Arthur Edward Murphy

Background

Murphy, Arthur Edward was born on September 1, 1901 in Ithaca, New York, United States.

Education

University of California, BA 1923, PhD 1925.

Career

He earned a bachelor"s degree in philosophy from University of California, Berkeley in 1923, then went on to earn a doctorate there. He took an appointment at University of Chicago in 1927, then went to Cornell University in 1928 before returning to Chicago in 1929. He took a position as full professor at Brown University in 1931.

In 1939 he became department chair at University of Illinois, and then served in the same position at Cornell University from 1946 to 1953.

That year, he took the same position at University of Washington. In 1957, he came to University of Texas as a visiting professor before being appointed chair in 1958.

Murphy had a long-term serious cardiac condition, and he died in Austin, Texas at age 60.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Theory of Practical Reason (Carus Lectures)

    (Book by Murphy, Arthur E.)

  • Reason and the common good;: Selected essays (Prentice-Hall philosophy series)

Views

During his lifetime Murphy enjoyed considerable prestige amongst his American colleagues. He coined the expression ‘objective relativism' in his first publication, in 1926. and developed the view in papers in the next few years. Objective relativism was stimulated by Einstein's theory of relativity and those philosophical theories, such as Alexander's and Whitehead's, that arose from it. It is the view that events rather than things constitute the primary ontological category and that the relations into which events enter arc essential to their nature. In one relation something can have one set of characteristics, in another a quite different set. This relativity extends to the relations between events and observers and is not subjective but objective. Hence events and things are what they are only in their relationships: this relativity is objective; hence objective relativism. Murphy eventually repudiated his own brainchild for reasons explained in Reason and the Common Good( 1963). Murphy had first advanced objective relativism not as a finished philosophy but as the basis for a research programme which would have to ‘justify itself in many fields’, while ‘the work in most of them has yet to be done'. On Murphy's later diagnosis, this work was not done, but rather objective relativism was generalized beyond the context of its significant application and generated paradoxes and absurdities. Objective relativism thus failed because it neglected ‘the consistent application of contextual principles', so that ‘the theory became just one of the "isms" and has shared their fate'. Consideration of this philosophical tendency led Murphy to develop his method of contextual analysis. Murphy conducted a lifelong inquiry ‘into the conditions and.. character of the application of reason to human affairs’ and attempted to develop a philosophy that would genuinely help to organize and harmonize facts and ideas that human beings are inevitably confronted with by the force of experience, in such a way that they could deal more intelligently with common and uncommon human problems. He called the method he worked out contextual analysis. He was convinced that no recipe could be laid down in advance that would provide automatic solutions to such problems. What is needed, he said, is a developed understanding and capacity to provide a way of going on, for there is no final overall solution to the problems of life. Murphy had a way of expressing himself that was often extraordinarily funny, and a conviction that a sense of humour is an important part of humane philosophizing. His sense of humour was combined with a rare sense of irony, and he was especially adept at thinking up amusing and imaginative examples and parables. He also had an uncanny knack of getting directly at the heart of someone else’s point of view and distilling the essence of his thought. This led some of his contemporaries to regard him as merely a critic of others' ideas. However, although he was often critical, it is more accurate to regard him as an interpreter of unusual insight. Furthermore, he was constructing a philosophy of his own out of his studies of other philosophical ideas and of cultural tendencies and traditions. He complained that in contemporary philosophy ‘the love of argument has supplanted the love of wisdom', and that too many thinkers were content to ‘hitch their wagon to a trend'. Good sense, good will and good judgement were virtues he especially prized. As one of his commentators remarked, the conviction that ‘gives unity to Murphy’s thought |S that good sense can be found in the common lift from which our philosophical inquiries take their departure and hence.. it is back to this common life.. that our philosophy must return us’. Sources: Obituary. Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 36. 1963. pp. 118-19: Who Was Who in America 1961-1968; Profs F. L. Will and W. H. Hay: personal acquaintance.