Введение
Британский философ и политик (1930–2019)
British philosopher and politician (1930–2019)
During his National Service he served in the British Army, in the Intelligence Corps, His friends at Oxford included Robin Day, William Rees Mogg, Jeremy Thorpe and Michael Heseltine. While at university, Magee was elected president of the Oxford Union. He later became an honorary fellow at Keble College. At Oxford, Magee had mixed with poets as well as politicians and in 1951 published a volume of verse through the Fortune Press. The publisher did not pay its writers and expected them to buy a certain number of copies themselves – a similar deal had been struck with such writers as Dylan Thomas and Philip Larkin for their first anthologies. The slim volume was dedicated to the memory of Richard Wagner, with a quote from Rilke's Duino Elegies: das Schöne ist nichts als des Schrecklichen Anfang, den wir noch grade ertragen (" beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, that we are still able to bear"). Magee said later: "I'm rather ashamed of the poems now, although I have written poems since which I haven't published, which I secretly think are rather good. It has always been a dimension of what I do." (Later he would also publish fiction, including a spy novel To Live in Danger in 1960 and then a long work Facing Death. The latter, initially composed in the 1960s but not published until 1977, would be shortlisted for an award by The Yorkshire Post). He taught philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford for a period but was not enamoured of the analytical philosophy then in vogue there.</blockquote>
He was eventually elected MP for Leyton at the February 1974 general election, but from 1981 found himself out of tune with the Labour Party's direction under Michael Foot. He also returned to scholarship at Oxford, first as a fellow at Wolfson, then at New College. And extensively revised versions of all the discussions would be made available in the 1971 book Modern British Philosophy. In 1978 Magee presented 15 dialogues with noted philosophers for BBC Television in a series called Men of Ideas. This was a series that, as noted in The Daily Telegraph, "achieved the near impossible feat of presenting to a mass audience recondite issues of philosophy without compromising intellectual integrity or losing ratings" and "attracted a steady one million viewers per show." Extensively revised versions of the dialogues within the Men of Ideas series (which featured Iris Murdoch) were originally published in a book of the same name that is now sold under the title of Talking Philosophy. Neither this series nor its 1987 'sequel' are available for purchase by home users but most of the episodes are freely available on Youtube. Another BBC television series, The Great Philosophers, followed in 1987. In this series, Magee discussed the major historical figures of Western philosophy with fifteen contemporary philosophers. The series covered the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes, among others, including a discussion with Peter Singer on the philosophy of Marx and Hegel, and ending with a discussion with John Searle on the philosophy of Wittgenstein. Extensively revised versions of the dialogues were published in a book of the same name that was published that same year. Magee's 1998 book The Story of Thought (also published as The Story of Philosophy) would also cover the history of Western philosophy. This remains one of the most substantial and wide ranging treatments of the thinker and assesses in depth Schopenhauer's influence on Wittgenstein, Wagner and other creative writers. Magee also addresses Schopenhauer's thoughts on homosexuality and the influence of Buddhism on his thought. This essentially offered an introduction to philosophy in autobiographical form. The book was involved in a libel lawsuit as a result of Magee repeating the rumour that Ralph Schoenman, a controversial associate of Bertrand Russell during the philosopher's final decade, had been planted by the CIA in an effort to discredit Russell. Schoenman successfully sued Magee for libel in the UK, with the result that the first printing of the British edition of the book was pulped. A second defamation suit, filed in California against Random House, was settled in 2001. The allegations were expunged by settlement, and a new edition was issued and provided to more than 700 academic and public libraries. In Confessions of a Philosopher, Magee charts his own philosophical development in an autobiographical context. He also emphasizes the importance of Schopenhauer's philosophy as a serious attempt to solve philosophical problems. In addition to this, he launches a critique of analytic philosophy, particularly in its linguistic form over three chapters, contesting its fundamental principles and lamenting its influence. Magee had a particular interest in the life, thought and music of Richard Wagner and wrote two notable books on the composer and his world, Aspects of Wagner (1968; rev. 1988), and Wagner and Philosophy (2000). In Aspects of Wagner Magee "outlines the range and depth of Wagner's achievement, and shows how his sensational and erotic music expresses the repressed and highly charged contents of the psyche. He also examines Wagner's detailed stage directions, and the prose works in which he formulated his ideas, and sheds interesting new light on his anti semitism." The revised edition includes a fresh chapter on "Wagner as Music". In 2016, approaching his 86th birthday, Magee had his book Ultimate Questions published by Princeton University. Writing in The Independent, Julian Baggini said "Magee doesn't always match his clarity of expression with rigour of argument, sometimes ignoring his own principle that the feeling 'Yes, surely this must be right' is 'not a validation, not even a credential'. But this can be excused. Plato and Aristotle claimed that philosophy begins with wonder. Magee is proof that for some, the wonder never dies, it only deepens." In 2018 Magee, then living in one room in a nursing home in Oxford, was interviewed by Jason Cowley of New Statesman and discussed his life and his 2016 book Ultimate Questions. Magee said that he believed he lacked originality and, until Ultimate Questions, had struggled to make an original contribution to philosophy, saying:
Popper had this originality, Russell had it, and Einstein had it in spades. Einstein created a way of seeing things which transformed the way we see the world and the way we even understand such fundamental things as time and space. And I fundamentally understand that I could never do that, never. I wish I was in that class – not because I want to be a clever chap but because I want to do things that are at a much better level than I've done them. He went on to discuss his continuing interest in politics and current affairs and to describe the Brexit yes vote as a "historic mistake".
