# John Lucas (philosopher)

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/John_Lucas_(philosopher)
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/John_Lucas_(philosopher).md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lucas_(philosopher)
> Source revision: 1354688498
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

British philosopher (1929–2020)

John Lucas FBA Born (1929-06-18)18 June 1929 Guildford, England Died 5 April 2020(2020-04-05) (aged 90) Somerset, England Education Alma mater Balliol College, Oxford Academic advisor R. M. Hare Philosophical work Era Contemporary philosophy Region Western philosophy School Analytic philosophy Institutions Merton College, Oxford Main interests Logic, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of mind Notable works "Minds, Machines and Gödel" Notable ideas Gödelian argument Penrose–Lucas argument4 Website users.ox.ac.uk/~jrlucas/

**John Randolph Lucas** [FBA](/source/Fellow_of_the_British_Academy) (18 June 1929 – 5 April 2020)[1] was a [British philosopher](/source/British_philosopher).

## Biography

Lucas was educated at [Winchester College](/source/Winchester_College) and then, as a pupil of [R.M. Hare](/source/R._M._Hare), among others, at [Balliol College, Oxford](/source/Balliol_College%2C_Oxford).[2] He studied first mathematics, then [Greats](/source/Greats) (Greek, Latin, Philosophy and Ancient History), obtaining first class honours in both. He sat for Finals in 1951, and took his MA in 1954. He spent the 1957–58 academic year at [Princeton University](/source/Princeton_University), studying mathematics and logic. For 36 years, until his 1996 retirement, he was a Fellow and Tutor of [Merton College, Oxford](/source/Merton_College%2C_Oxford), and he remained an emeritus member of the University Faculty of Philosophy. He was a Fellow of the [British Academy](/source/British_Academy).[3]

Lucas is perhaps best known for his paper "[Minds, Machines and Gödel](/source/Minds%2C_Machines_and_G%C3%B6del)," arguing that an [automaton](/source/Turing_machine) cannot represent a human mathematician, attempting to refute [computationalism](/source/Computationalism).

An author with diverse teaching and research interests, Lucas wrote on the [philosophy of mathematics](/source/Philosophy_of_mathematics), especially the implications of [Gödel's incompleteness theorem](/source/G%C3%B6del's_incompleteness_theorem), the [philosophy of mind](/source/Philosophy_of_mind), [free will and determinism](/source/Free_will_and_determinism), the [philosophy of science](/source/Philosophy_of_science) including one book on physics co-authored with [Peter E. Hodgson](/source/Peter_E._Hodgson), [causality](/source/Causality), [political philosophy](/source/Political_philosophy), ethics and [business ethics](/source/Business_ethics), and the [philosophy of religion](/source/Philosophy_of_religion).

The son of a [Church of England](/source/Church_of_England) clergyman, and an Anglican himself, Lucas described himself as "a dyed-in-the-wool traditional Englishman." He had four children ([Edward](https://www.edwardlucas.com/), [Helen](https://www.lhgp.org.uk/practice-staff), [Richard](https://www.richardlucas.com/about/) and Deborah) with Morar Portal, among them [Edward Lucas](/source/Edward_Lucas_(journalist)), a former journalist at *[The Economist](/source/The_Economist)*.

In addition to his philosophical career, Lucas had a practical interest in [business ethics](/source/Business_ethics). He helped found the Oxford Consumers' Group,[4] and was its first chairman in 1961–3, serving again in 1965.

