Alan Richard White (9 October 1922 – 23 February 1992) was a Canadian analytic philosopher who worked mainly in epistemology, the philosophy of mind, and, latterly, legal philosophy.
Peter Hacker notes that he was "the most skillful developer of Rylean ... ideas in philosophical psychology" and that "if anyone surpassed Austin in subtlety and refinement in the discrimination of grammatical differences, it was White." Richard Swinburne remarks that "during the heyday of 'ordinary language philosophy' no tongue practised it better."
Early life and education Alan R. White (as he was usually cited)though sometimes also cited as "A. R. White" was born in Toronto on 9 October 1922, the elder of two sons born to Irish emigrants George Albert White (1888–1940), an estate agent from Strabane, and Jean Gabriel (Kingston) White (1888–1957). Also available for loan/preview via the Internet Archive in ODNB Vol.58 (2004) pp.539-540 (Free registration required for volume loan.) Following their parents' separation in the early 1930s, both brothers moved with their Catholic mother when she returned to her hometown of Cork (where she would work in the drapery trade). There they would be educated in the Protestant faith of their father as boarders at Middleton College until the sixth form. White then transferred to (the Catholic) Presentation College, Cork, to prepare for entrance to Trinity College, Dublin. Despite his religious schooling, within only a few years White would become, as academic colleague Paul Gilbert notes, "a keen atheist."
White was admitted to Trinity in 1941 with a junior exhibition and a sizarship in classics. During his time there he served as president of the University Philosophical Society.Matheson, David J., "White, Alan Richard (1922—92)".(2005), in The Continuum Encyclopedia of British Philosophy (2006) , He graduated in 1945 with firsts in both classics and 'mental and moral science' (philosophy) . He is said. reports David J. Matheson, to have scored over 100 per cent in some of his exams by taking them in Irish, for which extra credit was given. Other achievements during his time as an undergraduate included prizes for Hegelian philosophy and flyweight.boxing. That he was also "pugnacious" outside the ring is attested to by Trinity philosopher A. A. Luce who records that the two had "many a battle" when White was a student in his class.
Also through this time, which coincided with "The Emergency" of World War II, White served with the Local Defence Force in the 42nd Dublin Rifle Battalion."Alan R(ichard) White." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2003 After graduation he remained at Trinity for a year to pursue further studies in classics and serve as a deputy lecturer in logic.
Career In 1946 White was appointed as an assistant lecturer in the department of philosophy and psychology at the (then) University College of Hull,an academic institution that presented its undergraduates for external degrees at the University of London the departmental staff initially consisting solely of himself and Professor T. E. Jessop. White obtained this position on the recommendation of Luce who had contributed the "Inventory of the Manuscript Remains" to Jessop's A Bibliography of George Berkeley (1934).
Prior to his arrival, Jessop had performed all the teaching duties for both philosophy and psychology. And though Hull's first dedicated psychology lecturer, George Westby, was appointed around the same time as White,Howarth, Ian (1984). "Obituary - George Westby". Bulletin of the British Psychological Society. 37: 339. the latter would himself also teach psychology as well as philosophy students long after the college acquired university status in 1954 and two separate departments were formed. Ullin Place records that, with the "connivance" of White, Westby. a fellow Rylean, succeeded in making Hull's psychology department "a center for a distinctive amalgam of ordinary language philosophy and behavioral psychology" in its early years.Place, U. T. (1992). "Behaviorism and behavior analysis in Britain: An historical overview." The ABA Newsletter, 15, 5–7. And Westby himself records White's "invaluable co-operation" in initiating and running the three-year "Philosophical Problems of the Sciences" course. The same having been intended to ensure psychology students appreciated "it is impossible to have a purely technical scientific language," Westby, George (1966). "Psychology today: problems and directions," Bulletin of the British Psychological Society. 19 (65): 1–19. p.10 a thorough examination of 'Mental' concepts being, as White notes, a necessary preparation "even for those whose chief interest is in the science of psychology."WHITE, A. R. (1961): "Philosophy, Psychology and Sociology," . Mimeographed . Dept. of Philosophy, University of Hull. quoted in: Westby, George (1966). "Psychology today: problems and directions," Bulletin of the British Psychological Society. 19 (65): 1–19. p.10
Within the philosophy department, White progressed to the positions of Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer, succeeding Jessop to become the second Ferens Professor of Philosophy in 1961 (a post he retained until his early retirement in 1985). At Hull he would also serve as dean of arts (1969–71) and as pro-vice-chancellor (1976–79).
