T. H. Green
Thomas Hill Green (7 April 1836 – 26 March 1882), known as T. H. Green, was an English philosopher, political radical and temperance reformer, and a member of the British idealism movement. Like all the British idealists, Green was influenced by the metaphysical historicism of G. W. F. Hegel. He was one of the thinkers behind the philosophy of social liberalism.
For the American military officer, see Thomas H. Green.
T. H. Green
26 March 1882 (aged 45)
Life[edit]
Green was born on 7 April 1836 at Birkin, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, where his father was rector. On his paternal side, he was descended from Oliver Cromwell.[4][5] His education was conducted entirely at home until, at the age of 14, he entered Rugby, where he remained for five years.[6]
In 1855, he became an undergraduate member of Balliol College, Oxford, and was elected fellow in 1860. He began a life of teaching (mainly philosophical) in the university—first as college tutor, and later, from 1878 until his death, as Whyte's Professor of Moral Philosophy.[6]
The lectures he delivered as professor form the substance of his two most important works, viz., the Prolegomena to Ethics[7] and the Lectures on the Principles of Political Obligation, which contain the whole of his positive constructive teaching. These works were not published until after his death, but Green's views were previously known indirectly through the Introduction to the standard edition of David Hume's works by Green and T. H. Grose, fellow of Queen's College, in which the doctrine of the "English" or "empirical" philosophy was exhaustively examined.[6][8]
In 1871 he married Charlotte Byron Symonds who was known as a promoter of women's education.[9] In 1879, Green sat on the committee formed to create an Oxford women's college "in which no distinction will be made between students on the ground of their belonging to different religious denominations." Green and his wife's work resulted in the founding of Somerville Hall (later Somerville College).[9]
Green was involved in local politics for many years, through the university, temperance societies and the local Oxford Liberal association. During the passage of the Second Reform Act, he campaigned for the franchise to be extended to all men living in boroughs even if they did not own real property. In that sense, Green's position was more radical than that of most other Advanced Liberals, including William Ewart Gladstone.
It was in the context of his Liberal Party activities that in 1881, Green gave what became one of his most famous statements of his liberal political philosophy, the "Lecture on Liberal Legislation and Freedom of Contract".[10] At this time, he was also lecturing on religion, epistemology, ethics and political philosophy.
Most of his major works were published posthumously, including his lay sermons on Faith and The Witness of God, the essay "On the Different Senses of 'Freedom' as Applied to Will and the Moral Progress of Man", Prolegomena to Ethics, Lectures on the Principles of Political Obligation, and the "Lecture on Liberal Legislation and Freedom of Contract".
Green died of blood poisoning at the age of 45 on 26 March 1882. In addition to friends from his academic life, approximately 2,000 local townspeople attended his funeral.
He helped to found the City of Oxford High School for Boys.
An extensive bibliography of works by and about T.H. Green has been produced by Colin Tyler (Centre for Idealism and the New Liberalism at the University of Hull, UK). It can be downloaded at: https://idealismandnewliberalism.org/bibliographies/
Green's most important treatise—the Prolegomena to Ethics Archived 9 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine, practically complete in manuscript at his death—was published in the year following, under the editorship of A. C. Bradley (4th ed., 1899). Shortly afterwards, R. L. Nettleship's standard edition of his Works (exclusive of the Prolegomena) appeared in three volumes:[6]
All three volumes are available for download at Internet Archive
The Principles of Political Obligation was afterwards published in separate form. A criticism of Neo-Hegelianism will be found in Andrew Seth (Pringle Pattison), Hegelianism and Personality (1887).[6]