Guide to the Papers of J.J.C. Smart, 1951-1996

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 7740
Creator:
Smart, J.J.C. (John Jamieson Carswell), 1920-
Extent:
0.7 metres and (5 boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of J.J.C. Smart, National Library of Australia, MS 7740, [file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:
The papers consist predominantly of correspondence between Smart and philosophers in Australia, New Zealand, Britain, North America, Europe and Asia. Most of the letters discuss philosophical questions, but some deal with practical matters, such as publications, conferences and travels. The correspondents include David Armstrong, W.V. Quine, David Lewis, Donald Davidson, John Leslie, Antony Flew, Gilbert Ryle and R.M. Hare. In addition to the letters, there is correspondence concerning Smart's association with the Fédération International des Societes de Philosophie and the Australian National University, together with a small group of his unpublished lectures and other writings.
Biographical / Historical:

John Jamieson Carswell Smart was born in Cambridge, England, on 16 September 1920, the son of William and Isabel Smart. He was educated at The Leys School (Cambridge), Glasgow University and the University of Oxford. He served in the British Army, mainly in India and Burma, during World War II.

Smart was a Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, before being appointed Hughes Professor of Philosophy at the University of Adelaide in 1950. He held this position until 1972, when he moved to La Trobe University as a Reader in Philosophy. In 1976 he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. He retired in 1986, but continued to work at the Australian National University until 1999. During his career he held visiting professorships at several universities including Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Stanford.

Jack Smart is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. In 1990 he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia. In 1956 he married Janet Paine and they had two children. She died in 1967 and in the following year he married Elizabeth Warner.

Smart's publications include:

An outline of a system of utilitarian ethics, Melbourne, 1961Philosophy and scientific realism, London, 1963Between science and philosophy, New York, 1968Utilitarianism: for and against, Cambridge, 1973 (with Bernard Williams)Ethics, persuasion and truth, London, 1984Essays metaphysical and moral, Oxford, 1987Our place in the universe, Oxford, 1989Atheism and theism, Oxford, 1996 (with J.J. Haldane)
Provenance:

The first instalment of the papers was donated to the Library by Professor Smart in 1989. He added the 1986-1996 correspondence files in 1999.

Arrangement:

Smart kept his correspondence in chronolgoical order and in later years he made separte files for his Australian and overseas correspondents. This arrangment has been maintained by the Library.

Smart retained copies of many of his own letters and in some files the outgoing letters exceed the incoming ones. Only the writers of letter and not the recipients have been listed.

Container List:
File Box
1-8 1
9-17 2
18-25 3
26-34 4
35-44 5

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
The collection is available for reference.
Conditions Governing Use:
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of J.J.C. Smart, National Library of Australia, MS 7740, [file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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