In 1958 White completed his PhD at the University of London under the supervision of A.J. Ayer, with a thesis on "The Method of Analysis In the Philosophy of G. E. Moore."Hull History Centre: Papers of Professor Alan Richard White UDAW Papers of Professor Alan Richard White c.1945-1992 That same year would see the publication of the fruits of this research in his first book G.E. Moore: a Critical Exposition.
White was a visiting professor at numerous American universities including the University of Maryland (1967–68, 1980), Temple University (1974), Simon Fraser University (1983), the University of Delaware (1986) and Bowling Green State University (1988). He also became known to the first generation of 'third year' students of philosophy at the Open University, participating in a BBC televised discussion on perception[video] "Perception - Open University Digital Archive". www.open.ac.uk. Retrieved 2021-06-01 that was annually repeated as part of the 'A303, Problems of philosophy' correspondence course which ran from 1973 until 1981.
He also served as secretary, and then president (1972), of the Mind Association and as president of the Aristotelian Society 1979–1980.Description of 'Papers of Professor Alan Richard White, c.1945-1992. Hull University Archives, Hull History Centre. GB 50 U DAW' on the Archives Hub website, , (date accessed :30/03/2021)
White retired to Nottingham, and was as appointed Special Professor of Philosophy at the university there in 1986.
In the last decade of his life, as Hacker notes, White worked on jurisprudential problems pertaining to action, intention, voluntariness, negligence and recklessness.
He died at his home in Sherwood, Nottingham on 23 February 1992.
Legacy White's papers, previously held in the Brynmor Jones Library, are now housed at the Hull History Centre.
White, as "a small man, dressed in a dark blue jacket and grey slacks, with a light blue shirt and a bow tie" who "speaks with a slight Irish accent" features (along with Peter Strawson) as a participant in a fictive 2014 philosophical dialogue by P. M. S. Hacker.
A volume of White's selected papers, as edited by Constantine Sandis (who credits White's Grounds of Liability as "a huge influence") with John Preston and David Dolby is, as of 2025, still forthcoming.
Works
Authored books/monographs G.E. Moore: a Critical Exposition, Oxford: Blackwell (1958) Explaining Human Behaviour: An Inaugural Lecture Delivered in the University of Hull on 24 January 1962 (1962).Revised and reprinted in White (1967) Attention, Oxford: Blackwell (1964)White's treatment of 'recklessness' therein is a 'point of departure' in: Winslade, William J. "Recklessness." Analysis, vol. 30, no. 4, 1970, pp. 135–140. The Philosophy of Mind, New York: Random House (1967)Palmer, Anthony (1968). "The Philosophy of Mind. By Alan R. White. (Random House Studies in Philosophy, 1967. pp. 178. Price 16s.)". Philosophy. 43 (164): p. 172 doi:10.1017/S0031819100009098. ISSN 1469-817X. Full Preview Truth, London: Macmillan (1970) Modal Thinking, Ithaca: Cornell University Press (1975) The Nature of Knowledge, Totowa, Rowman & Littlefield (1982) Rights, Oxford: Clarendon-Press (1984) Grounds of Liability: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1985)Duff, R. A., (1986) "Alan R. White, Grounds of Liability: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Law" [Review], Philosophy in Review 6 (6):316–318 (1986) Methods of Metaphysics, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul (1987)Thomas, Janice (1989) 'Alan R. White, "Methods of Metaphysics."' Philosophy in Review Vol 9 No 2 (1989): February The Language of Imagination (1990) Misleading Cases, Oxford: Clarendon Press (1991)
Edited books The Philosophy of Action, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967 (Includes Introduction by White).
