Guide to the Papers of J.J.C. Smart

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MS 7740

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Created: ©2005.

Collection Summary

Creator
Smart, J.J.C. (John Jamieson Carswell), 1920-
Title
Papers of J.J.C. Smart
Date Range
1951-1996
Collection Number
MS 7740
Extent
0.7 metres (5 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Repository
National Library of Australia

Introduction

Scope and Contents

The papers consist predominantly of correspondence between Smart and philosophers in Australia, New Zealand, Britain, North America, Europe and Asia. Most of the letters discuss philosophical questions, but some deal with practical matters, such as publications, conferences and travels. The correspondents include David Armstrong, W.V. Quine, David Lewis, Donald Davidson, John Leslie, Antony Flew, Gilbert Ryle and R.M. Hare. In addition to the letters, there is correspondence concerning Smart's association with the Fédération International des Societes de Philosophie and the Australian National University, together with a small group of his unpublished lectures and other writings.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is available for reference.

Conditions Governing Use

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred Citation

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of J.J.C. Smart, National Library of Australia, MS 7740, [file number]'.

Provenance

The first instalment of the papers was donated to the Library by Professor Smart in 1989. He added the 1986-1996 correspondence files in 1999.

Arrangement

Smart kept his correspondence in chronolgoical order and in later years he made separte files for his Australian and overseas correspondents. This arrangment has been maintained by the Library.

Smart retained copies of many of his own letters and in some files the outgoing letters exceed the incoming ones. Only the writers of letter and not the recipients have been listed.

Biographical / Historical

John Jamieson Carswell Smart was born in Cambridge, England, on 16 September 1920, the son of William and Isabel Smart. He was educated at The Leys School (Cambridge), Glasgow University and the University of Oxford. He served in the British Army, mainly in India and Burma, during World War II.

Smart was a Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, before being appointed Hughes Professor of Philosophy at the University of Adelaide in 1950. He held this position until 1972, when he moved to La Trobe University as a Reader in Philosophy. In 1976 he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. He retired in 1986, but continued to work at the Australian National University until 1999. During his career he held visiting professorships at several universities including Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Stanford.

Jack Smart is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. In 1990 he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia. In 1956 he married Janet Paine and they had two children. She died in 1967 and in the following year he married Elizabeth Warner.

Smart's publications include:

An outline of a system of utilitarian ethics, Melbourne, 1961

Philosophy and scientific realism, London, 1963

Between science and philosophy, New York, 1968

Utilitarianism: for and against, Cambridge, 1973 (with Bernard Williams)

Ethics, persuasion and truth, London, 1984

Essays metaphysical and moral, Oxford, 1987

Our place in the universe, Oxford, 1989

Atheism and theism, Oxford, 1996 (with J.J. Haldane)

Item Descriptions

Fédération International des Societes de Philosophie, 1968-1974 (File 1)

Correspondence concerning Smart's membership of the Fédération

Australian National University, 1975-1988 (File 2)

Correspondence concerning Smart's appointment as Professor of Philosophy in 1975, his research at the University, his retirement in 1985, and letters sent by Smart to ANU academics.

Correspondence, 1951-1964 (File 3)

Correspondents include Gilbert Ryle, W.V. Quine, Wilfrid Sellars, John Harsanyi, Nathan Pusey, H. Bondi, R.M.Hare, Hilary Putnam, Dorothy Moore

Correspondence, 1964-1969 (File 4)

Correspondents include C. Hartshorne, Jay Rosenberg, Nicholas Rescher, Adolf Grunbaum, R.C. Cross, David Lewis, W.V. Quine, Judith Economos, Carl Hempel, Richard Schlegel, Colin Burnett

Correspondence, 1965-1969 (File 5)

Correspondents include Gilbert Ryle, Don Locke, Antony Flew, I.J. Good, Nicholas Maxwell, John Tucker, R.M. Hare, David Lewis, Adolf Grunbaum, Judith Kahane, Martin Gardner, W.V. Quine

