W. B. Gallie


Walter Bryce Gallie was a Scottish social theorist, political theorist, and philosopher. He put forth the notion of essentially contested concepts. In 1940 he married Welsh-speaking novelist Menna Patricia Humphreys, with whom he had a son and a daughter.

Life

W. B. Gallie was born in Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, near Glasgow, the son of an engineer. He was educated at Sedbergh School, a public school in Sedbergh, Cumbria, and Balliol College, Oxford. In 1934 he graduated with first class honours in Philosophy, politics and economics. In 1937 he received his Bachelor of Literature for his research into 'The part played by symbols in the achievement of knowledge'. In 1935 he obtained a post in University College of Swansea as an assistant lecturer in philosophy. In 1938 he was appointed as a lecturer. In 1948 he was appointed as a senior lecturer.
While employed as a lecturer, Gallie met Menna Patricia Humphreys, who was studying for an English degree, who he married. In 1949 he had published his first book An English School in which he discussed the public schools system of education. Gallie died in Cardigan, Ceredigion, on 31 August 1998. In 2000 an article was published in which comprises extracts from his partly-autobiographical projected book Apologia Pro Opusculo Suo.

Military career

Gallie served in the British Army from 1940 to 1945, and left the service with the rank of major. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre. Philosopher R.A. Sharpe commented: 'The time he spent in the army] evidently made an great impression upon him. He was a very out-going man. However, he never spoke of his wartime experiences, although he repeatedly returned to the philosophical aspects of war in conversation.'

Academic career

Gallie left Swansea after never having been 'much in sympathy with the Wittgensteinian influence which was beginning to dominate there'. British philosopher Christopher Hookway observed: 'In the 1930s,... under the influence of Wittgenstein and Oxford philosophy, few British philosophers were sufficiently stirred by pragmatism or pragmaticism for Peirce to become a major topic for research.' In 1950 Gallie became Professor of Philosophy at University College of North Staffordshire. In 1954 he became Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at Queen's University, Belfast. In 1967 he became Professor of Political Science at Cambridge University. While at Cambridge he was a fellow of Peterhouse from 1967 to 1978. When he retired, he and his wife settled in Newport, a village on the coast of Cardigan Bay, Pembrokeshire.

Notable contributions

In 1952 Gallie had his book Peirce and pragmatism published, which introduced the work of Charles Sanders Peirce to an international readership. A.J. Ayer, the English philosopher, provided the Editorial Foreword to the book. In it he credited Peirce's philosophy as being 'not only of great historical significance, as one of the original sources of American pragmatism, but also extremely important in itself.' Ayer concluded: 'it is clear from Professor Gallie’s exposition of his doctrines that he is a philosopher from whom we still have much to learn.'
Gallie argued in his 1956 paper Essentially contested concepts that it is impossible to conclusively define key appraisive concepts such as social justice, democracy, Christian life, art, moral goodness and duty, although it is possible and rational to discuss one's justifications for holding one interpretation over competing ones. Clarification of such concepts involves not the examination of predictive relations, but rather, consideration of how the concept has been used by different parties throughout its history.

Publications

Gallie was a prolific author and the articles that he had published which are listed below are only a sample. may be consulted for a complete listing.
Pre 1950
1950s
  • 1952:
  • 1954: The Function of Philosophical Aesthetics. In 'Aesthetics and Language: Essays by W. B. Gallie and Others'. Edited by William Elton. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Later republished in . Accessed 28 February 2025.
  • 1955:
  • 1956b:
  • 1956a:
  • 1957:
  • 1957:
  • 1959:
1960s
  • 1960: A new university: A. D. Lindsay and the Keele experiment. London: Chatto & Windus.
  • 1963: Reprinted as Chapter 2 in 'The history and narrative reader'. Edited by Geoffrey Roberts. London: Routledge. Accessed 27 February 2025.
  • 1964: Philosophy and the Historical Understanding. London: Chatto & Windus.
  • 1967:
  • 1968:
1970s
  • 1973:
  • 1978:
  • 1979:
Post 1980
  • 1983:
  • 1991:
  • 2000: