Guide to the Papers of J.J.C. Smart
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International des Societes de Philosophie and the Australian National University, together with a small group of his unpublished lectures and other writings.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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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 |