The Antipodean Philosopher by Graham Oppy & N. N. Trakakis

Author:Graham Oppy & N. N. Trakakis [Oppy, Graham & Trakakis, N. N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2011-03-16T16:00:00+00:00

Interview Conducted January 2008

Alan Musgrave

(AM: Alan Musgrave, LB: Lynda Burns)

LB: First, can I ask how you came to be a philosopher? What were the influences in your early life that led you in the direction of philosophy?

AM: I came to be a philosopher by sheer accident! I had been accepted to study Law at the London School of Economics (LSE). Then a lawyer came to my school to give careers advice. He told me that if I wanted to be a barrister and star bewigged in courtroom dramas, I had better have a rich father to support me while I built up my clientele. I did not have a rich father. Then, out of the blue, there arrived a letter from the LSE telling me that anyone accepted for any degree could switch to this new degree they were setting up, in Philosophy and Economics. Since there was no point in my studying Law, I switched. I had some idea what economics was, but no idea what philosophy was.

LB: Who was influential among your early teachers at the LSE?

AM: I attended various courses of lectures, but two stood out. First, Karl Popper, who I had never heard of and knew nothing about, gave a course called, ‘An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method’, one two-hour lecture a week. It was an unusual course: Popper just talked about what interested him in his own researches at the time. There was no textbook — when asked about this, Popper said that he did not believe in textbooks. There was no proper syllabus — when asked about this and about what might come up in the upcoming examination, Popper said that he did not believe in examinations. Sixty to eighty people attended these lectures, some first-year undergraduates like me, but also graduate students and visiting academics. Interruptions were welcomed and the sessions turned, more often than not, into discussions between Popper and a handful of others. I was utterly fascinated.

The other course I enjoyed was a pedagogic disaster of a different kind. That was Michael Oakeshott’s course on the ‘History of Political Thought’. Hundreds of people attended these lectures, held in the largest theatre, and if you wanted to hear anything, you had to get there early and find a seat at the front. Oakeshott minced about the stage, wearing silk waistcoats, smoking cigarettes and whispering to himself about what life must have been like in the Greek city-state or the feudal manor. That was fascinating, too.

LB: Later, you did a PhD with Karl Popper at the LSE. What was he like as a teacher, and what were your initial impressions of him?

AM: I was introduced to Popper when I first arrived at the LSE, as one of the six students who had switched to this new degree that had been set up. I cannot remember what he said. I do remember what I said — nothing! I sensed that he was the most important person in the department, but I had no idea why.

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