Lucas was educated at Winchester College and then, as a pupil of R.M. Hare, among others, at Balliol College, Oxford.[2] He studied first mathematics, then Greats (Greek, Latin, Philosophy and Ancient History), obtaining first class honours in both. He sat for Finals in 1951, and took his MA in 1954. He spent the 1957–58 academic year at Princeton University, studying mathematics and logic. For 36 years, until his 1996 retirement, he was a Fellow and Tutor of Merton College, Oxford, and he remained an emeritus member of the University Faculty of Philosophy. He was a Fellow of the British Academy.[3]
The son of a Church of England clergyman, and an Anglican himself, Lucas described himself as "a dyed-in-the-wool traditional Englishman." He had four children (Edward, Helen, Richard and Deborah) with Morar Portal, among them Edward Lucas, a former journalist at The Economist.
In addition to his philosophical career, Lucas had a practical interest in business ethics. He helped found the Oxford Consumers' Group,[4] and was its first chairman in 1961–3, serving again in 1965.
Determinism ↔ For any human h there exists at least one (deterministic) logical systemL(h) which reliably predicts h's actions in all circumstances.
For any logical system L a sufficiently skilled mathematical logician (equipped with a sufficiently powerful computer if necessary) can construct some statements T(L) which are true but unprovable in L. (This follows from Gödel's first theorem.)
If a human m is a sufficiently skillful mathematical logician (equipped with a sufficiently powerful computer if necessary) then if m is given L(m), he or she can construct T(L(m)) and determine that they are true—which L(m) cannot do.
Hence L(m) does not reliably predict m's actions in all circumstances.
It is implausible that the qualitative difference between mathematical logicians and the rest of the population is such that the former have free will and the latter do not.
His argument was strengthened by the discovery by Hava Siegelmann in the 1990s that sufficiently complex analogue recurrent neural networks are more powerful than Turing Machines.[6]
Space, time and causalityedit
Lucas wrote several books on the philosophy of science and space-time (see below). In A treatise on time and space[7] he introduced a transcendental derivation of the Lorenz Transformations based on Red and Blue exchanging messages (in Russian and Greek respectively) from their respective frames of reference which demonstrates how these can be derived from a minimal set of philosophical assumptions.
In The Future Lucas gives a detailed analysis of tenses and time, arguing that "the Block universe gives a deeply inadequate view of time. It fails to account for the passage of time, the pre-eminence of the present, the directedness of time and the difference between the future and the past"[8] and in favour of a tree structure in which there is only one past or present (at any given point in spacetime) but a large number of possible futures. "We are by our own decisions in the face of other men's actions and chance circumstances weaving the web of history on the loom of natural necessity"[9]
2003. An Engagement with Plato's Republic (with B.G. Mitchell). ISBN0-7546-3366-7
2006. Reason and Reality, freely available as a series of .pdf files on Lucas's website (below). Also available as Reason and Reality: An Essay in Metaphysics by J. R. Lucas (494 pages, December 2009): Hardback is ISBN978-1-934297-04-9 and Softback is ISBN978-1-934297-06-3
2016. Value Economics: The Ethical Implications of Value for New Economic Thinking (with M.R. Griffiths). ISBN9781349958986
2021. L’economia del valore (Italian translation, also with M.R. Griffiths).ISBN9788804729099
Notesedit
^. announcements.telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 August 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
^Lucas, John (23 December 2002). . Archived from the original on 23 December 2002. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
^"Mr John Lucas". The British Academy. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
john, lucas, philosopher, john, randolph, lucas, june, 1929, april, 2020, british, philosopher, john, lucasfbaborn, 1929, june, 1929guildford, englanddied5, april, 2020, 2020, aged, somerset, englandalma, materballiol, college, oxfordnotable, work, minds, mach. John Randolph Lucas FBA 18 June 1929 5 April 2020 1 was a British philosopher John LucasFBABorn 1929 06 18 18 June 1929Guildford EnglandDied5 April 2020 2020 04 05 aged 90 Somerset EnglandAlma materBalliol College OxfordNotable work Minds Machines and Godel EraContemporary philosophyRegionWestern philosophySchoolAnalytic philosophyInstitutionsMerton College OxfordAcademic advisorsR M HareMain interestsLogic philosophy of mathematics philosophy of mindNotable ideasGodelian argumentPenrose Lucas argument4Websiteusers ox ac uk jrlucas Contents 1 Biography 2 Philosophical contributions 2 1 Free will 2 2 Space time and causality 3 Timeline 4 Books 5 Notes 6 Further readingBiography editLucas was educated at Winchester College and then as a pupil of R M Hare among others at Balliol College Oxford 2 He studied first mathematics then Greats Greek Latin Philosophy and Ancient History obtaining first class honours in both He sat for Finals in 1951 and took his MA in 1954 He spent the 1957 58 academic year at Princeton University studying mathematics and logic For 36 years until his 1996 retirement he was a Fellow and Tutor of Merton College Oxford and he remained an emeritus member of the University Faculty of Philosophy He was a Fellow of the British Academy 3 Lucas is perhaps best known for his paper Minds Machines and Godel arguing that an automaton cannot represent a human mathematician attempting to refute computationalism An author with diverse teaching and research interests Lucas wrote on the philosophy of mathematics especially the implications of Godel s incompleteness theorem the philosophy of mind free will and determinism the philosophy of science including one book on physics co authored with Peter E Hodgson causality political philosophy ethics and business ethics and the philosophy of religion The son of a Church of England clergyman and an Anglican himself Lucas described himself as a dyed in the wool traditional