Alan Musgrave

You are not permitted to download, save or email this image. Visit image gallery to purchase the image. Life is brief, fate is indifferent and the only real freedom we have now is how we savour the present moment. The philosophy comes from University of Otago Emeritus Professor Alan Edward Musgrave’s most treasured possessions — a book of quatrains attributed to Persian poet and polymath Omar Khayyam. Prof Musgrave was known by many of his students and colleagues as "a rock star philosopher", who would share his spark of curiosity and wonder at the world with anyone who would listen. He was an eminent scholar, whose contributions to the philosophy and history of science, and epistemology (the theory of knowledge) were highly influential internationally. Almost from the beginning, his future wife, Julia, was part of his life. Julia’s father and Alan’s father joined the British Army together and served in the same platoon during World War 2. Alan and Julia met as toddlers when they farewelled their fathers at the local train station as they headed off to war. During the war, their mothers would take the toddlers for walks in the park together, and later, the duo went to school together. He and other children would run past Mrs Wilson’s bakery, shouting: "Don’t eat Wilson’s bread, it makes you shit like lead; no bloody wonder, you fart like thunder; don’t eat Wilson’s bread". He did well at school and initially had his sights set on studying law. He was accepted to study at London University’s Law School, but the course included text books worth £1000, which in those days was a huge amount of money. Throughout his career, he was a steadfast and influential defender of the theses of scientific rationality and scientific realism, against competing schools of thought, such as post-structuralism. He was most fortunate to have one of the giants of 20th century philosophy, Sir Karl Popper, as his PhD supervisor. Prof Musgrave was popular with his students because he was simple, thoughtful and he valued clarity, honesty and getting straight to the point without fuss. One of his students from the 1970s described his animated and entertaining style of lecturing. Emeritus Prof Musgrave gives the graduation address at the University of Otago graduation ceremony in May 2015. Photo: Gerard O'Brien "I can still see him striding up and down at the front of the lecture hall, talking loudly without lecture notes, in his accent from Manchester, punctuating sundry claims with a belligerent ‘Yes?’, that more or less demanded agreement. "Alan’s excellent lectures were highly entertaining, enormously informative, amazingly clear, totally lacking in obfuscation and bracingly partisan. "Unlike many of his contemporaries in the profession, he was adamant that the discipline of philosophy had made real progress, and that philosophical conjectures could be — and often were — refuted. "It was obvious when Alan thought that a philosophical conjecture had been successfully refuted. In case there was any confusion about his point of view, he had a large wooden sign hanging on the wall of his university office, saying: "Beware of mad dog realist". They were qualities that were also admired and respected by his fellow colleagues, who quickly became part of his wider family. At the time, the Otago Daily Times quoted him as saying the medal "meant the world to him" and he was lost for words when it was announced — something that was rare for him. While his academic achievements were a source of great pride, it paled in comparison to the pride he felt when members of his family, his students and his colleagues had major achievements. He was passionate about learning and teaching, and he took great joy in helping those in his orbit to reach their goals. Outside of his work at the university, Prof Musgrave had many professional positions, including secretary to the British Society for the Philosophy of Science and president of the New Zealan