Philosophy''. In the early years it was publish ...
'' to his sick bed and, as Stebbing reports, "was writing his famous 'Philosophical Survey' for that ''Journal'' when death came, rather suddenly at the end" on 16 January 1941, aged 78.


Philosophical theism

Hicks was a Christian theist in his personal life but authored ''The Philosophical Bases Of Theism'', a work on
philosophical theism Philosophical theism is the belief that the God, Supreme Being exists (or must exist) independent of the teaching or revelation of any particular religion. It represents belief in God entirely Freethought, without doctrine, except for that whi ...
based on his Hibbert Lectures from 1931. The book utilized cosmological, moral and teleological arguments for the existence of God. Hicks rejected any form of
mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...
and disputed the evidence of religious belief from mystical experiences. The book argued for theism but was not concerned with Christianity or any other specific revelation. It has been described as Hicks' "most able and impressive work".


Collections

Hicks donated his archive to University College London in 1941. The collection includes texts of his lectures given at UCL and Owens College Manchester, and notes on a campaign to establish a teaching university within the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
.


Works


Major philosophical works

*
Ways Towards the Spiritual Life
' (1928) * ''
Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...
'' Ernest Benn Ltd., London, (1932) * ''The Philosophical Bases Of Theism''
Hibbert Lectures The Hibbert Lectures are an annual series of non-sectarian lectures on theological issues. They are sponsored by the Hibbert Trust, which was founded in 1847 by the Unitarian Robert Hibbert with a goal to uphold "the unfettered exercise of privat ...
(1937) * '' Critical Realism'' (1938)


Select journal articles/book chapters

* "Sense-Presentation and Thought"'','' ''
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 Squar ...
'' New Series, Vol. 6 (1905–1906), pp. 271–346, reprinted in
The Emergence of Analytic Philosophy and a Controversy at the Aristotelian Society, 1900 - 1916: Virtual Issue No. 2
' (2014) * "The Nature and Development of Attention" ''
British Journal of Psychology The ''British Journal of Psychology'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed psychology journal. It was established in 1904 and is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the British Psychological Society. The editor-in-chief is Stefan R. Schweinberger ...
'', Volume V, Part 1, 1913 *"Appearances and Real Existence" ''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society,'' New Series, Volume XIV (1913–1914), pp. 1–48 reprinted in
The Emergence of Analytic Philosophy and a Controversy at the Aristotelian Society, 1900 - 1916: Virtual Issue No. 2
' (2014)
"The Nature of Willing"
''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society'' New Series, Vol. 13 (1912–1913), pp. 27–65
"The Nature of Sense-Data"
''Mind'' Vol. 21, No. 83 (Jul. 1912), pp. 399–409. [see also
"The Nature of Sense-Data.-A Reply to Dr. Dawes Hicks"
by Bertrand Russell, ''Mind'', Vol. 22, No. 85 (Jan. 1913), pp. 76–78] * iarchive:dli.ministry.11492/page/107/mode/1up, "From Idealism to Realism" in ''iarchive:dli.ministry.11492, Contemporary British philosophy'' (1925)


Further scholarly works

* iarchive:in.ernet.dli.2015.218861/page/n15/mode/1up, "Foreword" in '' Kant's Conception Of God'' by F. E. England (1929)
"A Century of Philosophy at University College, London"
(1928) '' Journal of Philosophical Studies'', Vol. 3, No. 12 (Oct. 1928), pp. 468–482


References


External links


Dawes Hicks Papers
at
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

"Hicks, George Dawes (1862–1941)"
(2004) Alan Dorward, revised by C. A. Creffield, ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
''. (Archived by
Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...
) * W. G. de Burgh
‘George Dawes Hicks’
''Proceedings of the British Academy'', 27 (1941), 405–31 * Alan R. Ruston, Ch. 4: "The HIbbert Journal",
The Hibbert Trust: A History
' (1984) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hicks, Dawes George 1862 births 1941 deaths 20th-century British philosophers Academics of University College London Analytic philosophers English Unitarians Fellows of the British Academy British metaphysicians Writers from Shrewsbury Presidents of the Aristotelian Society People educated at Royal Grammar School, Guildford Philosophical theists