During his National Service he served in the British Army, in the Intelligence Corps, His friends at Oxford included Robin Day, William Rees Mogg, Jeremy Thorpe and Michael Heseltine. While at university, Magee was elected president of the Oxford Union. He later became an honorary fellow at Keble College. At Oxford, Magee had mixed with poets as well as politicians and in 1951 published a volume of verse through the Fortune Press. The publisher did not pay its writers and expected them to buy a certain number of copies themselves – a similar deal had been struck with such writers as Dylan Thomas and Philip Larkin for their first anthologies. The slim volume was dedicated to the memory of Richard Wagner, with a quote from Rilke's Duino Elegies: das Schöne ist nichts als des Schrecklichen Anfang, den wir noch grade ertragen (" beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, that we are still able to bear"). Magee said later: "I'm rather ashamed of the poems now, although I have written poems since which I haven't published, which I secretly think are rather good. It has always been a dimension of what I do." (Later he would also publish fiction, including a spy novel To Live in Danger in 1960 and then a long work Facing Death. The latter, initially composed in the 1960s but not published until 1977, would be shortlisted for an award by The Yorkshire Post). He taught philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford for a period but was not enamoured of the analytical philosophy then in vogue there.</blockquote>
He was eventually elected MP for Leyton at the February 1974 general election, but from 1981 found himself out of tune with the Labour Party's direction under Michael Foot. He also returned to scholarship at Oxford, first as a fellow at Wolfson, then at New College. And extensively revised versions of all the discussions would be made available in the 1971 book Modern British Philosophy. In 1978 Magee presented 15 dialogues with noted philosophers for BBC Television in a series called Men of Ideas. This was a series that, as noted in The Daily Telegraph, "achieved the near impossible feat of presenting to a mass audience recondite issues of philosophy without compromising intellectual integrity or losing ratings" and "attracted a steady one million viewers per show." Extensively revised versions of the dialogues within the Men of Ideas series (which featured Iris Murdoch) were originally published in a book of the same name that is now sold under the title of Talking Philosophy. Neither this series nor its 1987 'sequel' are available for purchase by home users but most of the episodes are freely available on Youtube. Another BBC television series, The Great Philosophers, followed in 1987. In this series, Magee discussed the major historical figures of Western philosophy with fifteen contemporary philosophers. The series covered the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes, among others, including a discussion with Peter Singer on the philosophy of Marx and Hegel, and ending with a discussion with John Searle on the philosophy of Wittgenstein. Extensively revised versions of the dialogues were published in a book of the same name that was published that same year. Magee's 1998 book The Story of Thought (also published as The Story of Philosophy) would also cover the history of Western philosophy. This remains one of the most substantial and wide ranging treatments of the thinker and assesses in depth Schopenhauer's influence on Wittgenstein, Wagner and other creative writers. Magee also addresses Schopenhauer's thoughts on homosexuality and the influence of Buddhism on his thought. This essentially offered an introduction to philosophy in autobiographical form. The book was involved in a libel lawsuit as a result of Magee repeating the rumour that Ralph Schoenman, a controversial associate of Bertrand Russell during the philosopher's final decade, had been planted by the CIA in an effort to discredit Russell. Schoenman successfully sued Magee for libel in the UK, with the result that the first printing of the British edition of the book was pulped. A second defamation suit, filed in California against Random House, was settled in 2001. The allegations were expunged by settlement, and a new edition was issued and provided to more than 700 academic and public libraries. In Confessions of a Philosopher, Magee charts his own philosophical development in an autobiographical context. He also emphasizes the importance of Schopenhauer's philosophy as a serious attempt to solve philosophical problems. In addition to this, he launches a critique of analytic philosophy, particularly in its linguistic form over three chapters, contesting its fundamental principles and lamenting its influence. Magee had a particular interest in the life, thought and music of Richard Wagner and wrote two notable books on the composer and his world, Aspects of Wagner (1968; rev. 1988), and Wagner and Philosophy (2000). In Aspects of Wagner Magee "outlines the range and depth of Wagner's achievement, and shows how his sensational and erotic music expresses the repressed and highly charged contents of the psyche. He also examines Wagner's detailed stage directions, and the prose works in which he formulated his ideas, and sheds interesting new light on his anti semitism." The revised edition includes a fresh chapter on "Wagner as Music". In 2016, approaching his 86th birthday, Magee had his book Ultimate Questions published by Princeton University. Writing in The Independent, Julian Baggini said "Magee doesn't always match his clarity of expression with rigour of argument, sometimes ignoring his own principle that the feeling 'Yes, surely this must be right' is 'not a validation, not even a credential'. But this can be excused. Plato and Aristotle claimed that philosophy begins with wonder. Magee is proof that for some, the wonder never dies, it only deepens." In 2018 Magee, then living in one room in a nursing home in Oxford, was interviewed by Jason Cowley of New Statesman and discussed his life and his 2016 book Ultimate Questions. Magee said that he believed he lacked originality and, until Ultimate Questions, had struggled to make an original contribution to philosophy, saying:
Popper had this originality, Russell had it, and Einstein had it in spades. Einstein created a way of seeing things which transformed the way we see the world and the way we even understand such fundamental things as time and space. And I fundamentally understand that I could never do that, never. I wish I was in that class – not because I want to be a clever chap but because I want to do things that are at a much better level than I've done them. He went on to discuss his continuing interest in politics and current affairs and to describe the Brexit yes vote as a "historic mistake".
Во время прохождения национальной службы он служил в британской армии, в корпусе разведки. Среди его друзей в Оксфорде были Робин Дэй, Уильям Рис-Могг, Джереми Торп и Майкл Хеселтин. Обучаясь в университете, Маги был избран президентом Оксфордского союза. Позже он стал почетным членом колледжа Кибл. В Оксфорде Маги общался как с поэтами, так и с политиками и в 1951 году опубликовал сборник стихов в издательстве Fortune Press. Издательство не платило своим авторам и ожидало, что они сами выкупят определенное количество экземпляров – аналогичные условия были предложены таким писателям, как Дилан Томас и Филипп Ларкин для их первых антологий. Сборник был посвящен памяти Рихарда Вагнера с цитатой из «Дуино-элегий» Рильке: «красота – это не что иное, как начало ужаса, который мы все еще можем вынести». Позже Маги сказал: «Сейчас мне довольно стыдно за эти стихи, хотя я писал стихи и после этого, которые не публиковал, и которые, как мне кажется, довольно хороши. Это всегда было частью того, что я делаю». (Впоследствии он также публиковал художественную литературу, включая шпионский роман «Жить в опасности» в 1960 году, а затем объемную работу «Перед лицом смерти». Последняя, написанная первоначально в 1960-х годах, но опубликованная лишь в 1977 году, вошла в шорт-лист премии газеты The Yorkshire Post). В течение некоторого времени он преподавал философию в колледже Баллиол в Оксфорде, но не испытывал особого энтузиазма к аналитической философии, которая тогда была в моде.
British philosopher and politician (1930–2019)
During his National Service he served in the British Army, in the Intelligence Corps, His friends at Oxford included Robin Day, William Rees Mogg, Jeremy Thorpe and Michael Heseltine. While at university, Magee was elected president of the Oxford Union. He later became an honorary fellow at Keble College. At Oxford, Magee had mixed with poets as well as politicians and in 1951 published a volume of verse through the Fortune Press. The publisher did not pay its writers and expected them to buy a certain number of copies themselves – a similar deal had been struck with such writers as Dylan Thomas and Philip Larkin for their first anthologies. The slim volume was dedicated to the memory of Richard Wagner, with a quote from Rilke's Duino Elegies: das Schöne ist nichts als des Schrecklichen Anfang, den wir noch grade ertragen (" beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, that we are still able to bear"). Magee said later: "I'm rather ashamed of the poems now, although I have written poems since which I haven't published, which I secretly think are rather good. It has always been a dimension of what I do." (Later he would also publish fiction, including a spy novel To Live in Danger in 1960 and then a long work Facing Death. The latter, initially composed in the 1960s but not published until 1977, would be shortlisted for an award by The Yorkshire Post). He taught philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford for a period but was not enamoured of the analytical philosophy then in vogue there.</blockquote>
He was eventually elected MP for Leyton at the February 1974 general election, but from 1981 found himself out of tune with the Labour Party's direction under Michael Foot. He also returned to scholarship at Oxford, first as a fellow at Wolfson, then at New College. And extensively revised versions of all the discussions would be made available in the 1971 book Modern British Philosophy. In 1978 Magee presented 15 dialogues with noted philosophers for BBC Television in a series called Men of Ideas. This was a series that, as noted in The Daily Telegraph, "achieved the near impossible feat of presenting to a mass audience recondite issues of philosophy without compromising intellectual integrity or losing ratings" and "attracted a steady one million viewers per show." Extensively revised versions of the dialogues within the Men of Ideas series (which featured Iris Murdoch) were originally published in a book of the same name that is now sold under the title of Talking Philosophy. Neither this series nor its 1987 'sequel' are available for purchase by home users but most of the episodes are freely available on Youtube. Another BBC television series, The Great Philosophers, followed in 1987. In this series, Magee discussed the major historical figures of Western philosophy with fifteen contemporary philosophers. The series covered the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes, among others, including a discussion with Peter Singer on the philosophy of Marx and Hegel, and ending with a discussion with John Searle on the philosophy of Wittgenstein. Extensively revised versions of the dialogues were published in a book of the same name that was published that same year. Magee's 1998 book The Story of Thought (also published as The Story of Philosophy) would also cover the history of Western philosophy. This remains one of the most substantial and wide ranging treatments of the thinker and assesses in depth Schopenhauer's influence on Wittgenstein, Wagner and other creative writers. Magee also addresses Schopenhauer's thoughts on homosexuality and the influence of Buddhism on his thought. This essentially offered an introduction to philosophy in autobiographical form. The book was involved in a libel lawsuit as a result of Magee repeating the rumour that Ralph Schoenman, a controversial associate of Bertrand Russell during the philosopher's final decade, had been planted by the CIA in an effort to discredit Russell. Schoenman successfully sued Magee for libel in the UK, with the result that the first printing of the British edition of the book was pulped. A second defamation suit, filed in California against Random House, was settled in 2001. The allegations were expunged by settlement, and a new edition was issued and provided to more than 700 academic and public libraries. In Confessions of a Philosopher, Magee charts his own philosophical development in an autobiographical context. He also emphasizes the importance of Schopenhauer's philosophy as a serious attempt to solve philosophical problems. In addition to this, he launches a critique of analytic philosophy, particularly in its linguistic form over three chapters, contesting its fundamental principles and lamenting its influence. Magee had a particular interest in the life, thought and music of Richard Wagner and wrote two notable books on the composer and his world, Aspects of Wagner (1968; rev. 1988), and Wagner and Philosophy (2000). In Aspects of Wagner Magee "outlines the range and depth of Wagner's achievement, and shows how his sensational and erotic music expresses the repressed and highly charged contents of the psyche. He also examines Wagner's detailed stage directions, and the prose works in which he formulated his ideas, and sheds interesting new light on his anti semitism." The revised edition includes a fresh chapter on "Wagner as Music". In 2016, approaching his 86th birthday, Magee had his book Ultimate Questions published by Princeton University. Writing in The Independent, Julian Baggini said "Magee doesn't always match his clarity of expression with rigour of argument, sometimes ignoring his own principle that the feeling 'Yes, surely this must be right' is 'not a validation, not even a credential'. But this can be excused. Plato and Aristotle claimed that philosophy begins with wonder. Magee is proof that for some, the wonder never dies, it only deepens." In 2018 Magee, then living in one room in a nursing home in Oxford, was interviewed by Jason Cowley of New Statesman and discussed his life and his 2016 book Ultimate Questions. Magee said that he believed he lacked originality and, until Ultimate Questions, had struggled to make an original contribution to philosophy, saying:
Popper had this originality, Russell had it, and Einstein had it in spades. Einstein created a way of seeing things which transformed the way we see the world and the way we even understand such fundamental things as time and space. And I fundamentally understand that I could never do that, never. I wish I was in that class – not because I want to be a clever chap but because I want to do things that are at a much better level than I've done them. He went on to discuss his continuing interest in politics and current affairs and to describe the Brexit yes vote as a "historic mistake".
