John Passmore AC (1914-2004) was a philosopher. Born in Manly, Passmore studied under John Anderson at the University of Sydney, where he later taught briefly. In 1948 he went to London where he worked with the leading philosophers, including Karl Popper. Three years later, when he was teaching at Otago, his first major book was published. Some twenty more followed, including the monumental A Hundred Years of Philosophy (1957) and the pioneering Man's Responsibility for Nature (1974). Passmore came to the Australian National University as a Reader in 1955. Professor of Philosophy there from 1958 to 1979, during which time he became a Member or Fellow of a host of international academies, he continued as an Emeritus Professor into his eighties. He was a founding member of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1969, becoming its President in 1974. The first volume of his autobiography, Memoirs of a Semi-Detached Australian, was published in 1997.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Doris Passmore 2003
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