Correspondence, 1969-1970 (File 6)

Correspondents include David Lewis, Michael Green, A. Boyce Gibson, David Armstrong, Fred Alexander, Antony Flew

Correspondence, 1971 (File 7)

Correspondents include I.M.D. Little, Bernhard Rensch, David Lewis, Donald Davidson, W.V. Quine, Dagfinn Follesdal, Jaakko Hintikka, D.C. Dennett, John Leslie, David Armstrong, A.K. Stout, F.C. Jackson

Correspondence, 1972-1974 (File 8)

Correspondents include F.C. Jackson, J.L. Mackie, James Culbertson, David Lewis, Gilbert Ryle, M.L. Meakin, W.V. Quine, Donald Davidson. J.N. Crossley

Correspondence, 1974-1975 (File 9)

Correspondents include Bas van Fraassen, Antony Flew, W.V. Quine, Bob Kirk, David Lewis, Derek Lawden, Georg von Wright, David Cousin

Correspondence, 1975-1976 (File 10)

Correspondents include David Armstrong, Hugh Stretton, Hugh Montgomery, W.V. Quine, Donald Davidson, Francis Sparshott, Gilbert Ryle, Antony Flew

Correspondence, 1977 (File 11)

Correspondents include Robin Haack, V.A. Edgeloe, Hector Monro, Peter Singer, Frank Jackson

Correspondence, 1978 (File 12)

Correspondents include Donald Davidson, Joel Kupperman, Gilbert Harman, Harry Allen, R.G. Frey, Bernard Mayo

Correspondence, 1979 (File 13)

Correspondents include John Harsanyi, Stephen Croddy, Bill Lycan, Chris Mortensen, Hugh Mellor, Adolf Grunbaum

Correspondence, 1980 (File 14)

Correspondents include John Mackie, Hugh Mellor, Bernard Mayo, W.V. Quine, John Harsanyi

Correspondence, 1980-1981 (File 15)

Correspondents include David Armstrong, Hector Monro, Max Charlesworth, Winston Nesbitt

Correspondence, 1981 (File 16)

Correspondents include Jim Urmson, Antony Flew, Igor Primorac, Jonathan Cohen, Ian Hacking, Donald Regan, Paul Churchland, Joel Kupperman

Correspondence, 1982 (File 17)

Correspondents include Peter Smith, Antony Flew, Bernard Harrison, Lars Bergstrom, Anne Maclean, Donald Davidson, Jonathan Cohen, Joel Kupperman

Australia and New Zealand, 1982-1983 (File 18)

Correspondents include Basil Rennie, David Stove, Michael Devitt

Overseas, 1983 (File 19)

Correspondents include Bruce Vermazen, David Lewis, Guy Stock, Bernard Mayo, Bernard Williams

Overseas, 1984 (File 20)

Correspondents include John Leslie, Gilbert Plumer, David Lewis, Donald Davidson, William Lycan, Antony Flew, Guy Stock, Neil Tennant

Australia and New Zealand, 1984-1985 (File 21)

Correspondents include David Armstrong, C.A.J. Coady, Michael Bradley, Paul Simpson, Michael Devitt

Overseas, 1985 (File 22)

Correspondents include B.C. Postow, Donald Regan, W.V. Quine, Stephen Voss, Onora O'Neill

Overseas, 1986 (File 23)

Correspondents include Sir Alfred Ayer, Ullin Place, John Wright, W.V. Quine, Jeff Foss, John Leslie, Hilary Putnam

Australia and New Zealand, 1986-1987 (File 24)

Correspondents include David Armstrong, Peter Singer, Graham Oddie

Overseas, 1987 (File 25)

Correspondents include Bernard Mayo, R.M. Hare, W.V. Quine, James Young, John Leslie, Donald Davidson, Ruth Millikan

Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Europe, 1988 (File 26)