During his National Service he served in the British Army, in the Intelligence Corps, His friends at Oxford included Robin Day, William Rees Mogg, Jeremy Thorpe and Michael Heseltine. While at university, Magee was elected president of the Oxford Union. He later became an honorary fellow at Keble College. At Oxford, Magee had mixed with poets as well as politicians and in 1951 published a volume of verse through the Fortune Press. The publisher did not pay its writers and expected them to buy a certain number of copies themselves – a similar deal had been struck with such writers as Dylan Thomas and Philip Larkin for their first anthologies. The slim volume was dedicated to the memory of Richard Wagner, with a quote from Rilke's Duino Elegies: das Schöne ist nichts als des Schrecklichen Anfang, den wir noch grade ertragen (" beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, that we are still able to bear"). Magee said later: "I'm rather ashamed of the poems now, although I have written poems since which I haven't published, which I secretly think are rather good. It has always been a dimension of what I do." (Later he would also publish fiction, including a spy novel To Live in Danger in 1960 and then a long work Facing Death. The latter, initially composed in the 1960s but not published until 1977, would be shortlisted for an award by The Yorkshire Post). He taught philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford for a period but was not enamoured of the analytical philosophy then in vogue there.</blockquote>
He was eventually elected MP for Leyton at the February 1974 general election, but from 1981 found himself out of tune with the Labour Party's direction under Michael Foot. He also returned to scholarship at Oxford, first as a fellow at Wolfson, then at New College. And extensively revised versions of all the discussions would be made available in the 1971 book Modern British Philosophy. In 1978 Magee presented 15 dialogues with noted philosophers for BBC Television in a series called Men of Ideas. This was a series that, as noted in The Daily Telegraph, "achieved the near impossible feat of presenting to a mass audience recondite issues of philosophy without compromising intellectual integrity or losing ratings" and "attracted a steady one million viewers per show." Extensively revised versions of the dialogues within the Men of Ideas series (which featured Iris Murdoch) were originally published in a book of the same name that is now sold under the title of Talking Philosophy. Neither this series nor its 1987 'sequel' are available for purchase by home users but most of the episodes are freely available on Youtube. Another BBC television series, The Great Philosophers, followed in 1987. In this series, Magee discussed the major historical figures of Western philosophy with fifteen contemporary philosophers. The series covered the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes, among others, including a discussion with Peter Singer on the philosophy of Marx and Hegel, and ending with a discussion with John Searle on the philosophy of Wittgenstein. Extensively revised versions of the dialogues were published in a book of the same name that was published that same year. Magee's 1998 book The Story of Thought (also published as The Story of Philosophy) would also cover the history of Western philosophy. This remains one of the most substantial and wide ranging treatments of the thinker and assesses in depth Schopenhauer's influence on Wittgenstein, Wagner and other creative writers. Magee also addresses Schopenhauer's thoughts on homosexuality and the influence of Buddhism on his thought. This essentially offered an introduction to philosophy in autobiographical form. The book was involved in a libel lawsuit as a result of Magee repeating the rumour that Ralph Schoenman, a controversial associate of Bertrand Russell during the philosopher's final decade, had been planted by the CIA in an effort to discredit Russell. Schoenman successfully sued Magee for libel in the UK, with the result that the first printing of the British edition of the book was pulped. A second defamation suit, filed in California against Random House, was settled in 2001. The allegations were expunged by settlement, and a new edition was issued and provided to more than 700 academic and public libraries. In Confessions of a Philosopher, Magee charts his own philosophical development in an autobiographical context. He also emphasizes the importance of Schopenhauer's philosophy as a serious attempt to solve philosophical problems. In addition to this, he launches a critique of analytic philosophy, particularly in its linguistic form over three chapters, contesting its fundamental principles and lamenting its influence. Magee had a particular interest in the life, thought and music of Richard Wagner and wrote two notable books on the composer and his world, Aspects of Wagner (1968; rev. 1988), and Wagner and Philosophy (2000). In Aspects of Wagner Magee "outlines the range and depth of Wagner's achievement, and shows how his sensational and erotic music expresses the repressed and highly charged contents of the psyche. He also examines Wagner's detailed stage directions, and the prose works in which he formulated his ideas, and sheds interesting new light on his anti semitism." The revised edition includes a fresh chapter on "Wagner as Music". In 2016, approaching his 86th birthday, Magee had his book Ultimate Questions published by Princeton University. Writing in The Independent, Julian Baggini said "Magee doesn't always match his clarity of expression with rigour of argument, sometimes ignoring his own principle that the feeling 'Yes, surely this must be right' is 'not a validation, not even a credential'. But this can be excused. Plato and Aristotle claimed that philosophy begins with wonder. Magee is proof that for some, the wonder never dies, it only deepens." In 2018 Magee, then living in one room in a nursing home in Oxford, was interviewed by Jason Cowley of New Statesman and discussed his life and his 2016 book Ultimate Questions. Magee said that he believed he lacked originality and, until Ultimate Questions, had struggled to make an original contribution to philosophy, saying:
Popper had this originality, Russell had it, and Einstein had it in spades. Einstein created a way of seeing things which transformed the way we see the world and the way we even understand such fundamental things as time and space. And I fundamentally understand that I could never do that, never. I wish I was in that class – not because I want to be a clever chap but because I want to do things that are at a much better level than I've done them. He went on to discuss his continuing interest in politics and current affairs and to describe the Brexit yes vote as a "historic mistake".
