This article is about the philosopher. For the musician and trumpeter, see John MacMurray

John MacMurray

John Stewart Wright MacMurray was a Canadian musician from Saint John, New Brunswick, who held the position of Principal Trumpet with the Hallé Orchestra of Great Britain from 1986 to 2006...

.

John Macmurray MC

Military Cross

The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....

 (16 February 1891 – 21 June 1976) was a Scottish philosopher. His thought moved beyond the modern tradition begun by Descartes and continued in Britain by Locke

John Locke

John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...

, Berkeley

George Berkeley

George Berkeley , also known as Bishop Berkeley , was an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism"...

 and Hume

David Hume

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...

. He made contributions in the fields of political science, religion, and philosophy of education in a long career of writing, teaching, and public speaking. After retirement he became a Quaker.

Life

John Macmurray was born on 16 February 1891 at Maxwelltown

Maxwelltown

Maxwelltown was formerly a burgh of barony and police burgh in the county of Kirkcudbrightshire in south west Scotland. In 1929 Maxwelltown was merged with Dumfries....

 in Kirkcudbrightshire

Kirkcudbrightshire

The Stewartry of Kirkcudbright or Kirkcudbrightshire was a county of south-western Scotland. It was also known as East Galloway, forming the larger Galloway region with Wigtownshire....

, Scotland into a strict Presbyterian

Presbyterianism

Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...

 family. His father was employed by the Inland Revenue Department

Inland Revenue

The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty...

 as an excise officer. In 1899 the family moved to Aberdeen

Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....

, where the young Macmurray attended Aberdeen Grammar School

Aberdeen Grammar School

Aberdeen Grammar School, known to students as The Grammar is a state secondary school in the City of Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of twelve secondary schools run by the Aberdeen City Council educational department...

 (1903 to 1905) and Robert Gordon's College

Robert Gordon's College

Robert Gordon's College is a private co-educational day school in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery-S6.-History:...

 (1905 to 1909). He graduated from the University of Glasgow

University of Glasgow

The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...

 with First-class honours in Classics

Classics

Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...

 and was awarded a Snell Exhibition to attend Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

 in 1913. His tutor at Balliol was A. D. Lindsay

When war with Germany was declared in 1914, Macmurray enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps

Royal Army Medical Corps

The Royal Army Medical Corps is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace...

. In August 1915 he was sent to France with the 58th Field Ambulance

Field Ambulance

A Field Ambulance is the name used by the British Army and the armies of other Commonwealth nations to describe a mobile medical unit that treats wounded soldiers very close to the combat zone...

 as part of the 19th (Western) Division of the British Expeditionary Force. In June 1916 he was awarded a commission as Second Lieutenant

Second Lieutenant

Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...

 in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders

Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders

The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1793. In 1961 it was merged with the Seaforth Highlanders to form the Queen's Own Highlanders...

 and was sent to the Battle of the Somme

Somme

Somme is a department of France, located in the north of the country and named after the Somme river. It is part of the Picardy region of France....

. Macmurray married Elizabeth Hyde Campbell in London during a three-day leave in October 1916. He was seriously wounded in battle near Arras

Arras

Arras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect...

 on March 28, 1918 and was awarded the Military Cross

Military Cross

The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....

 for gallantry.

While on leave recovering from a broken ankle in 1917, Macmurray was invited to give a sermon in an unidentified North London

North London

North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...

 church. He preached on the importance of preparing for post-war reconciliation with the enemy rather than exacting vengeance. The sermon was coldly received by the congregation and Macmurray saw their reaction as indicating a lack of true Christianity in the institutional churches. Because of this experience, Macmurray determined not to be a member of any church, while continuing to maintain his strong Christian convictions.

Macmurray completed his studies at Balliol after the war. He worked as a Lecturer

Lecturer

Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...

 in Philosophy at the University of Manchester

Victoria University of Manchester

The Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-1851 - 1951:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College,...

 from 1919 to 1920, followed by two years as Chair of Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand

University of the Witwatersrand

The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...

 in South Africa. In 1922 he returned to Balliol as a Fellow and Tutor

Fellow

A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...

