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Francis Herbert Bradley

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2008

Francis Herbert Bradley 1846-1924, English philosopher. He was educated at Oxford, where he became a fellow of Merton College in 1876. His works include Ethical Studies (1876), Principles of Logic (1883), and Appearance and Reality (1893). In logic, Bradley attacked the psychological tendencies of empiricism by differentiating sharply between the mental act as a psychological event and its universal meaning; to him only the latter was the concern of logic. In metaphysics Bradley held that many phenomena considered real, such as space and time, are only appearances. Reality, or what Bradley called the Absolute, is an all-inclusive whole that transcends thought. Although greatly influenced by Hegel, Bradley's metaphysics is generally considered a highly original contribution to philosophical thought.

Bibliography: See his collection of essays (2 vol., 1935) and T. S. Eliot, Knowledge and Experience in the Philosophy of F. H. Bradley (1989).



Author not available, BRADLEY, FRANCIS HERBERT., The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press