В конечном итоге он был избран депутатом от Лейтона на всеобщих выборах в феврале 1974 года, но с 1981 года почувствовал разрыв с направлением, выбранным Лейбористской партией под руководством Майкла Фута. Он также вернулся к научной работе в Оксфорде, сначала в качестве стипендиата в колледже Вульфсон, затем в Нью-Колледже. И все эти дискуссии были значительно переработаны и опубликованы в книге 1971 года «Современная британская философия». В 1978 году Маги представил 15 диалогов с выдающимися философами для BBC Television в серии под названием «Мужчины идей». Как отмечалось в The Daily Telegraph, эта серия «достигла почти невозможного – представить массовой аудитории сложные вопросы философии, не идя на компромисс с интеллектуальной честностью и не теряя рейтингов» и «привлекала стабильно миллион зрителей на каждую передачу». Значительно переработанные версии диалогов из серии «Мужчины идей» (в которой участвовала Айрис Мердок) были первоначально опубликованы в одноименной книге, которая теперь продается под названием «Размышляя о философии». Ни эта серия, ни ее «продолжение» 1987 года не доступны для покупки частными лицами, но большинство эпизодов свободно доступны на Youtube. В 1987 году последовала еще одна телевизионная серия BBC «Великие философы». В этой серии Маги обсуждал с пятнадцатью современными философами ключевые исторические фигуры западной философии. Серия охватывала философию Платона, Аристотеля и Декарта, а также дискуссию с Питером Сингером о философии Маркса и Гегеля и дискуссию с Джоном Серлом о философии Витгенштейна. Значительно переработанные версии диалогов были опубликованы в книге с тем же названием в том же году. Книга Маги 1998 года «История мысли» (также опубликованная как «История философии») также охватывает историю западной философии. Она остается одним из наиболее полных и всесторонних исследований мыслителей и подробно оценивает влияние Шопенгауэра на Витгенштейна, Вагнера и других творческих писателей. Маги также рассматривает мысли Шопенгауэра о гомосексуальности и влияние буддизма на его мировоззрение. По сути, это было введение в философию в автобиографической форме. Книга стала предметом судебного иска о клевете из-за того, что Маги повторил слух о том, что Ральф Шёнман, противоречивый соратник Бертрана Рассела в последние десять лет жизни философа, был внедрен ЦРУ с целью дискредитировать Рассела. Шёнман успешно подал на Маги в суд за клевету в Великобритании, в результате чего первый тираж британского издания книги был уничтожен. Второй иск о клевете, поданный в Калифорнии против Random House, был урегулирован в 2001 году. Обвинения были сняты по соглашению, и было выпущено новое издание, которое было передано более чем 700 академическим и публичным библиотекам. В книге «Признания философа» Маги прослеживает свое собственное философское развитие в автобиографическом контексте. Он также подчеркивает важность философии Шопенгауэра как серьезной попытки решить философские проблемы. Кроме того, он подвергает критике аналитическую философию, особенно в ее лингвистической форме, в трех главах, оспаривая ее фундаментальные принципы и сожалея о ее влиянии. Маги проявлял особый интерес к жизни, мыслям и музыке Рихарда Вагнера и написал две заметные книги о композиторе и его мире: «Аспекты Вагнера» (1968; перераб. 1988) и «Вагнер и философия» (2000). В «Аспектах Вагнера» Маги «очерчивает масштаб и глубину достижений Вагнера и показывает, как его сенсационная и эротическая музыка выражает подавленные и сильно заряженные содержания психики. Он также рассматривает подробные сценические указания Вагнера и прозаические работы, в которых он формулировал свои идеи, и проливает новый свет на его антисемитизм». В переработанном издании добавлена новая глава «Вагнер как музыкант». В 2016 году, приближаясь к 86-летию, Маги опубликовал свою книгу «Главные вопросы» в издательстве Princeton University. Джулиан Баггини, пишущий в The Independent, сказал: «Маги не всегда сочетает ясность выражения с строгостью аргументации, иногда игнорируя свой собственный принцип, согласно которому чувство «Да, это должно быть так» «не является подтверждением, даже не является доказательством». Но это можно простить. Платон и Аристотель утверждали, что философия начинается с удивления. Маги – доказательство того, что для некоторых удивление никогда не умирает, а только углубляется». В 2018 году Маги, проживавший в одной комнате дома престарелых в Оксфорде, дал интервью Джейсону Каули из New Statesman и обсудил свою жизнь и свою книгу 2016 года «Главные вопросы». Маги сказал, что считает, что ему не хватает оригинальности и что до «Главных вопросов» он не смог внести оригинальный вклад в философию, сказав:
British philosopher and politician (1930–2019)
During his National Service he served in the British Army, in the Intelligence Corps, His friends at Oxford included Robin Day, William Rees Mogg, Jeremy Thorpe and Michael Heseltine. While at university, Magee was elected president of the Oxford Union. He later became an honorary fellow at Keble College. At Oxford, Magee had mixed with poets as well as politicians and in 1951 published a volume of verse through the Fortune Press. The publisher did not pay its writers and expected them to buy a certain number of copies themselves – a similar deal had been struck with such writers as Dylan Thomas and Philip Larkin for their first anthologies. The slim volume was dedicated to the memory of Richard Wagner, with a quote from Rilke's Duino Elegies: das Schöne ist nichts als des Schrecklichen Anfang, den wir noch grade ertragen (" beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, that we are still able to bear"). Magee said later: "I'm rather ashamed of the poems now, although I have written poems since which I haven't published, which I secretly think are rather good. It has always been a dimension of what I do." (Later he would also publish fiction, including a spy novel To Live in Danger in 1960 and then a long work Facing Death. The latter, initially composed in the 1960s but not published until 1977, would be shortlisted for an award by The Yorkshire Post). He taught philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford for a period but was not enamoured of the analytical philosophy then in vogue there.</blockquote>
He was eventually elected MP for Leyton at the February 1974 general election, but from 1981 found himself out of tune with the Labour Party's direction under Michael Foot. He also returned to scholarship at Oxford, first as a fellow at Wolfson, then at New College. And extensively revised versions of all the discussions would be made available in the 1971 book Modern British Philosophy. In 1978 Magee presented 15 dialogues with noted philosophers for BBC Television in a series called Men of Ideas. This was a series that, as noted in The Daily Telegraph, "achieved the near impossible feat of presenting to a mass audience recondite issues of philosophy without compromising intellectual integrity or losing ratings" and "attracted a steady one million viewers per show." Extensively revised versions of the dialogues within the Men of Ideas series (which featured Iris Murdoch) were originally published in a book of the same name that is now sold under the title of Talking Philosophy. Neither this series nor its 1987 'sequel' are available for purchase by home users but most of the episodes are freely available on Youtube. Another BBC television series, The Great Philosophers, followed in 1987. In this series, Magee discussed the major historical figures of Western philosophy with fifteen contemporary philosophers. The series covered the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes, among others, including a discussion with Peter Singer on the philosophy of Marx and Hegel, and ending with a discussion with John Searle on the philosophy of Wittgenstein. Extensively revised versions of the dialogues were published in a book of the same name that was published that same year. Magee's 1998 book The Story of Thought (also published as The Story of Philosophy) would also cover the history of Western philosophy. This remains one of the most substantial and wide ranging treatments of the thinker and assesses in depth Schopenhauer's influence on Wittgenstein, Wagner and other creative writers. Magee also addresses Schopenhauer's thoughts on homosexuality and the influence of Buddhism on his thought. This essentially offered an introduction to philosophy in autobiographical form. The book was involved in a libel lawsuit as a result of Magee repeating the rumour that Ralph Schoenman, a controversial associate of Bertrand Russell during the philosopher's final decade, had been planted by the CIA in an effort to discredit Russell. Schoenman successfully sued Magee for libel in the UK, with the result that the first printing of the British edition of the book was pulped. A second defamation suit, filed in California against Random House, was settled in 2001. The allegations were expunged by settlement, and a new edition was issued and provided to more than 700 academic and public libraries. In Confessions of a Philosopher, Magee charts his own philosophical development in an autobiographical context. He also emphasizes the importance of Schopenhauer's philosophy as a serious attempt to solve philosophical problems. In addition to this, he launches a critique of analytic philosophy, particularly in its linguistic form over three chapters, contesting its fundamental principles and lamenting its influence. Magee had a particular interest in the life, thought and music of Richard Wagner and wrote two notable books on the composer and his world, Aspects of Wagner (1968; rev. 1988), and Wagner and Philosophy (2000). In Aspects of Wagner Magee "outlines the range and depth of Wagner's achievement, and shows how his sensational and erotic music expresses the repressed and highly charged contents of the psyche. He also examines Wagner's detailed stage directions, and the prose works in which he formulated his ideas, and sheds interesting new light on his anti semitism." The revised edition includes a fresh chapter on "Wagner as Music". In 2016, approaching his 86th birthday, Magee had his book Ultimate Questions published by Princeton University. Writing in The Independent, Julian Baggini said "Magee doesn't always match his clarity of expression with rigour of argument, sometimes ignoring his own principle that the feeling 'Yes, surely this must be right' is 'not a validation, not even a credential'. But this can be excused. Plato and Aristotle claimed that philosophy begins with wonder. Magee is proof that for some, the wonder never dies, it only deepens." In 2018 Magee, then living in one room in a nursing home in Oxford, was interviewed by Jason Cowley of New Statesman and discussed his life and his 2016 book Ultimate Questions. Magee said that he believed he lacked originality and, until Ultimate Questions, had struggled to make an original contribution to philosophy, saying:
Popper had this originality, Russell had it, and Einstein had it in spades. Einstein created a way of seeing things which transformed the way we see the world and the way we even understand such fundamental things as time and space. And I fundamentally understand that I could never do that, never. I wish I was in that class – not because I want to be a clever chap but because I want to do things that are at a much better level than I've done them. He went on to discuss his continuing interest in politics and current affairs and to describe the Brexit yes vote as a "historic mistake".
