Basil Mitchell (academic)

Basil George Mitchell, D.D., FBA (9 April 1917 – 23 June 2011) was a British philosopher and one-time Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion at the University of Oxford. Mitchell argued strongly for the place of religious belief in public debate and was a prominent critic of liberal humanism.

Mitchell was the son of George William Mitchell and Mary Mitchell (née Loxston). He was educated at King Edward VI School, Southampton and The Queen's College, Oxford. He served in the Royal Navy in 1940–46, primarily as an instructor in the Mediterranean. In 1950 he married Margaret Eleanor Collin. They had one son, three daughters, and seven grandchildren.

Mitchell embarked on an academic career in 1947 as a tutor in philosophy at Keble College, Oxford. He moved to Oriel College, Oxford in 1968 to take up a university chair. His inaugural lecture, "Neutrality and Commitment", attracted much favourable comment at the time. Later, Mitchell was instrumental in creating a new Oxford honours school devoted to philosophy and theology. In 1955 he was elected president of the Oxford Socratic Club, a position he held until 1972 when the club was dissolved.

Mitchell delivered the 1974–76 Gifford Lectures at the University of Glasgow, entitled Morality, Religious and Secular. Among his other important publications in the philosophy of law and of religion include the edited anthology Faith and Logic (1957), Law, Morality and Religion in a Secular Society (1966). which was a contribution to the debate over law and morality between H. L. A. Hart and Patrick Devlin, The Justification of Religious Belief (1981), and his Sarum Lectures, Faith and Criticism (1992). There is also a collection of essays, How to Play Theological Ping-Pong (1993). Mitchell edited the widely used "Oxford Reading in Philosophy" anthology, The Philosophy of Religion. Finally. Mitchell wrote a pamphlet entitled Can Social Policy Be Morally Neutral?, published by The Social Affairs Unit. Mitchell was a prominent figure in the Church of England and a member of several of its doctrinal commissions on faith and morals.

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