Norman Kemp Smith

File:Norman Kemp Smith photographed in 1947.jpg

Norman Kemp Smith (photographed in 1947 by Walter Stoneman).

Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Norman Duncan Kemp Smith, FBA, FRSE (5 May 1872 – 3 September 1958) was a Scottish philosopher who was Professor of Psychology (1906–1914) and Philosophy (1914–1919) at Princeton University and was Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Edinburgh (1919–1945).<ref name="times">Template:Cite news</ref>

Smith is noted for his 1929 English translation of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, which for a long time was considered the standard version.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Early life and education

Norman Smith was born on 5 May 1872<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in Dundee, Scotland,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the son of a cabinet-maker on the Nethergate.<ref>Dundee Post Office Directory 1871</ref> He was educated in Dundee and then studied mental philosophy at the University of St Andrews, graduating with an MA with first-class honours in 1893.<ref name="Herald 4Sep1958">Template:Cite news</ref> He received his doctorate (PhD) in 1902.

Career

Smith lectured in philosophy and psychology at Princeton University from 1906 to 1916, and at the University of Edinburgh from 1919 until his retirement in 1945.Template:Citation needed He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1921. His proposers were Ralph Allan Sampson, Thomas James Jehu, Charles Glover Barkla and Charles Sarolea.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1932 he delivered the Adamson Lecture<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> of the Victoria University of Manchester.

In 1938 he moved to 14 Kilgraston Road in south Edinburgh, a house designed by Sir Robert Matthew.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

His translation of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason is often used as the standard English version of the text. His commentaries on the Critique are also well regarded, as are his works on David Hume and other philosophers. He was president of the Aristotelian Society from 1947 to 1948. A portrait by the Edinburgh artist Adam Bruce Thomson is held by the University of Edinburgh's Fine Art Collection.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Kemp Smith died on 3 September 1958 in Edinburgh.<ref name="Herald 4Sep1958"/>

Family

In 1910 he married Amy Kemp (d.1936), and thereafter became known as Norman Kemp Smith.<ref>Norman Kemp Smith | The University of Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh Philosophy Department web site. Retrieved 18 October 2023.</ref>

Legacy

The Kemp Smith Room in the University of Edinburgh's Philosophy Department is named in his honour.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Books and articles

• Studies in the Cartesian Philosophy (New York: Macmillan, 1902)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• "The Naturalism of Hume (I)" and "The Naturalism of Hume (II)", Mind, 14 (1905) Nos. 54 and 55: 149–73 and 335–47
• "Subjectivism and Realism in Modern Philosophy", The Philosophical Review, 17 (1908) No. 2: 138–48
• "How Far Is Agreement Possible in Philosophy?", The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods, 9 (1912) No. 26: 701–11
• "Kant’s Relation to Hume and Leibniz", The Philosophical Review, 24 (1915) No. 3: 288–96 Template:Doi
• A Commentary to Kant's 'Critique of Pure Reason (London: Macmillan, 1918)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Prolegomena to an Idealist Theory of Knowledge (London: Macmillan, 1924)
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• New Studies in the Philosophy of Descartes (1951)
• The Credibility of Divine Existence. The Collected Papers of Norman Kemp Smith, edited by A. J. D. Porteous, R. D. MacLennan, and G. E. Davie (1967)<ref name="Cowley2010">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Further reading

• Ewing, A. C., "Norman Kemp Smith, 1872–1958", Proceedings of the British Academy, vol. 45 (1959), pp. 296–306.
• Loeb, Louis E. (2009). "What is Worth Preserving in the Kemp Smith Interpretation of Hume?" British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 17(4), 769–797. Template:Doi

External links

• Profile of Kemp Smith on the Edinburgh University Philosophy Department site
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• Online edition of Kemp Smith's translation of the Critique of Pure Reason
• Norman Kemp Smith (1872-1958) hosted by The Hume Society, selected from Geoffrey Gorham, Continuum Encyclopedia of British Philosophy (2006), ed. A.C. Grayling, Naomi Goulder, and Andrew Pyle
• Norman Kemp Smith (1872–1958) portrait painting by Adam Bruce Thomson - hosted at Art.uk
• Norman Kemp Smith bromide print by Walter Stoneman from 10 November 1947 - hosted by the National Portrait Gallery