Lucas, John, 1929-2020

John Lucas wrote many books covering many different areas of philosophy. His contributions were often challenging and controversial, opposing contemporary trends in philosophy (both the logical positivist and ‘ordinary language’ philosophies current when he began to philosophise, and some of the metaphysical theories subsequently current), and opposing contemporary Western secular morality, but usually tentatively and with sympathy for rival views. He wrote much on space and time, on moral responsibility, and on political philosophy; and is well known for his firm advocacy of human free will, based on his argument that Gödel’s Theorem has the consequence that human behaviour is not subject to deterministic laws. He also wrote many incisive and amusing essays on academic politics.

Posted to Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy, 20