Papers/book chapters
1950s "Conscience and Self-Love in Butler's Sermons" Philosophy, 27, No. 103. (Oct., 1952), pp. 329–344. "Mr. Hartnack on Experience" Analysis, 14, No. 1. (Oct., 1953), p. 26.being a brief note of reply to: Hartnack, Justus. "Remarks about Experience." Analysis, vol. 13, no. 5, 1953, pp. 117–120. "A Note on Meaning and Verification" Mind, New Series, 63, No. 249 (Jan., 1954), pp. 66–69being a rejoinder to: Evans, J. L. "On Meaning and Verification." Mind, vol. 62, no. 245, 1953, pp. 1–19. "The Ambiguity of Berkeley's 'Without the Mind'" Hermathena, 83, 1954, pp. 55–65. "Mr Hampshire and Professor Ryle on dispositions" Analysis, April 1954; 14: 111–113being a response to: Hampshire, Stuart. "Dispositions." Analysis, vol. 14, no. 1, 1953, pp. 5–11. "Professor A.D Ritchie on empirical problems" Analysis, October 1955; 16: 14being a brief reply to: Ritchie, A. D., "The ‘Gambler's Fallacy,'" Analysis, Volume 15, Issue 2, December 1954, pp. 47–48 "A Linguistic Approach to Berkeley's Philosophy" Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 16, No. 2 (Dec., 1955), pp. 172–187 "The use of sentences" Analysis. October 1956; 17: 1–4a response to: Ryle, Gilbert. "Ordinary Language." The Philosophical Review, vol. 62, no. 2, 1953, pp. 167–186. "On Claiming to Know" The Philosophical Review, 66, No. 2 (Apr., 1957), pp. 180–192. (Reprinted in A. Phillips Griffiths (ed.), Knowledge and Belief, pp 100–111 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967).a response to: Woozley, A. D. "Knowing and Not Knowing." Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, vol. 53, 1952, pp. 151–172 also reprinted in Knowledge and Belief. "Truth as Appraisal" Mind, New Series, 66, No. 263 (Jul., 1957), pp. 318–330responded to in: Mayo, Bernard. "Truth as Appraisal." Mind, vol. 68, no. 269, 1959, pp. 80–86, and Khatchadourian, Haig. "Truth as Appraisal." Mind, vol. 71, no. 283, 1962, pp. 387–391. "Contrary-to-fact conditionals and logical impossibility" Analysis, October 1957; 18: 14–16a reply to: Watling, John. "The Problem of Contrary-to-Fact Conditionals." Analysis, vol. 17, no. 4, 1957, pp. 73–80, both being briefly discussed in 'Reviewed Works', Freudenthal, Hans. The Journal of Symbolic Logic, vol. 33, no. 2, 1968, p. 311. "The Language of Motives" Mind, New Series, 67, No. 266. (Apr., 1958), pp. 258–263. "Moore on a Tautology" Philosophical Studies, vol. 9, no. 1/2, (Jan.–Feb., 1958), pp. 1–4. "Moore's appeal to Common Sense", Philosophy, Vol. 33, No. 126 (Jul., 1958), pp. 221–239 "Synonymous Expressions" The Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 8, no. 32, 1958, pp. 193–207. "Belief Sentences" Mind, vol. 67, no. 268, 1958, pp. 527–532. "Keeping" Mind, vol. 68, no. 272, Oct., 1959, pp. 545–547. "The 'meaning' of Russell's theory of descriptions" Analysis, October 1959; 20: 8–9