During his National Service he served in the British Army, in the Intelligence Corps, His friends at Oxford included Robin Day, William Rees Mogg, Jeremy Thorpe and Michael Heseltine. While at university, Magee was elected president of the Oxford Union. He later became an honorary fellow at Keble College. At Oxford, Magee had mixed with poets as well as politicians and in 1951 published a volume of verse through the Fortune Press. The publisher did not pay its writers and expected them to buy a certain number of copies themselves – a similar deal had been struck with such writers as Dylan Thomas and Philip Larkin for their first anthologies. The slim volume was dedicated to the memory of Richard Wagner, with a quote from Rilke's Duino Elegies: das Schöne ist nichts als des Schrecklichen Anfang, den wir noch grade ertragen (" beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, that we are still able to bear"). Magee said later: "I'm rather ashamed of the poems now, although I have written poems since which I haven't published, which I secretly think are rather good. It has always been a dimension of what I do." (Later he would also publish fiction, including a spy novel To Live in Danger in 1960 and then a long work Facing Death. The latter, initially composed in the 1960s but not published until 1977, would be shortlisted for an award by The Yorkshire Post). He taught philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford for a period but was not enamoured of the analytical philosophy then in vogue there.</blockquote>
He was eventually elected MP for Leyton at the February 1974 general election, but from 1981 found himself out of tune with the Labour Party's direction under Michael Foot. He also returned to scholarship at Oxford, first as a fellow at Wolfson, then at New College. And extensively revised versions of all the discussions would be made available in the 1971 book Modern British Philosophy. In 1978 Magee presented 15 dialogues with noted philosophers for BBC Television in a series called Men of Ideas. This was a series that, as noted in The Daily Telegraph, "achieved the near impossible feat of presenting to a mass audience recondite issues of philosophy without compromising intellectual integrity or losing ratings" and "attracted a steady one million viewers per show." Extensively revised versions of the dialogues within the Men of Ideas series (which featured Iris Murdoch) were originally published in a book of the same name that is now sold under the title of Talking Philosophy. Neither this series nor its 1987 'sequel' are available for purchase by home users but most of the episodes are freely available on Youtube. Another BBC television series, The Great Philosophers, followed in 1987. In this series, Magee discussed the major historical figures of Western philosophy with fifteen contemporary philosophers. The series covered the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes, among others, including a discussion with Peter Singer on the philosophy of Marx and Hegel, and ending with a discussion with John Searle on the philosophy of Wittgenstein. Extensively revised versions of the dialogues were published in a book of the same name that was published that same year. Magee's 1998 book The Story of Thought (also published as The Story of Philosophy) would also cover the history of Western philosophy. This remains one of the most substantial and wide ranging treatments of the thinker and assesses in depth Schopenhauer's influence on Wittgenstein, Wagner and other creative writers. Magee also addresses Schopenhauer's thoughts on homosexuality and the influence of Buddhism on his thought. This essentially offered an introduction to philosophy in autobiographical form. The book was involved in a libel lawsuit as a result of Magee repeating the rumour that Ralph Schoenman, a controversial associate of Bertrand Russell during the philosopher's final decade, had been planted by the CIA in an effort to discredit Russell. Schoenman successfully sued Magee for libel in the UK, with the result that the first printing of the British edition of the book was pulped. A second defamation suit, filed in California against Random House, was settled in 2001. The allegations were expunged by settlement, and a new edition was issued and provided to more than 700 academic and public libraries. In Confessions of a Philosopher, Magee charts his own philosophical development in an autobiographical context. He also emphasizes the importance of Schopenhauer's philosophy as a serious attempt to solve philosophical problems. In addition to this, he launches a critique of analytic philosophy, particularly in its linguistic form over three chapters, contesting its fundamental principles and lamenting its influence. Magee had a particular interest in the life, thought and music of Richard Wagner and wrote two notable books on the composer and his world, Aspects of Wagner (1968; rev. 1988), and Wagner and Philosophy (2000). In Aspects of Wagner Magee "outlines the range and depth of Wagner's achievement, and shows how his sensational and erotic music expresses the repressed and highly charged contents of the psyche. He also examines Wagner's detailed stage directions, and the prose works in which he formulated his ideas, and sheds interesting new light on his anti semitism." The revised edition includes a fresh chapter on "Wagner as Music". In 2016, approaching his 86th birthday, Magee had his book Ultimate Questions published by Princeton University. Writing in The Independent, Julian Baggini said "Magee doesn't always match his clarity of expression with rigour of argument, sometimes ignoring his own principle that the feeling 'Yes, surely this must be right' is 'not a validation, not even a credential'. But this can be excused. Plato and Aristotle claimed that philosophy begins with wonder. Magee is proof that for some, the wonder never dies, it only deepens." In 2018 Magee, then living in one room in a nursing home in Oxford, was interviewed by Jason Cowley of New Statesman and discussed his life and his 2016 book Ultimate Questions. Magee said that he believed he lacked originality and, until Ultimate Questions, had struggled to make an original contribution to philosophy, saying:
Popper had this originality, Russell had it, and Einstein had it in spades. Einstein created a way of seeing things which transformed the way we see the world and the way we even understand such fundamental things as time and space. And I fundamentally understand that I could never do that, never. I wish I was in that class – not because I want to be a clever chap but because I want to do things that are at a much better level than I've done them. He went on to discuss his continuing interest in politics and current affairs and to describe the Brexit yes vote as a "historic mistake".
