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Rupert Crawshay-Williams (23 February 1908 – 12 June 1977) was a music critic, teacher, writer, and philosopher.[1]
Rupert Crawshay-Williams | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 February 1908 London, England |
| Died | 12 June 1977 (aged 69) Portmeiron, Wales |
| Alma mater | Queen's College, Oxford |
| Occupation(s) | Music critic, teacher, writer, philosopher |
| Organization | Rationalist Association |
| Notable work | Methods and Criteria of Reasoning: An Inquiry into the Structure of Controversy (1957) |
| Movement | Humanist |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Joyce Violet Powell (m. 1932) |
| Parent(s) | Leslie Crawshay-Williams; Joyce Collier |
| Relatives | Gillian, Lady Greenwood of Rossendale (sister) |
Rupert Crawshay-Williams was born in London on 23 February 1908.[1] The son of Leslie Crawshay-Williams and Joyce Collier,[2] he was the great-grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley.[1] His younger sister Gillian, born in 1910, was an artist and campaigner for nuclear disarmament, who became Lady Greenwood of Rossendale.[3] Crawshay-Williams was educated at Repton School[4] and Queen's College, Oxford.[1] He married Elizabeth Powell in 1932,[5] who was later described as "a perfect companion for Rupert."[4]
Until 1939, Crawshay-Williams worked as a music critic, before relocating in 1942 to Portmeirion, North Wales, where he taught English, French and mathematics.[1] He remained in Wales for the rest of his life.[4] The couple met, in 1947, Bertrand Russell, who was their close neighbour.[1][4] In 1970, Crawshay-Williams published an affectionate biography of his friend entitled Russell Remembered.[6][7] Like Russell, Crawshay-Williams was an "outspoken humanist" and an Honorary Associate of the Rationalist Press Association.[4][1]
Crawshay-Williams died on 12 June 1977 alongside his wife, Elizabeth, at their home.[1] Elizabeth, affected by paralysis and given a terminal diagnosis, and Rupert Crawshay-Williams opted to die together, swallowing a lethal dose of sleeping tablets.[8][1] The Sunday Mirror reported the couple's deaths under the headline "End of a Love Story", describing how following a quiet day at home, Crawshay-Williams wrote letters "to his friends, and to the local coroner", as well as a note left on the kitchen table which said "Do not enter the bedroom - call the doctor."[9] Crawshay-Williams' sister, Lady Greenwood, was reported to have said "They had no children and didn't want to trouble anyone," and the Deputy Coroner that "They were a devoted couple, and there is no evidence that they were of unsound mind."[9] A verdict of suicide was recorded.[9]
Following the Second World War, Crawshay-Williams focused largely on philosophy.[1] His first book, The Comforts of Unreason, was published in 1947.[1] According to Michael Potter, this was "a light and witty exposé of the human inclination towards deception, self-deception in particular".[1] Potter adds:
The Comforts of Unreason identifies and catalogues forces that lead minds astray – fallacious reasoning, euphemism, propaganda and unacknowledged desires. Crawshay-Williams followed Russell and W. K. Clifford in emphasizing the necessity of basing beliefs on available evidence.[1]
Crawshay-Williams' best known work is 1957's Methods and Criteria of Reasoning (1957), in which he attempted to explain "why so many theoretical and philosophical controversies seem to be intractable" (Potter).[1] He is best remembered today as influential in the fields of argumentation theory, rhetoric and communications studies, and on the work of Stephen Toulmin, Lucy Olbrechts-Tyteca, and Chaim Perelman.[1]
- The Comforts of Unreason: A Study of the Motives Behind Irrational Thought (1947)
- Methods and Criteria of Reasoning: An Inquiry into the Structure of Controversy (1957)
- Russell Remembered (1970)
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