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History of Analytic Philosophy History of Analytic Philosophy Series Editor Michael Beaney Humboldt University Berlin King’s College London Berlin, Germany Series editor: Michael Beaney, Professor für Geschichte der analytischen Philosophie, Institut für Philosophie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, and Regius Professor of Logic, School of Divinity, History and Philosophy, University of Aberdeen, Scotland. Editorial board members: Claudio de Almeida, Pontifcal Catholic University at Porto Alegre, Brazil Maria Baghramian, University College Dublin, Ireland Thomas Baldwin, University of York, England Stewart Candlish, University of Western Australia Chen Bo, Peking University, China Jonathan Dancy, University of Reading, England José Ferreirós, University of Seville, Spain Michael Friedman, Stanford University, USA Gottfried Gabriel, University of Jena, Germany Juliet Floyd, Boston University, USA Hanjo Glock, University of Zurich, Switzerland Nicholas Griffn, McMaster University, Canada Leila Haaparanta, University of Tampere, Finland Peter Hylton, University of Illinois, USA Jiang Yi, Beijing Normal University, China Javier Legris, National Academy of Sciences of Buenos Aires, Argentina Cheryl Misak, University of Toronto, Canada Nenad Miscevic, University of Maribor, Slovenia, and Central European University, Budapest Volker Peckhaus, University of Paderborn, Germany Eva Picardi, University of Bologna, Italy Erich Reck, University of California at Riverside, USA Peter Simons, Trinity College, Dublin Thomas Uebel, University of Manchester, England More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14867 A. R. J. Fisher Editor Marking the Centenary of Samuel Alexander’s Space, Time and Deity Editor A. R. J. Fisher Department of Philosophy University of Washington Seattle, WA, USA ISSN 2634-5994 ISSN 2634-6001 (electronic) History of Analytic Philosophy ISBN 978-3-030-65120-6 ISBN 978-3-030-65121-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65121-3 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifcally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microflms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifc statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affliations. Cover illustration: © F.W. Schmidt, ‘Samuel Alexander’, 1924 This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland SERIEs EDITOR’s FOREWORD During the frst half of the twentieth century analytic philosophy gradually established itself as the dominant tradition in the English-speaking world, and over the last few decades it has taken frm root in many other parts of the world. There has been increasing debate over just what ‘analytic phi- losophy’ means, as the movement has ramifed into the complex tradition that we know today, but the infuence of the concerns, ideas and methods of early analytic philosophy on contemporary thought is indisputable. All this has led to greater self-consciousness among analytic philosophers about the nature and origins of their tradition, and scholarly interest in its historical development and philosophical foundations has blossomed in recent years, with the result that history of analytic philosophy is now rec- ognized as a major feld of philosophy in its own right. The main aim of the series in which the present book appears, the frst series of its kind, is to create a venue for work on the history of analytic philosophy, consolidating the area as a major feld of philosophy and promoting further research and debate. The ‘history of analytic philoso- phy’ is understood broadly, as covering the period from the last three decades of the nineteenth century to the start of the twenty-frst century, beginning with the work of Frege, Russell, Moore and Wittgenstein, who are generally regarded as its main founders, and the infuences upon them, and going right up to the most recent developments. In allowing the ‘history’ to extend to the present, the aim is to encourage engage- ment with contemporary debates in philosophy, for example, in showing how the concerns of early analytic philosophy relate to current concerns. v vi SERIES EDITOR’S FOREWORD In focusing on analytic philosophy, the aim is not to exclude compari- sons with other—earlier or contemporary—traditions, or consideration of fgures or themes that some might regard as marginal to the analytic tradition but which also throw light on analytic philosophy. Indeed, a further aim of the series is to deepen our understanding of the broader context in which analytic philosophy developed, by looking, for example, at the roots of analytic philosophy in neo-Kantianism or British idealism, or the connections between analytic philosophy and phenomenology, or discussing the work of philosophers who were important in the develop- ment of analytic philosophy but who are now often forgotten. Samuel Alexander (1859–1938) is one of those philosophers who has indeed been unduly neglected in the history of analytic philosophy but whose work was not only important, historically, but is also receiving a renaissance of attention from analytic metaphysicians today. The present volume, edited by Anthony Fisher, will do much to restore Alexander’s reputation. As Fisher notes in his introduction, Alexander was seen by some as the leading philosopher in Britain after the death of F. H. Bradley (1846–1924). Like Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) and G. E. Moore (1873–1958), his younger contemporaries, he also rebelled against British idealism and developed a form of realism that might justly be described as ‘analytic’. The method of metaphysics, he wrote, is ‘analytical’ in that it ‘dissects’ experience, taken as given, into its constituent parts and rela- tions. In stressing that the initial description of our experience be given in non-technical language, there is also a connection with Moore’s ‘ordinary language philosophy’. Where he departs from both Moore and Russell, however, is in his development of a comprehensive metaphysical system governed by the idea of inference to the best explanation. With the rise of logical positivism and the infuence of Wittgenstein in the 1930s, however, British philosophy took an anti-metaphysical turn, which was only deep- ened by the linguistic philosophy that became dominant in the frst two decades after the Second World War. As a result, both Alexander’s work and his style of philosophizing fell out of fashion. It was only when ana- lytic metaphysics re-established itself that the climate became conducive for a re-assessment of Alexander’s philosophy. Even then it took longer than one might have expected, partly due (in my view) to the ahistoricism of much analytic metaphysics, with consequent neglect of its own predecessors. SERIES EDITOR’S FOREWORD vii In marking the centenary of the publication of Alexander’s most important work, Space, Time, and Deity (1920), then, this edited collec- tion not only places Alexander back in the historical picture but also makes a major contribution to the history of analytic metaphysics. The meta- physical theory of space and time that Alexander developed in this work was indeed offered as an explanation of the empirical facts. This collection contains three of Alexander’s papers that shed light on his magnum opus, two given as lectures before its publication and one written afterwards, none of which has been published before. There then follow two bio- graphical chapters by two distinguished philosophers who were infuenced by Alexander, Dorothy Emmett and Donald C. Williams. The remaining six chapters explore different aspects of Alexander’s philosophy and its connection to the work of others, from his realism to his infuence on John Anderson (1893–1962). The collection is not only a ftting tribute to Space, Time, and Deity but also illustrates very well that combination of systematic philosophizing and history of philosophy that characterizes the best work in history of analytic philosophy. Aberdeen, Scotland Michael Beaney December 2020 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTs Thanks to Jonathan Farrell for transcribing ‘Taking Time Seriously’, ‘The Reality of the Past’ and ‘Samuel Alexander and the Analytical Introverts’; thanks to Emily Thomas for providing fnancial support for this transcrip- tion work. I thank Michael Rush on numerous occasions for helping to decipher Alexander’s impenetrable handwriting. Thanks
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