«У Поппера была эта оригинальность, у Рассела она была, а у Эйнштейна ее было с избытком. Эйнштейн создал способ видения вещей, который изменил то, как мы видим мир и даже понимаем такие фундаментальные вещи, как время и пространство. И я прекрасно понимаю, что никогда не смогу этого сделать, никогда. Я хотел бы быть в этом классе – не потому, что хочу казаться умным, а потому, что хочу делать вещи на гораздо более высоком уровне, чем я делал их».
British philosopher and politician (1930–2019)
During his National Service he served in the British Army, in the Intelligence Corps, His friends at Oxford included Robin Day, William Rees Mogg, Jeremy Thorpe and Michael Heseltine. While at university, Magee was elected president of the Oxford Union. He later became an honorary fellow at Keble College. At Oxford, Magee had mixed with poets as well as politicians and in 1951 published a volume of verse through the Fortune Press. The publisher did not pay its writers and expected them to buy a certain number of copies themselves – a similar deal had been struck with such writers as Dylan Thomas and Philip Larkin for their first anthologies. The slim volume was dedicated to the memory of Richard Wagner, with a quote from Rilke's Duino Elegies: das Schöne ist nichts als des Schrecklichen Anfang, den wir noch grade ertragen (" beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, that we are still able to bear"). Magee said later: "I'm rather ashamed of the poems now, although I have written poems since which I haven't published, which I secretly think are rather good. It has always been a dimension of what I do." (Later he would also publish fiction, including a spy novel To Live in Danger in 1960 and then a long work Facing Death. The latter, initially composed in the 1960s but not published until 1977, would be shortlisted for an award by The Yorkshire Post). He taught philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford for a period but was not enamoured of the analytical philosophy then in vogue there.</blockquote>
He was eventually elected MP for Leyton at the February 1974 general election, but from 1981 found himself out of tune with the Labour Party's direction under Michael Foot. He also returned to scholarship at Oxford, first as a fellow at Wolfson, then at New College. And extensively revised versions of all the discussions would be made available in the 1971 book Modern British Philosophy. In 1978 Magee presented 15 dialogues with noted philosophers for BBC Television in a series called Men of Ideas. This was a series that, as noted in The Daily Telegraph, "achieved the near impossible feat of presenting to a mass audience recondite issues of philosophy without compromising intellectual integrity or losing ratings" and "attracted a steady one million viewers per show." Extensively revised versions of the dialogues within the Men of Ideas series (which featured Iris Murdoch) were originally published in a book of the same name that is now sold under the title of Talking Philosophy. Neither this series nor its 1987 'sequel' are available for purchase by home users but most of the episodes are freely available on Youtube. Another BBC television series, The Great Philosophers, followed in 1987. In this series, Magee discussed the major historical figures of Western philosophy with fifteen contemporary philosophers. The series covered the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes, among others, including a discussion with Peter Singer on the philosophy of Marx and Hegel, and ending with a discussion with John Searle on the philosophy of Wittgenstein. Extensively revised versions of the dialogues were published in a book of the same name that was published that same year. Magee's 1998 book The Story of Thought (also published as The Story of Philosophy) would also cover the history of Western philosophy. This remains one of the most substantial and wide ranging treatments of the thinker and assesses in depth Schopenhauer's influence on Wittgenstein, Wagner and other creative writers. Magee also addresses Schopenhauer's thoughts on homosexuality and the influence of Buddhism on his thought. This essentially offered an introduction to philosophy in autobiographical form. The book was involved in a libel lawsuit as a result of Magee repeating the rumour that Ralph Schoenman, a controversial associate of Bertrand Russell during the philosopher's final decade, had been planted by the CIA in an effort to discredit Russell. Schoenman successfully sued Magee for libel in the UK, with the result that the first printing of the British edition of the book was pulped. A second defamation suit, filed in California against Random House, was settled in 2001. The allegations were expunged by settlement, and a new edition was issued and provided to more than 700 academic and public libraries. In Confessions of a Philosopher, Magee charts his own philosophical development in an autobiographical context. He also emphasizes the importance of Schopenhauer's philosophy as a serious attempt to solve philosophical problems. In addition to this, he launches a critique of analytic philosophy, particularly in its linguistic form over three chapters, contesting its fundamental principles and lamenting its influence. Magee had a particular interest in the life, thought and music of Richard Wagner and wrote two notable books on the composer and his world, Aspects of Wagner (1968; rev. 1988), and Wagner and Philosophy (2000). In Aspects of Wagner Magee "outlines the range and depth of Wagner's achievement, and shows how his sensational and erotic music expresses the repressed and highly charged contents of the psyche. He also examines Wagner's detailed stage directions, and the prose works in which he formulated his ideas, and sheds interesting new light on his anti semitism." The revised edition includes a fresh chapter on "Wagner as Music". In 2016, approaching his 86th birthday, Magee had his book Ultimate Questions published by Princeton University. Writing in The Independent, Julian Baggini said "Magee doesn't always match his clarity of expression with rigour of argument, sometimes ignoring his own principle that the feeling 'Yes, surely this must be right' is 'not a validation, not even a credential'. But this can be excused. Plato and Aristotle claimed that philosophy begins with wonder. Magee is proof that for some, the wonder never dies, it only deepens." In 2018 Magee, then living in one room in a nursing home in Oxford, was interviewed by Jason Cowley of New Statesman and discussed his life and his 2016 book Ultimate Questions. Magee said that he believed he lacked originality and, until Ultimate Questions, had struggled to make an original contribution to philosophy, saying:
Popper had this originality, Russell had it, and Einstein had it in spades. Einstein created a way of seeing things which transformed the way we see the world and the way we even understand such fundamental things as time and space. And I fundamentally understand that I could never do that, never. I wish I was in that class – not because I want to be a clever chap but because I want to do things that are at a much better level than I've done them. He went on to discuss his continuing interest in politics and current affairs and to describe the Brexit yes vote as a "historic mistake".