, succeeding his former tutor A.D. Lindsay as Jowett Lecturer in Philosophy. He left Oxford to become Grote Professor of Mind and Logic

Grote Chair of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic

The Grote Chair of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic is an endowed chair at University College London.-Origin:Along with Moral Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind and Logic was one of two Philosophy chairs established at the founding of University College London...

 at University College London

University College London

University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...

, the position he held from 1928 to 1944. He then moved to the University of Edinburgh, where he held the Chair of Moral Philosophy

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...

 until his retirement in 1958.

Macmurray and his wife had no children. After his retirement they moved to the village of Jordans, Buckinghamshire, where they both joined the Society of Friends. In 1970 they returned to Edinburgh, where Macmurray died on 21 June 1976.

Philosophy

The main themes in Macmurray's philosophy are the primacy in human life of action over theory, and the essentially relational nature of human beings. These themes are the basis for his Gifford Lectures

Gifford Lectures

The Gifford Lectures were established by the will of Adam Lord Gifford . They were established to "promote and diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term — in other words, the knowledge of God." The term natural theology as used by Gifford means theology supported...

 delivered in 1952 and 1954 at the University of Glasgow, and entitled The Self as Agent and Persons in Relation respectively. The overall title given to the two lecture series was The Form of the Personal. Macmurray summed up his philosophy in the introduction to The Self as Agent: "The simplest expression that I can find for the thesis I have tried to maintain is this: All meaningful knowledge is for the sake of action, and all meaningful action for the sake of friendship".

Macmurray rejected mind-body dualism and argued that the nature of human beings is personal, rather than mechanical or organic. He argued for the importance of emotion as motivating action, and looked to infancy and early childhood for evidence of the universal desire for relationship. He distinguished between society and community, with society being for organizations to achieve particular purposes, while community is an end in itself.

In dismissing the Cogito

Cogito ergo sum

is a philosophical Latin statement proposed by . The simple meaning of the phrase is that someone wondering whether or not they exist is, in and of itself, proof that something, an "I", exists to do the thinking — However this "I" is not the more or less permanent person we call "I"...

 and its legacy of the primacy of thought over action Macmurray saw himself as breaking with the western philosophical tradition. However, he acknowledged the influence of Kant and Marx on his thinking, along with Christianity. On the other hand, he had no sympathy for, and did not engage with, the type of academic philosophy that was dominant during the latter part of his career.

Broadcasting and other work

His friendship with the educator Kenneth C. Barnes resulted in his becoming a governor of Wennington School

Wennington School

Wennington School, founded by the Quaker educationalist Kenneth C. Barnes, was a co-educational and ultimately progressive boarding school.It was originally founded in 1940 in Lunesdale, Lancashire. Early governors included Alfred Schweitzer and John Macmurray...

.

He was well known in Britain before World War II for his broadcasts on philosophy on the BBC Third Programme

BBC Third Programme

The BBC Third Programme was a national radio network broadcast by the BBC. The network first went on air on 29 September 1946 and became one of the leading cultural and intellectual forces in Britain, playing a crucial role in disseminating the arts...

, some of which were published in his first book, Freedom in the Modern World (1932).

Influence

Macmurray' s work has been largely neglected in academic philosophy. However, he has been influential in other fields, including theology and psychology. Recent years have seen the publication of the first full-length biography, as well as volumes of selections from his works and books and articles about his work. Tony Blair

Tony Blair

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

contributed the foreword to one of the anthologies, in which he described Macmurray's philosophy as "immensely modern... in the sense that he confronted what will be the critical political question of the twenty-first century: the relationship between individual and society".

Books by John Macmurray

Fulltext at The Internet Archive Fulltext at The Gifford Lectures Online http://www.giffordlectures.org/Browse.asp?PubID=TPSAGT&Volume=0&Issue=0&TOC=True Fulltext at The Gifford Lectures Online http://www.giffordlectures.org/Browse.asp?PubID=TPPIRE&Volume=0&Issue=0&TOC=True

External links

• The John Macmurray Fellowship
• Biography and Summary of Gifford Lectures by Dr Brannon Hancock