Davie, George 1912-2007 (George Elder Davie)

PERSONAL:

Born March 18, 1912, in Dundee, Scotland; died March 20, 2007, in Sutton Veny, Wiltshire, England; son of a pharmacist and a school teacher; married Elspeth Dryer (a writer), 1944 (deceased, 1995); children: Anne. Education: Edinburgh University, M.A. (first-class honors), 1935.

CAREER:

Philosopher. Queen's University, Belfast, Ireland, lecturer in philosophy, 1946-59; Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, Scotland, lecturer in philosophy, 1959-82, reader emeritus, 1987-2007. Military service: Served in the Signals Corps during World War II.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fletcher of Saltoun Award for services to Scotland, 1999.

WRITINGS:

The Democratic Intellect: Scotland and Her Universities in the Nineteenth Century, University Press (Edinburgh, Scotland), 1962, reprinted, 1981.

(Editor, with A.J.D. Porteous and R.D. Maclennan) The Credibility of Divine Existence: The Collected Papers of Norman Kemp Smith, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1967.

The Social Significance of the Scottish Philosophy of Common Sense, University of Dundee (Dundee, Scotland), 1973.

The Crisis of the Democratic Intellect: The Problem of Generalism and Specialisation in Twentieth-Century Scotland, Barnes & Noble Books (Totowa, NJ), 1987.

Scottish Enlightenment and Other Essays, foreword by James Kelman, Polygon (Edinburgh, Scotland), 1991.

The Scotch Metaphysics: A Century of Enlightenment in Scotland, Routledge (New York, NY), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS:

Philosopher George Davie was born March 18, 1912, in Dundee, Scotland. He earned his master's degree in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh in 1935, and followed it with service in the Signal Corps during World War II. Once the war was over, he settled into life as an academic and philosophy scholar, first at Queen's University in Belfast, Ireland, and then eventually back at the University of Edinburgh, where he served as a lecturer from 1959 to 1982, and then as a reader emeritus from 1987 until his death in 2007. Davie wrote several books of philosophy during his lifetime, focusing primarily on the Scottish Enlightenment. He also posited that Scottish intellectual history had a profound effect on the development of French thought. Much of his work and thought was inspired or in other ways affected by his discussions with several life-long friends, including the poets Hugh MacDiarmid and Sorley MacLean.

Davie's first published work, The Democratic Intellect: Scotland and Her Universities in the Nineteenth Century, resulted from a request from his publisher to write an introduction to a different project, The Scotch Metaphysics: A Century of Enlightenment in Scotland, which ultimately was put on hold for several decades. The Democratic Intellect was instead published as a book unto itself, earning the reputation of a nationalist tract. Other works by Davie include The Social Significance of the Scottish Philosophy of Common Sense and Scottish Enlightenment and Other Essays.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Change, January, 1988, review of The Crisis of the Democratic Intellect: The Problem of Generalism and Specialisation in Twentieth-Century Scotland, p. 47.

Legal Studies, July 1985, Neil MacCormick, "The Democratic Intellect and the Law," p. 171.

New Statesman, October 31, 1986, Angus Calder, review of The Crisis of the Democratic Intellect, p. 30.

Times Higher Education Supplement, January 7, 1994, Christopher Harvie, review of The Democratic Intellect: Scotland and Her Universities in the Nineteenth Century, p. 18.

Times Literary Supplement, August 16, 1991, review of Scottish Enlightenment and Other Essays, p. 20.

OBITUARIES

ONLINE

Herald Online,http://www.theherald.co.uk/ (January 8, 2008).

Independent Online,http://news.independent.co.uk/ (March 29, 2007), "George Davie: Author of The Democratic Intellect."

London Times Online,http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ (April 18, 2007), "George Davie: Philosopher Who Explored the Intellectual Legacy—and Continuity—of the Scottish Enlightenment."

Scotsman Online,http://news.scotsman.com/ (January 8, 2008), Vincent Hope, "George Davie."

Sorley MacLean Online,http://www.somhairlemacgilleain.org/ (January 8, 2008), "George Elder Davie (1912-2007)."