R. M. Hare

R. M. Hare
Name	R. M. Hare
Birth date	5 April 1919
Birth place	Wellington, New Zealand
Death date	29 January 2002
Death place	Oxford
Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Analytic philosophy
Main interests	meta-ethics, normative ethics, philosophy of language
Notable ideas	Prescriptivism, universalizability, two-level utilitarianism
Influences	C. S. Lewis, G. E. Moore, Ludwig Wittgenstein, John Rawls
Influenced	Peter Railton, Ruth Barcan Marcus, Derek Parfit, Philippa Foot

R. M. Hare. Richard Montague Hare was a prominent 20th-century philosophy scholar noted for developing prescriptivism in meta-ethics and for influential work in philosophy of language. He taught at University of Oxford and influenced debates involving utilitarianism, logical positivism, ordinary language philosophy, and the ethics of human rights and war. His views generated engagement from figures associated with moral realism, virtue ethics, and deontological ethics.

Early life and education

Hare was born in Wellington and studied at Wellington College (New Zealand), before attending Balliol College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, where he encountered scholars from Oxford University circles including J. L. Austin, Gilbert Ryle, C. D. Broad, and members of the Vienna Circle-influenced community. His wartime service during World War II interrupted studies, after which he completed degrees at University of Oxford and pursued work influenced by G. E. Moore and Ludwig Wittgenstein. He engaged with debates stemming from publications by A. J. Ayer, Bertrand Russell, and John Austin.

Academic career and appointments

Hare held fellowships and posts at Balliol College, Oxford, later becoming a Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford and a lecturer in philosophy within Oxford University. He served as a visiting professor at institutions such as Yale University, Princeton University, and delivered lectures at Harvard University and the University of Cambridge. Hare participated in conferences alongside philosophers from Berkeley, Columbia University, King's College London, and the London School of Economics. He received honors from bodies including the British Academy and engaged with editorial boards for journals like Mind and Philosophical Review.

Moral philosophy and prescriptivism

Hare advanced a form of universal prescriptivism responding to positions by G. E. Moore and critics such as Geoffrey Warnock and J. O. Urmson. He argued that moral language functions as prescriptive commands similar to discussions by J. L. Austin and R. M. Hare's interlocutors in ordinary language philosophy, while incorporating a universalizability principle reminiscent of debates with Immanuel Kant-inspired readers and utilitarian theorists like Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Hare's two-level approach, contrasted with views by Henry Sidgwick and later discussed by Derek Parfit and Peter Singer, distinguished between intuitive moral judgments and critical moral reasoning analogous to analytical methods used in philosophy of language by Wittgensteinians and logical positivists. His prescriptivism engaged with meta-ethical alternatives including emotivism associated with A. J. Ayer and moral realism defended by G. J. Warnock-type critics, prompting responses from scholars like Philippa Foot and Ruth Barcan Marcus.

Major works and publications

Hare authored several influential books and essays, notably a systematic account in works comparable in impact to classics by G. E. Moore and John Rawls. His publications include major texts that circulated in academic programs at Oxford University, Yale University, Harvard University, and Cambridge University. He contributed essays to collections alongside pieces by Gilbert Ryle, Elizabeth Anscombe, P. F. Strawson, and W. D. Ross. His corpus appeared in journals such as Mind, Philosophical Review, and Ethics, and was debated in symposia at Princeton University and Stanford University. Later volumes collected his lectures and responses to commentators including R. M. Hare's peers and successors like R. B. Braithwaite and H. L. A. Hart.

Influence, reception, and criticisms

Hare's theories influenced a generation of analytic ethicists and philosophers of language, including Peter Railton, Derek Parfit, Ruth Barcan Marcus, and critics from schools represented by Philippa Foot and Bernard Williams. His prescriptivism faced criticisms from adherents of moral realism such as Simon Blackburn and from proponents of virtue ethics linked to Martha Nussbaum and Alasdair MacIntyre, as well as analytic ethicists in the tradition of Henry Sidgwick and John Rawls. Debates unfolded in venues involving American Philosophical Association meetings, symposia at British Academy events, and publications from Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. Critics argued issues about normative force and ontology were better addressed by frameworks advanced by Derek Parfit and Peter Singer, while defenders highlighted affinities with Kantian universalizability and utilitarian deliberation.

Personal life and legacy

Hare's personal life included connections to academic communities at Balliol College, Oxford and social circles associated with Oxford University Press editors, and he maintained correspondence with figures such as C. S. Lewis and legal philosophers including H. L. A. Hart. His legacy endures through graduate programs at institutions like Princeton University, Yale University, University of Chicago, and University of Oxford, and through continued citation in works by philosophers such as T. M. Scanlon, Christine Korsgaard, and Julia Driver. Collections of his papers are held at repositories connected to Oxford University, and his methodological influence remains a subject in courses on meta-ethics and philosophy of language.

Category:20th-century philosophers Category:Analytic philosophers