During his National Service he served in the British Army, in the Intelligence Corps, His friends at Oxford included Robin Day, William Rees Mogg, Jeremy Thorpe and Michael Heseltine. While at university, Magee was elected president of the Oxford Union. He later became an honorary fellow at Keble College. At Oxford, Magee had mixed with poets as well as politicians and in 1951 published a volume of verse through the Fortune Press. The publisher did not pay its writers and expected them to buy a certain number of copies themselves – a similar deal had been struck with such writers as Dylan Thomas and Philip Larkin for their first anthologies. The slim volume was dedicated to the memory of Richard Wagner, with a quote from Rilke's Duino Elegies: das Schöne ist nichts als des Schrecklichen Anfang, den wir noch grade ertragen (" beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, that we are still able to bear"). Magee said later: "I'm rather ashamed of the poems now, although I have written poems since which I haven't published, which I secretly think are rather good. It has always been a dimension of what I do." (Later he would also publish fiction, including a spy novel To Live in Danger in 1960 and then a long work Facing Death. The latter, initially composed in the 1960s but not published until 1977, would be shortlisted for an award by The Yorkshire Post). He taught philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford for a period but was not enamoured of the analytical philosophy then in vogue there.</blockquote>
He was eventually elected MP for Leyton at the February 1974 general election, but from 1981 found himself out of tune with the Labour Party's direction under Michael Foot. He also returned to scholarship at Oxford, first as a fellow at Wolfson, then at New College. And extensively revised versions of all the discussions would be made available in the 1971 book Modern British Philosophy. In 1978 Magee presented 15 dialogues with noted philosophers for BBC Television in a series called Men of Ideas. This was a series that, as noted in The Daily Telegraph, "achieved the near impossible feat of presenting to a mass audience recondite issues of philosophy without compromising intellectual integrity or losing ratings" and "attracted a steady one million viewers per show." Extensively revised versions of the dialogues within the Men of Ideas series (which featured Iris Murdoch) were originally published in a book of the same name that is now sold under the title of Talking Philosophy. Neither this series nor its 1987 'sequel' are available for purchase by home users but most of the episodes are freely available on Youtube. Another BBC television series, The Great Philosophers, followed in 1987. In this series, Magee discussed the major historical figures of Western philosophy with fifteen contemporary philosophers. The series covered the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes, among others, including a discussion with Peter Singer on the philosophy of Marx and Hegel, and ending with a discussion with John Searle on the philosophy of Wittgenstein. Extensively revised versions of the dialogues were published in a book of the same name that was published that same year. Magee's 1998 book The Story of Thought (also published as The Story of Philosophy) would also cover the history of Western philosophy. This remains one of the most substantial and wide ranging treatments of the thinker and assesses in depth Schopenhauer's influence on Wittgenstein, Wagner and other creative writers. Magee also addresses Schopenhauer's thoughts on homosexuality and the influence of Buddhism on his thought. This essentially offered an introduction to philosophy in autobiographical form. The book was involved in a libel lawsuit as a result of Magee repeating the rumour that Ralph Schoenman, a controversial associate of Bertrand Russell during the philosopher's final decade, had been planted by the CIA in an effort to discredit Russell. Schoenman successfully sued Magee for libel in the UK, with the result that the first printing of the British edition of the book was pulped. A second defamation suit, filed in California against Random House, was settled in 2001. The allegations were expunged by settlement, and a new edition was issued and provided to more than 700 academic and public libraries. In Confessions of a Philosopher, Magee charts his own philosophical development in an autobiographical context. He also emphasizes the importance of Schopenhauer's philosophy as a serious attempt to solve philosophical problems. In addition to this, he launches a critique of analytic philosophy, particularly in its linguistic form over three chapters, contesting its fundamental principles and lamenting its influence. Magee had a particular interest in the life, thought and music of Richard Wagner and wrote two notable books on the composer and his world, Aspects of Wagner (1968; rev. 1988), and Wagner and Philosophy (2000). In Aspects of Wagner Magee "outlines the range and depth of Wagner's achievement, and shows how his sensational and erotic music expresses the repressed and highly charged contents of the psyche. He also examines Wagner's detailed stage directions, and the prose works in which he formulated his ideas, and sheds interesting new light on his anti semitism." The revised edition includes a fresh chapter on "Wagner as Music". In 2016, approaching his 86th birthday, Magee had his book Ultimate Questions published by Princeton University. Writing in The Independent, Julian Baggini said "Magee doesn't always match his clarity of expression with rigour of argument, sometimes ignoring his own principle that the feeling 'Yes, surely this must be right' is 'not a validation, not even a credential'. But this can be excused. Plato and Aristotle claimed that philosophy begins with wonder. Magee is proof that for some, the wonder never dies, it only deepens." In 2018 Magee, then living in one room in a nursing home in Oxford, was interviewed by Jason Cowley of New Statesman and discussed his life and his 2016 book Ultimate Questions. Magee said that he believed he lacked originality and, until Ultimate Questions, had struggled to make an original contribution to philosophy, saying:
Popper had this originality, Russell had it, and Einstein had it in spades. Einstein created a way of seeing things which transformed the way we see the world and the way we even understand such fundamental things as time and space. And I fundamentally understand that I could never do that, never. I wish I was in that class – not because I want to be a clever chap but because I want to do things that are at a much better level than I've done them. He went on to discuss his continuing interest in politics and current affairs and to describe the Brexit yes vote as a "historic mistake".
Он продолжил обсудить свой продолжающийся интерес к политике и текущим событиям и назвал голосование за Brexit «исторической ошибкой».
British philosopher and politician (1930–2019)
During his National Service he served in the British Army, in the Intelligence Corps, His friends at Oxford included Robin Day, William Rees Mogg, Jeremy Thorpe and Michael Heseltine. While at university, Magee was elected president of the Oxford Union. He later became an honorary fellow at Keble College. At Oxford, Magee had mixed with poets as well as politicians and in 1951 published a volume of verse through the Fortune Press. The publisher did not pay its writers and expected them to buy a certain number of copies themselves – a similar deal had been struck with such writers as Dylan Thomas and Philip Larkin for their first anthologies. The slim volume was dedicated to the memory of Richard Wagner, with a quote from Rilke's Duino Elegies: das Schöne ist nichts als des Schrecklichen Anfang, den wir noch grade ertragen (" beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, that we are still able to bear"). Magee said later: "I'm rather ashamed of the poems now, although I have written poems since which I haven't published, which I secretly think are rather good. It has always been a dimension of what I do." (Later he would also publish fiction, including a spy novel To Live in Danger in 1960 and then a long work Facing Death. The latter, initially composed in the 1960s but not published until 1977, would be shortlisted for an award by The Yorkshire Post). He taught philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford for a period but was not enamoured of the analytical philosophy then in vogue there.</blockquote>
He was eventually elected MP for Leyton at the February 1974 general election, but from 1981 found himself out of tune with the Labour Party's direction under Michael Foot. He also returned to scholarship at Oxford, first as a fellow at Wolfson, then at New College. And extensively revised versions of all the discussions would be made available in the 1971 book Modern British Philosophy. In 1978 Magee presented 15 dialogues with noted philosophers for BBC Television in a series called Men of Ideas. This was a series that, as noted in The Daily Telegraph, "achieved the near impossible feat of presenting to a mass audience recondite issues of philosophy without compromising intellectual integrity or losing ratings" and "attracted a steady one million viewers per show." Extensively revised versions of the dialogues within the Men of Ideas series (which featured Iris Murdoch) were originally published in a book of the same name that is now sold under the title of Talking Philosophy. Neither this series nor its 1987 'sequel' are available for purchase by home users but most of the episodes are freely available on Youtube. Another BBC television series, The Great Philosophers, followed in 1987. In this series, Magee discussed the major historical figures of Western philosophy with fifteen contemporary philosophers. The series covered the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes, among others, including a discussion with Peter Singer on the philosophy of Marx and Hegel, and ending with a discussion with John Searle on the philosophy of Wittgenstein. Extensively revised versions of the dialogues were published in a book of the same name that was published that same year. Magee's 1998 book The Story of Thought (also published as The Story of Philosophy) would also cover the history of Western philosophy. This remains one of the most substantial and wide ranging treatments of the thinker and assesses in depth Schopenhauer's influence on Wittgenstein, Wagner and other creative writers. Magee also addresses Schopenhauer's thoughts on homosexuality and the influence of Buddhism on his thought. This essentially offered an introduction to philosophy in autobiographical form. The book was involved in a libel lawsuit as a result of Magee repeating the rumour that Ralph Schoenman, a controversial associate of Bertrand Russell during the philosopher's final decade, had been planted by the CIA in an effort to discredit Russell. Schoenman successfully sued Magee for libel in the UK, with the result that the first printing of the British edition of the book was pulped. A second defamation suit, filed in California against Random House, was settled in 2001. The allegations were expunged by settlement, and a new edition was issued and provided to more than 700 academic and public libraries. In Confessions of a Philosopher, Magee charts his own philosophical development in an autobiographical context. He also emphasizes the importance of Schopenhauer's philosophy as a serious attempt to solve philosophical problems. In addition to this, he launches a critique of analytic philosophy, particularly in its linguistic form over three chapters, contesting its fundamental principles and lamenting its influence. Magee had a particular interest in the life, thought and music of Richard Wagner and wrote two notable books on the composer and his world, Aspects of Wagner (1968; rev. 1988), and Wagner and Philosophy (2000). In Aspects of Wagner Magee "outlines the range and depth of Wagner's achievement, and shows how his sensational and erotic music expresses the repressed and highly charged contents of the psyche. He also examines Wagner's detailed stage directions, and the prose works in which he formulated his ideas, and sheds interesting new light on his anti semitism." The revised edition includes a fresh chapter on "Wagner as Music". In 2016, approaching his 86th birthday, Magee had his book Ultimate Questions published by Princeton University. Writing in The Independent, Julian Baggini said "Magee doesn't always match his clarity of expression with rigour of argument, sometimes ignoring his own principle that the feeling 'Yes, surely this must be right' is 'not a validation, not even a credential'. But this can be excused. Plato and Aristotle claimed that philosophy begins with wonder. Magee is proof that for some, the wonder never dies, it only deepens." In 2018 Magee, then living in one room in a nursing home in Oxford, was interviewed by Jason Cowley of New Statesman and discussed his life and his 2016 book Ultimate Questions. Magee said that he believed he lacked originality and, until Ultimate Questions, had struggled to make an original contribution to philosophy, saying:
Popper had this originality, Russell had it, and Einstein had it in spades. Einstein created a way of seeing things which transformed the way we see the world and the way we even understand such fundamental things as time and space. And I fundamentally understand that I could never do that, never. I wish I was in that class – not because I want to be a clever chap but because I want to do things that are at a much better level than I've done them. He went on to discuss his continuing interest in politics and current affairs and to describe the Brexit yes vote as a "historic mistake".
