Frederick Ronald Hastings Englefield (1891–1975) was an English poet and philosopher. His major work, ''Language and Thought'', remains unpublished, though excerpts have appeared in various books and journals. He was critical of the use of words in situations where the words have no clear referent, especially in religion and philosophy, but also in literary criticism. His theory that language evolved naturally from gestures has not met with wide acceptance, but his criticism of religion and philosophy, published posthumously, was well received and is still in print.

Biography

The child of a London solicitor, Englefield attended

Mill Hill School Mill Hill School is a 13–18 mixed independent, day and boarding school in Mill Hill, London, England that was established in 1807. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. History A committee of Nonconformist ...

in North London. He was a scholarship student at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he studied modern languages. In

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he served in France and in Salonika, and was mentioned by Winston Churchill for "gallant and distinguished services in the field". After the war, he supported himself by teaching French and German in public schools, and wrote poetry and philosophy. In his lifetime, his only publications were a book of poems, ''Songs of Defiance'' and, in the last years of his life, two articles, excerpts from the rejected ''Language and Thought'', in the journal ''Trivium'', University of Wales Press.Ronald Englefield, ''Critique of Pure Verbiage, Essays on Abuses of Language in Literary, Religious, and Philosophical Writings'', edited by G. A. Wells and D. R. Oppenheimer, Open Court, 1990.

Writing

While unsuccessful in his lifetime, he was remembered by his students, and a number of articles drawn from ''Language and Thought'' have been published in books and journals, notably "Kant as Defender of the Faith in Nineteenth-century England", "The Nature of Thinking", and "Uses and Abuses of Language". His book, ''Critique of Pure Verbiage'', includes a critique of

Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aest ...

's "Critique of Pure Reason".

Bibliography

* Englefield, Ronald (as by Frederick Ronald), ''Songs of Defiance'', Erskine Macdonald, London, 1917. *''Critique of Pure Verbiage, Essays on Abuses of Language in Literary, Religious, and Philosophical Writings'', edited by

G. A. Wells George Albert Wells (22 May 1926 – 23 January 2017) was an English scholar who served as Professor of German at Birkbeck, University of London. After writing books about famous European intellectuals, such as Johann Gottfried Herder and F ...

and D. R. Oppenheimer,

Open Court Publishing Company The Open Court Publishing Company is a publisher with offices in Chicago and LaSalle, Illinois. It is part of the Carus Publishing Company of Peru, Illinois. History Open Court was founded in 1887 by Edward C. Hegeler of the Matthiessen-Hegeler ...

, 1990, *''The Mind at Work and Play'', Prometheus Books, 1985,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Englefield, Ronald People educated at Mill Hill School Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge 1975 deaths 1891 births 20th-century British philosophers