Arthur John Terence Dibben Wisdom (John Wisdom; 12 September 1904, Leyton, Essex9 Dezember 1993, Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

) was a leading British

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 philosopher considered to be an ordinary language

Ordinary language philosophy

Ordinary language philosophy is a philosophical school that approaches traditional philosophical problems as rooted in misunderstandings philosophers develop by distorting or forgetting what words actually mean in everyday use....

 philosopher, a philosopher of mind and a metaphysician. He was influenced by G.E. Moore, Ludwig 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 Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...

, and in turn explained and extended their work.

Wisdom was for most of his career at Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

, and became Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge University. Near the end of his career he was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oregon

University of Oregon

-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...

. He was president of the Aristotelian Society

Aristotelian Society

The Aristotelian Society for the Systematic Study of Philosophy was founded at a meeting on 19 April 1880, at 17 Bloomsbury Square which resolved "to constitute a society of about twenty and to include ladies; the society to meet fortnightly, on Mondays at 8 o'clock, at the rooms of the Spelling...

 from 1950 to 1951.

His famous "Parable of the Invisible Gardener

Parable of the Invisible Gardener

The Parable of the Invisible Gardener is a tale told by Antony Flew, in response to John Wisdom's argument of how people can view the same thing and hold different religious views. It is often used to illustrate the perceived differences between assertions based on faith and assertions based on...

" is a dialectic

Dialectic

Dialectic is a method of argument for resolving disagreement that has been central to Indic and European philosophy since antiquity. The word dialectic originated in Ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the Socratic dialogues...

on the existence or absence of God.

Major Writings

• Interpretation and Analysis. (1931)
• Problems of Mind and Matter. (1934)
• "Philosophical Perplexity". Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 1936-37.
• Other Minds. (1952)
• Philosophy & PsychoAnalysis. (1953)
• Paradox and Discovery. (1965)
• Proof and Explanation (The Virginia Lectures 1957). (1991)