Englishman He had four children Edward Helen Richard and Deborah with Morar Portal among them Edward Lucas a former journalist at The Economist In addition to his philosophical career Lucas had a practical interest in business ethics He helped found the Oxford Consumers Group 4 and was its first chairman in 1961 3 serving again in 1965 Philosophical contributions editFree will edit Lucas 1961 began a lengthy and heated debate over the implications of Godel s incompleteness theorems for the anthropic mechanism thesis by arguing that 5 Determinism For any human h there exists at least one deterministic logical system L h which reliably predicts h s actions in all circumstances For any logical system L a sufficiently skilled mathematical logician equipped with a sufficiently powerful computer if necessary can construct some statements T L which are true but unprovable in L This follows from Godel s first theorem If a human m is a sufficiently skillful mathematical logician equipped with a sufficiently powerful computer if necessary then if m is given L m he or she can construct T L m and determine that they are true which L m cannot do Hence L m does not reliably predict m s actions in all circumstances Hence m has free will It is implausible that the qualitative difference between mathematical logicians and the rest of the population is such that the former have free will and the latter do not His argument was strengthened by the discovery by Hava Siegelmann in the 1990s that sufficiently complex analogue recurrent neural networks are more powerful than Turing Machines 6 Space time and causality edit Lucas wrote several books on the philosophy of science and space time see below In A treatise on time and space 7 he introduced a transcendental derivation of the Lorenz Transformations based on Red and Blue exchanging messages in Russian and Greek respectively from their respective frames of reference which demonstrates how these can be derived from a minimal set of philosophical assumptions In The Future Lucas gives a detailed analysis of tenses and time arguing that the Block universe gives a deeply inadequate view of time It fails to account for the passage of time the pre eminence of the present the directedness of time and the difference between the future and the past 8 and in favour of a tree structure in which there is only one past or present at any given point in spacetime but a large number of possible futures We are by our own decisions in the face of other men s actions and chance circumstances weaving the web of history on the loom of natural necessity 9 Timeline edit1942 7 Scholar of Winchester College 1947 51 Attended Balliol College Oxford on a scholarship 1951 BA with 1st Class Honours Greats 1951 3 Harmsworth Senior Scholar Merton College Oxford 1952 John Locke Scholarship Oxford University 1953 6 Junior Research Fellow Merton College Oxford 1956 9 Fellow and Assistant Tutor Corpus Christi College Cambridge 1957 8 Jane Eliza Procter Visiting Fellow Princeton University 1959 60 Leverhulme Research Fellow the University of Leeds 1960 96 Fellow and Tutor of Merton College Oxford 1988 Elected a Fellow of the British Academy 1990 6 Reader in Philosophy Oxford University 1991 3 President British Society for the Philosophy of Science Books edit1966 Principles of Politics ISBN 0 19 824774 5 1970 The Concept of Probability ISBN 0 19 824340 5 1970 The Freedom of the Will ISBN 0 19 824343 X 1972 The Nature of Mind with A J P Kenny H C Longuet Higgins and C H Waddington 1972 Gifford Lectures ISBN 0 85224 235 2 1973 The Development of Mind with A J P Kenny H C Longet Higgins and C H Waddington 1973 Gifford Lectures ISBN 0 85224 263 8 1973 A Treatise on Time and Space ISBN 0 416 75070 2 1976 Freedom and Grace ISBN 0 281 02932 6 1976 Democracy and Participation ISBN 0 14 021882 3 1978 Butler s Philosophy of Religion Vindicated ISBN 0 907078 06 0 1980 On Justice ISBN 0 19 824598 X 1985 Space Time and Causality an essay in natural philosophy ISBN 0 19 875057 9 1989 The Future an essay on God temporality and truth ISBN 0 631 16659 9 1990 Spacetime and Electromagnetism with Peter E Hodgson ISBN 0 19 852038 7 1993 Responsibility ISBN 0 19 823578 X 1997 Ethical Economics with M R Griffiths ISBN 0 312 16398 3 2000 Conceptual Roots of Mathematics ISBN 0 415 20738 X 2003 An Engagement with Plato s Republic with B G Mitchell ISBN 0 7546 3366 7 2006 Reason and Reality freely available as a series of pdf files on Lucas s website below Also available as Reason and Reality An Essay in Metaphysics by J R Lucas 494 pages December 2009 Hardback is ISBN 978 1 934297 04 9 and Softback is ISBN 978 1 934297 06 3 2016 Value Economics The Ethical Implications of Value for New Economic Thinking with M R Griffiths ISBN 9781349958986 2021 L economia del valore Italian translation also with M R Griffiths ISBN 9788804729099Notes edit Lucas John Randolph FBA Deaths Announcements Telegraph Announcements announcements telegraph co uk Archived from the original on 24 August 2022 Retrieved 7 April 2020 Lucas John 23 December 2002 Balliol College History Past Members Richard Hare A Memoir Archived from the original on 23 December 2002 Retrieved 11 May 2019 Mr John Lucas The British Academy Retrieved 11 May 2019 Oxford Consumers Group Archived 30 August 2003 at the Wayback Machine J R Lucas The Godelian Argument H T Siegelmann Computation Beyond the Turing Limit Science 238 28 April 1995 632 637 John Randolph Lucas 1 January 1973 A treatise on time and space Methien amp CO Ltd p 332 Archived from the original on 26 January 2020 The Future 1989 p 8 The Future 1989 p 4 Further reading editThis article s use of external links may not follow Wikipedia s policies or guidelines Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references August 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message J R Lucas website archive archive of homepage with index includes selection of Lucas s writing John Lucas obituary The Times 23 April 2020 Lucas John R 2002 The Godelian Argument The Truth Journal A Strange Piece of Work John Lucas on Complexities of Mind Machines and Godel Mr John Lucas The British Academy Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title John Lucas philosopher amp oldid 1183342837, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
