John Robert Jones was a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 philosopher.

He was born in Pwllheli

Pwllheli

Pwllheli is a community and the main market town of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It has a population of 3,861, of which a large proportion, 81 per cent, are Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of Albert Evans-Jones -...

, and went to school there before going on to study philosophy at University of Wales, Aberystwyth

University of Wales, Aberystwyth

Aberystwyth University is a university located in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding Member Institution of the former federal University of Wales. As of late 2006, the university had over 12,000 students spread across seventeen academic departments.The university was founded in 1872 as...

. He went on to take his D.Phil. at Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

. He returned to Aberystwyth to lecture in philosophy, and in 1952 was appointed Professor of Philosophy at University of Wales, Swansea. In 1961 he was visiting professor at Chapel Hill University, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

. On his return to Wales, he became more politically active, speaking out against the investiture of Charles, Prince of Wales

Charles, Prince of Wales

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...

, in 1969, resigning from the Gorsedd

Gorsedd

A gorsedd plural gorseddau, is a community or coming together of modern-day bards. The word is of Welsh origin, meaning "throne". It is occasionally spelled gorsedh , or goursez in Brittany....

 of Bards in protest.

As a philosopher, he was influenced by Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...

 and Simone Weil

Simone Weil

Simone Weil , was a French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist.-Biography:Weil was born in Paris to Alsatian agnostic Jewish parents who fled the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. She grew up in comfortable circumstances, and her father was a doctor. Her only sibling was...

. His writings dealt mainly with three problems: the nature of the self, the nature of perception, and the nature of universals.

Works

• Yr Argyfwng Gwacter Ystyr (1964)
• Prydeindod (1966)
• A rhaid i'r iaith ein gwahanu? (1967)
• Ni fyn y taeog mo'i ryddhau (1968)
• Yr ewyllys i barhau (1969)
• Gwaedd yng Nghymru (1970)
• Ac Onide (1970)

Sources

• Welsh Biography Online