Correspondents include Linda Burns, Charles Pigden, Peter Menzies, Guy Stock, Jeremy Butterfield

United States, Canada and South America, 1988 (File 27)

Correspondents include Michael Ruse, W.V. Quine, John Leslie, Storrs McCall

Correspondence, 1989 (File 28)

Correspondents include John Wright, David Armstrong, W.V. Quine, John Leslie, Paul Edwards, Ullin Place

Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Europe, 1990 (File 29)

Correspondents include B. Rennie, David Armstrong, Hector Monro, André Fuhrmann, R.M. Hare, John Watkins

United States and Canada, 1990 (File 30)

Correspondents include James Sorenson, Irwin Goldstein, Arnold Johanson, Scott Arnold, Jagdish Hattiangadi, Eugene Kamenka

Australia and New Zealand, 1991 (File 31)

Correspondents include John Clendinnen, David Armstrong, John Furge, Peter Forrest, Andrew Holster, David Stove, Alex Millmow, Paul Simpson

Overseas, 1991 (File 32)

Correspondents include Bill Lycan, Ferrel Christensen, James Young, David Lewis, Christopher Daly, Huw Price, Jenny Teichman

Australia and New Zealand, 1992 (File 33)

Correspondents include Angas Hurst, John McKie, Justice Gerard Brennan, Jim Franklin, Eddie Hughes, Charles Pigden, Keith Campbell

Overseas, 1992 (File 34)

Correspondents include Ullin Place, Christopher Daly, Dame Iris Murdoch, John Heil, Paul Edwards, Charles Martin, Edward Averill, John Leslie

Australia and New Zealand, 1993 (File 35)

Correspondents include John Bigelow, Jack Copeland, John Fox, John Clendinnen, Jim Franklin, Peter Forrest

Britain, Europe and Asia, 1993 (File 36)

Correspondents include Ullin Place, Christopher Daly, Stephan Hartmann, Danny Shaw, Mark Sainsbury

USA and Canada, 1993 (File 37)

Correspondents include Sydney Shoemaker, Ray Bradley, Hilary Putnam, W.V. Quine, James Young, Paul Edwards

Australia, New Zealand, Briatian and Europe, 1994 (File 38)

Correspondents include Jim Mackenzie, Peter Forrest, Murray MacBeath, Stephan Hartmann, John Leslie, Bryan Magee, Alex Miller

USA and Canada, 1994 (File 39)

Correspondents include Jonathan Adler, Anil Gupta, Anthony Serafini, Ray Bradley, David Lewis, David Duemler, Susan Haack

Australia and New Zealand, 1995 (File 40)

Correspondents include Justice David Hodgson, H.S. Green, Peter Forrest

Overseas, 1995 (File 41)

Correspondents include Ullin Place, Antony Flew, Hilary Putnam, John Leslie, Anil Gupta, Jonathan Adler, Susan Haack

Australia and New Zealand, 1996 (File 42)

Correspondents include David Armstrong, Alan Chalmers, John Barrett, Justice David Hodgson, Daniel Nolan

Overseas, 1996 (File 43)

Correspondents include Ullin Place, Michael Lockwood, Antony Flew, Alex Miller, Geoffrey Scarre, Jenny Teichman, W.V. Quine, John Leslie

Unpublished papers, 1964-1976 (File 44)

Includes: 'Two ways of life - some moral issues', 'How to turn the Tractatus (Wittgenstein) into (almost) Donald Davidson', 'A critique of Meinongian semantics', 'The prisoner's dilemma and utilitarianism', 'Has modal logic got an intelligible semantics?', 'Science as an approximation to truth', 'Abstract entities', 'Can theories be criticized only from the point of view of other theories?', 'Physics, extensionality and idealisations', 'The mechanistic nightmare', 'Men and machines'

Container List

File Box
1-8 1
9-17 2
18-25 3
26-34 4
35-44 5

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