Background
MITCHELL, Basil was born on April 9, 1917 in Bath. Son of George William Mitchell and Mary Mitchell.
MITCHELL, Basil was born on April 9, 1917 in Bath. Son of George William Mitchell and Mary Mitchell.
King Edward VI School, Southampton and The Queen's College, Oxford.
Served R.N. 1940-1946. Lecturer Christ Church, Oxford 1946^47. Fellow and Tutor Keble College, Oxford 1947-1967.
Nolloth Professor, of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion, Oxford University and Fellow of Oriel College 1968-1984, Professor Emeritus since 1984. Stanton Lecturer, Cambridge University 1959-1962. Edward Cadbury Lecturer, Birmingham University 1966-1967.
Gifford Lecturer, Glasgow University 1974-1976. Visiting Professor Princeton University, United States of America 1963, Colgate University, United States of America 1976. Nathaniel Taylor Lecturer, Yale University, United States of America 1986.
Chairman Ian Ramsey Centre, Oxford 1985-1989. Honorary D.D. (Glasgow). Honorary Lit.Hum. (Union College, Schenectady).
Main publications:(1957) (ed.) Faith and Logic, London: Allen & Unwin.(1967) Law, Morality and Religion in a Secular Society, London: Oxford University Press.(1973) The Justification of Religious Belief, London: Macmillan.(1980) Morality: Religious and Secular, London: Oxford University Press (Gifford Lectures).(1990) How to Play Theological Ping-Pong, London: Hodder & Stoughton.(1993) ‘War and friendship', in Kelly James Clark (ed.), Philosophers Who Believe, Downer's Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, pp. 23-44 (autobiographical).(1995) Faith and Criticism, London: Oxford University Press.Secondary literature:Abraham, W. J. and Holtzer, S. W. (1987) The Rationality of Religious Belief: Essays in Honour of Basil Mitchell, Oxford: Clarendon Press.Ferre, F. (1962) Language, Logic and God, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode.
In the heyday of linguistic analysis Mitchell stoutly maintained both that such analysis was not necessarily inimical to Christian faith, and that the adumbration of worldviews was ‘no part of the philosopher’s business’. He participated in the ‘Theology and Falsification’ debate of the 1950s, granting Flews claim that the problem of evil presented real difficulties to believers, but arguing that their faith will not allow them to regard theological assertions as only ‘provisional hypotheses to be discarded if experience tells against them’. In Faith and Logic (1957) he argued that while belief in God’s grace cannot be established by empirical evidence, it has empirical application.
In The Justification of Religious Belief (1973) his case was that since we cannot strictly know whether or not there is a God, Christian theism, qua worldview, must be judged according to its ability to make sense of all the available evidence. The weight Mitchell places upon personal judgement in his cumulative theistic argument has caused concern to some whose arguments have, in turn, been found to be less than compelling.
In Law, Morality and Religion (1967), Mitchell shows how disagreements on moral issues derive from more or less fundamentally different understandings of morality as such—not least when those disagreeing are recognizable liberals. His Gifford Lectures (1980) comprise a critique of scientific, romantic and liberal humanism, to-
gether with a denial of the view that the traditional Western intuitions of conscience can be defended by entirely secular arguments, and without reference to Christian views of the human being’s nature and needs.
A professional philosopher who is a Christian, Mitchell’s patient and discerning quest of reasonableness in religion and morality has earned him the respect of a wide circle of students, colleagues and readers.
Church of England Doctrine Commission 1978-1985.
Gardening, travel.
Austin Farrer and H. H. Price.
Married Margaret Collin 1950.