J. L. Mackie
| John Leslie Mackie | |
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| Born |
25 August 1917 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 12 December 1981 (aged 64) Oxford, England |
| Alma mater |
University of Sydney Oriel College, Oxford |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School |
Analytic philosophy Australian realism |
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Main interests
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Metaphysics, philosophy of language, ethics, moral nihilism |
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Notable ideas
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Argument from queerness |
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Influences
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Influenced
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John Leslie Mackie (/ˈmæki/; 25 August 1917 – 12 December 1981), usually cited as J. L. Mackie, was an Australian philosopher, originally from Sydney. He made significant contributions to the philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and the philosophy of language, and is perhaps best known for his views on meta-ethics, especially his defence of moral scepticism.
He authored six books. His most widely known, Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong (1977), opens by boldly stating that "There are no objective values." It goes on to argue that because of this ethics must be invented, rather than discovered.
Mackie was born 25 August 1917 in Sydney. His mother, Annie Burnett Duncan, was a schoolteacher, and his father, Alexander Mackie, was professor of education at the University of Sydney as well as the principal of the Sydney Teachers College, and was influential in the educational system of New South Wales. He graduated from the University of Sydney in 1938 after studying under John Anderson, sharing the medal in philosophy with eminent jurist Harold Glass. Mackie received the Wentworth Travelling Fellowship to study Greats at Oriel College, Oxford, where he graduated with a first in 1940.
During World War II he served with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in the Middle East and Italy. He was professor of philosophy at the University of Otago in New Zealand from 1955 to 1959 and succeeded Anderson as the Challis Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney from 1959 to 1963. In 1963, he moved to the United Kingdom, becoming the inaugural holder of the chair of philosophy in the University of York, a position he held until 1967 when he was instead elected a fellow of University College, Oxford, where he served as praelector. In 1974, he became a fellow of the British Academy.
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