Original Series

These lectures owe their existence to a bequest made by Jessie Frances Raven in memory of her father, the late Gavin David Young. Between 1956 and 2012, twelve sets of lectures were delivered by some of the most significant figures in twentieth century philosophy. The original series of lectures were driven initially by the intellectual energy and international profile of J J C Smart, Hughes Professor in Philosophy at the University of Adelaide 1950–72 (and himself Gavin David Young lecturer in 1987), and in general reflect the interests and approach of the community of philosophers at Adelaide during the period. The lectures were reestablished and refreshed in 2022, and lectures given since then are published in this journal. 

Details of the original series of lectures and their subsequent publication history, where known, follow below.

  1. Gilbert Ryle, Thinking, 1956.
  2. Willard Van Orman Quine, Terms and Objects, 1959. Quine’s lectures were subsequently published in W V O Quine (1960) Word and Object. MIT Press.
  3. Antony Flew, The Presuppositions of Immortality, 1963.
  4. Herbert Feigl, Towards a Philosophy for Our Age of Science, 1965.
  5. Donald Davidson, Agency and Causality, 1968. Davidson’s lectures were based on drafts of material subsequently published in Donald Davidson (1980) Essays on Actions and Events. Oxford University Press.
  6. David Lewis, The Paradoxes of Time Travel, 1971. An abridged version of these lectures were published as David Lewis (1976) ‘The Paradoxes of Time Travel’, American Philosophical Quarterly 13: 145–52. The full lectures were published in David Lewis (2022) Philosophical Manuscripts, Frederique Janssen-Lauret and Fraser Macbride, eds. Oxford University Press.
  7. Carl G Hempel, Science and Rationality: Analytics vs Pragmatic Perspectives, 1979. The manuscript of Hempel’s lectures are in Series 3, Subseries 5 of the Carl Gustav Hempel Papers, 1903-1997, ASP.1999.01, Archives of Scientific Philosophy, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.
  8. Daniel C Dennett, Conscious Experience and Intentionality, 1984. Dennett’s lectures were subsequently published in Daniel Dennett (1987) The Intentional Stance. MIT Press.
  9. J J C Smart, Our Place in the Universe, 1987. Smart’s lectures were subsequently published as J J C Smart (1989) Our Place in the Universe. Blackwell.
  10. Hilary Putnam, Mind and Body, 1998. There are audio recordings of Putnam’s lectures; another version of ‘Non-Scientific Knowledge’.
  11. Simon Blackburn, Truth, Ethics, History, and Philosophy and the University, 2007.
  12. Frank Jackson, Philosophy for Representationalists, 2012.