Dawes Hicks

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Dawes Hicks
G. Dawes Hicks (from a group photograph taken in Cambridge in 1915
Born14 September 1862
Shrewsbury
Died16 February 1941
Occupation(s)Philosopher, writer

George Dawes Hicks

professor emeritus
thereafter until his death.

Biography

Hicks, eldest son of solicitor Christopher Hicks, was born in

Cook Wilson.[1]

Elected a

University of Leipzig 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.[2][1]

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

Manchester University and was appointed to the Chair of Moral Philosophy at University College, London (UCL).[2] 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 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".[4] (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.[4]
)

During his time at UCL, Hicks continued to live, at least partly, in Cambridge

Dr. Williams's Library.[2]
)

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". Hick's 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

Hibbert Journal 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.[6]

Philosophical theism

Hicks was a Christian theist in his personal life but authored The Philosophical Bases Of Theism, a work on philosophical theism based on his Hibbert Lectures from 1931.[7][8] The book utilized cosmological, moral and teleological arguments for the existence of God. Hicks rejected any form of mysticism and disputed the evidence of religious belief from mystical experiences.[5][9] 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".[8]

Select bibliography

Major philosophical works

Journal articles/book chapters

Further scholarly works

References

  1. ^ a b c d Anonymous (18 February 1941). "DR. G. D. HICKS". The Times.
  2. ^
    JSTOR 2250986
    .
  3. ^
    OCLC 676714142. Archived from the original
    on 12 March 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b Jonathan, Wolff (2006). "Philosophy at University College London: Part 1: From Jeremy Bentham to the Second World War". sas-space.sas.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  5. ^
    doi:10.1038/147381a0
    .
  6. ISSN 1469-817X
    .
  7. S2CID 4135601
    .
  8. ^ a b Burgh, W. G. de (1938). "Reviewed Work: The Philosophical Bases of Theism by G. Dawes Hicks". Mind. 47 (185): 80–86 – via JSTOR.
  9. OCLC 1100433484
    .

External links
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