George Parkin Grant

George Grant OC FRSC
Born	George Parkin Grant 13 November 1918 (1918-11-13) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died	27 September 1988 (1988-09-28) (aged 69) Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Alma mater	Queen's University Balliol College, Oxford
Notable work	Lament for a Nation
Spouse(s)	Sheila Grant (m. 1947)
Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Continental philosophy Platonism Humanism
Institutions	Dalhousie University York University McMaster University
Thesis	The Concept of Nature and Supernature in the Theology of John Oman
Main interests	Continental philosophy Contractarianism English Civic Tradition Greek philosophy History of philosophy Nihilism Philosophy of technology Political philosophy Politics Theology
Notable ideas	Red Toryism Canadian nationalism
Influences Pre-Socratics Plato Aristotle Augustine Nietzsche Heidegger Leo Strauss Simone Weil Jacques Ellul James Doull Michael B. Forest
Influenced William Christian Matt Cohen Barry Cooper Dennis Lee James Laxer Ron Dart

George Parkin Grant OC FRSC (November 13, 1918 – September 27, 1988) was a Canadian philosopher, professor, and political commentator. He is best known for his Canadian nationalism, political conservatism, and his views on technology, pacifism and Christian faith. He is often seen as one of Canada's most original thinkers.

Academically, his writings express a complex meditation on the great books, and confrontation with the great thinkers, of Western Civilization. His influences include the "ancients" such as Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine of Hippo, as well as "moderns" like Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Leo Strauss, James Doull, Simone Weil, and Jacques Ellul.

Although he is considered the main theoretician of Red Toryism, he expressed dislike of the term when applied to his deeper philosophical interests, which he saw as his primary work as a thinker. Recent research on Grant uncovers his debt to a neo-Hegelian idealist tradition, Canadian idealism, that had a major influence on many Canadian scholars and Canadian political culture more broadly.

Grant was born in Toronto, the son of Maude Erskine (née Parkin) and William Lawson Grant. He came from a distinguished Canadian family of scholars and educators. His father was the principal of Upper Canada College, and his paternal grandfather George Monro Grant was the dynamic principal of Queen's University. His maternal grandfather was Sir George Robert Parkin, also a principal at Upper Canada College, whose daughter Alice married Vincent Massey, the Canadian diplomat and first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada. His nephew is public scholar and former Leader of the Opposition Michael Ignatieff in the Canadian House of Commons.

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