A Terribly Serious Adventure: Philosophy and War at Oxford, 1900-1960
Nikhil Krishnan“This is Oxford philosophy in the round. The philosophical arguments, the personal lives, the colorful quotes, the elbow patches & buttered crumpets—brilliantly written.”—James Franklin, author of Corrupting the Youth: A History of Philosophy in Australia
What are the limits of language? How can philosophy be brought closer to everyday life? What is a good human being?
These were among the questions that philosophers wrestled with in mid-twentieth-century Britain, a period shadowed by war & the rise of fascism. In response to these events, thinkers such as Philippa Foot (originator of the famous trolley problem), Isaiah Berlin, Iris Murdoch, Elizabeth Anscombe, Gilbert Ryle, & J. L. Austin aspired to a new level of watchfulness...
“All of the philosophers [that A Terribly Serious Adventure] discusses are dead, but I knew most of them personally, & some of them were good friends. Relying on memoirs & other sources, [Nikhil] Krishnan has succeeded in bringing these men & women & their complex & intense relations to life—which is a real achievement.”
–Thomas Nagel