Broad, C(harlie) D(unbar) (1887-1971)

Professor of philosophy and president of the Society for Psychical Research, London, 1935-36 and 1958-60. Dr. Broad had a distinguished academic career and was a prominent researcher and theorist in the field of parapsychology, although known chiefly for his work in epistemology and the philosophy of science.

Born December 30, 1887, in Harlesden, Middlesex, England, he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge University, as a scholar in natural science. His dissertation became the basis of his book Perception, Physics, and Reality (1914). He was assistant professor of logic at St. Andrews University, Scotland (1912-20), lecturer at University College, Dundee, Scotland (1914-20), professor of philosophy at Bristol University (1920-23), then began his long tenure at Trinity College, Cambridge (1933-53), where he was eventually named Knight-bridge Professor of Moral Philosophy. He wrote numerous books in the philosophy of science and ethics and was noted for his clarity of thought on the many abstruse aspects of philosophy.

Even as a young man Broad was interested in psychic re-search. He joined the Society for Psychical Research, London, in 1920, where he served as president twice, and trained his analytical mind on this field. His early book, Mind and Its Place in Nature (1923) caused a stir in philosophical circles because it included evidence of psychic phenomena that suggested the possibility of human life after death. However, as with his other writings, skeptics of psychic phenomena praised the clarity and accuracy of his reasoning. His more mature Religion Philosophy, and Psychical Research: Selected Essays (1953) set forth the idea of "basic limiting principles" which Broad believed formed the framework of modern technological society. Accordingly, any event outside that framework can fittingly be labeled "paranormal."

Broad lived in Cambridge after his retirement and died there on March 11, 1971.

Sources:

Broad, C. D. Lectures on Psychical Research, Incorporating the Perrott Lectures Given in Cambridge University in 1939 and 1960. New York: Humanities Press, 1962.

——. The Mind and Its Place in Nature. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1925.

——. Perception, Physics, and Reality: An Inquiry into the Information that Physical Science Can Supply about the Real. 1914.

——. Personal Identity and Survival. London: Society for Psychical Research, 1958.

——. Religion, Philosophy, and Psychical Research. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1953.

"In Memoriam: Professor C. D. Broad, 1887-1971." Journal of the SPR 46 (1971): 107.