During his National Service he served in the British Army, in the Intelligence Corps, His friends at Oxford included Robin Day, William Rees Mogg, Jeremy Thorpe and Michael Heseltine. While at university, Magee was elected president of the Oxford Union. He later became an honorary fellow at Keble College. At Oxford, Magee had mixed with poets as well as politicians and in 1951 published a volume of verse through the Fortune Press. The publisher did not pay its writers and expected them to buy a certain number of copies themselves – a similar deal had been struck with such writers as Dylan Thomas and Philip Larkin for their first anthologies. The slim volume was dedicated to the memory of Richard Wagner, with a quote from Rilke's Duino Elegies: das Schöne ist nichts als des Schrecklichen Anfang, den wir noch grade ertragen (" beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, that we are still able to bear"). Magee said later: "I'm rather ashamed of the poems now, although I have written poems since which I haven't published, which I secretly think are rather good. It has always been a dimension of what I do." (Later he would also publish fiction, including a spy novel To Live in Danger in 1960 and then a long work Facing Death. The latter, initially composed in the 1960s but not published until 1977, would be shortlisted for an award by The Yorkshire Post). He taught philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford for a period but was not enamoured of the analytical philosophy then in vogue there.</blockquote>
He was eventually elected MP for Leyton at the February 1974 general election, but from 1981 found himself out of tune with the Labour Party's direction under Michael Foot. He also returned to scholarship at Oxford, first as a fellow at Wolfson, then at New College. And extensively revised versions of all the discussions would be made available in the 1971 book Modern British Philosophy. In 1978 Magee presented 15 dialogues with noted philosophers for BBC Television in a series called Men of Ideas. This was a series that, as noted in The Daily Telegraph, "achieved the near impossible feat of presenting to a mass audience recondite issues of philosophy without compromising intellectual integrity or losing ratings" and "attracted a steady one million viewers per show." Extensively revised versions of the dialogues within the Men of Ideas series (which featured Iris Murdoch) were originally published in a book of the same name that is now sold under the title of Talking Philosophy. Neither this series nor its 1987 'sequel' are available for purchase by home users but most of the episodes are freely available on Youtube. Another BBC television series, The Great Philosophers, followed in 1987. In this series, Magee discussed the major historical figures of Western philosophy with fifteen contemporary philosophers. The series covered the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes, among others, including a discussion with Peter Singer on the philosophy of Marx and Hegel, and ending with a discussion with John Searle on the philosophy of Wittgenstein. Extensively revised versions of the dialogues were published in a book of the same name that was published that same year. Magee's 1998 book The Story of Thought (also published as The Story of Philosophy) would also cover the history of Western philosophy. This remains one of the most substantial and wide ranging treatments of the thinker and assesses in depth Schopenhauer's influence on Wittgenstein, Wagner and other creative writers. Magee also addresses Schopenhauer's thoughts on homosexuality and the influence of Buddhism on his thought. This essentially offered an introduction to philosophy in autobiographical form. The book was involved in a libel lawsuit as a result of Magee repeating the rumour that Ralph Schoenman, a controversial associate of Bertrand Russell during the philosopher's final decade, had been planted by the CIA in an effort to discredit Russell. Schoenman successfully sued Magee for libel in the UK, with the result that the first printing of the British edition of the book was pulped. A second defamation suit, filed in California against Random House, was settled in 2001. The allegations were expunged by settlement, and a new edition was issued and provided to more than 700 academic and public libraries. In Confessions of a Philosopher, Magee charts his own philosophical development in an autobiographical context. He also emphasizes the importance of Schopenhauer's philosophy as a serious attempt to solve philosophical problems. In addition to this, he launches a critique of analytic philosophy, particularly in its linguistic form over three chapters, contesting its fundamental principles and lamenting its influence. Magee had a particular interest in the life, thought and music of Richard Wagner and wrote two notable books on the composer and his world, Aspects of Wagner (1968; rev. 1988), and Wagner and Philosophy (2000). In Aspects of Wagner Magee "outlines the range and depth of Wagner's achievement, and shows how his sensational and erotic music expresses the repressed and highly charged contents of the psyche. He also examines Wagner's detailed stage directions, and the prose works in which he formulated his ideas, and sheds interesting new light on his anti semitism." The revised edition includes a fresh chapter on "Wagner as Music". In 2016, approaching his 86th birthday, Magee had his book Ultimate Questions published by Princeton University. Writing in The Independent, Julian Baggini said "Magee doesn't always match his clarity of expression with rigour of argument, sometimes ignoring his own principle that the feeling 'Yes, surely this must be right' is 'not a validation, not even a credential'. But this can be excused. Plato and Aristotle claimed that philosophy begins with wonder. Magee is proof that for some, the wonder never dies, it only deepens." In 2018 Magee, then living in one room in a nursing home in Oxford, was interviewed by Jason Cowley of New Statesman and discussed his life and his 2016 book Ultimate Questions. Magee said that he believed he lacked originality and, until Ultimate Questions, had struggled to make an original contribution to philosophy, saying:
Popper had this originality, Russell had it, and Einstein had it in spades. Einstein created a way of seeing things which transformed the way we see the world and the way we even understand such fundamental things as time and space. And I fundamentally understand that I could never do that, never. I wish I was in that class – not because I want to be a clever chap but because I want to do things that are at a much better level than I've done them. He went on to discuss his continuing interest in politics and current affairs and to describe the Brexit yes vote as a "historic mistake".
Личная жизнь
В 1953 году Маги получил должность преподавателя в Швеции, где и встретил Ингрид Сёдерлунд, фармацевта в университетской лаборатории. Они поженились и у них родилась дочь Гуннела, а впоследствии – трое внуков. Позже Маги говорил: "Брак распался довольно быстро, и это был весьма неблагополучный период в моей жизни. Я вернулся в Оксфорд для обучения в аспирантуре. Но с тех пор Швеция стала неотъемлемой частью моей жизни. Я езжу туда каждый год, и моя дочь приезжает ко мне в гости. Я всегда думал, что рано или поздно я снова женюсь, но этого так и не случилось, хотя у меня было несколько очень продолжительных отношений. И теперь я не хочу снова жениться. Мне нравится свобода."
In 1953, Magee was appointed to a teaching job in Sweden and while there met Ingrid Söderlund, a pharmacist in the university laboratory. They married and had one daughter, Gunnela and, in time, three grandchildren. Magee later said: <blockquote>The marriage broke up pretty quickly and it was a fairly disastrous period of my life. I came back to Oxford as a postgraduate. But since then Sweden has been a part of my life. I go there every year and my daughter visits me. I always assumed that sooner or later I'd get married again but it never quite happened, although I had some very long relationships. And now I don't want to get married again. I like the freedom.