In the early 1980s he, along with [Roger Scruton](/source/Roger_Scruton), [Kathy Wilkes](/source/Kathy_Wilkes), and [Jürgen Habermas](/source/J%C3%BCrgen_Habermas), delivered covert lectures on philosophy in response to a plea from the Czechoslovak intelligentsia. He gave his in a boiler room, handing out copies of the Greek [New Testament](/source/New_Testament) and [Plato](/source/Plato)’s *[Republic](/source/Republic_(Plato)),* both banned. [5]

## Philosophical contributions

### Free will

[Lucas (1961)](/source/Minds%2C_Machines_and_G%C3%B6del) began a lengthy and heated [debate](/source/Mechanism_(philosophy)#Gödelian_arguments) over the implications of [Gödel's incompleteness theorems](/source/G%C3%B6del's_incompleteness_theorems) for the [anthropic mechanism thesis](/source/Mechanism_(philosophy)#Anthropic_mechanism), by arguing that:[6]

1. [Determinism](/source/Determinism) ↔ For any human *h* there exists at least one (deterministic) [logical system](/source/Logical_system) *L*(*h*) which reliably predicts *h'*s actions in all circumstances.

1. For any logical system *L* a sufficiently skilled [mathematical logician](/source/Mathematical_logic) (equipped with a sufficiently powerful computer if necessary) can construct some statements *T*(*L*) which are true but unprovable in *L*. (This follows from Gödel's first theorem.)

1. If a human *m* is a sufficiently skillful mathematical logician (equipped with a sufficiently powerful computer if necessary) then if *m* is given *L*(*m*), he or she can construct *T*(*L*(*m*)) and determine that they are true—which *L*(*m*) cannot do.

1. Hence *L*(*m*) does not reliably predict *m'*s actions in all circumstances.

1. Hence *m* has [free will](/source/Free_will).

1. It is implausible that the qualitative difference between mathematical logicians and the rest of the population is such that the former have free will and the latter do not.

### Space, time and causality

Lucas wrote several books on the philosophy of science and space-time (see below). In *A treatise on time and space*[7] he introduced a transcendental derivation of the Lorenz Transformations based on Red and Blue exchanging messages (in Russian and Greek respectively) from their respective frames of reference which demonstrates how these can be derived from a minimal set of philosophical assumptions.

In *The Future* Lucas gives a detailed analysis of tenses and time, arguing that "the [Block universe](/source/Eternalism_(philosophy_of_time)) gives a deeply inadequate view of time. It fails to account for the passage of time, the pre-eminence of the present, the directedness of time and the difference between the future and the past"[8] and in favour of a tree structure in which there is only one past or present (at any given point in spacetime) but a large number of possible futures. "We are by our own decisions in the face of other men's actions and chance circumstances weaving the web of history on the loom of natural necessity"[9]

## Timeline

- 1942-7. Scholar of [Winchester College](/source/Winchester_College)

- 1947–51. Attended [Balliol College, Oxford](/source/Balliol_College%2C_Oxford) on a scholarship.

- 1951. BA with 1st Class Honours, [Greats](/source/Greats).

- 1951-3. Harmsworth Senior Scholar, [Merton College, Oxford](/source/Merton_College%2C_Oxford).

- 1952. John Locke Scholarship, [Oxford University](/source/Oxford_University).

- 1953-6. Junior Research Fellow, [Merton College, Oxford](/source/Merton_College%2C_Oxford).

- 1956-9. Fellow and Assistant Tutor, [Corpus Christi College, Cambridge](/source/Corpus_Christi_College%2C_Cambridge).

- 1957-8. Jane Eliza Procter Visiting Fellow, [Princeton University](/source/Princeton_University).

- 1959–60. [Leverhulme](/source/Leverhulme) Research Fellow, the [University of Leeds](/source/University_of_Leeds).

- 1960–96. Fellow and Tutor of [Merton College, Oxford](/source/Merton_College%2C_Oxford).

- 1988. Elected a Fellow of the [British Academy](/source/British_Academy).

- 1990-6. Reader in Philosophy, [Oxford University](/source/Oxford_University).

- 1991-3. President, [British Society for the Philosophy of Science](/source/British_Society_for_the_Philosophy_of_Science).

## Books

- 1966. *Principles of Politics*. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-824774-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-824774-5)

- 1970. *[The Concept of Probability](https://archive.org/details/conceptofprobabi0000luca)*. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-824340-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-824340-5)

- 1970. *The Freedom of the Will*. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-824343-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-824343-X)

- 1972. [*The Nature of Mind*](https://web.archive.org/web/20080622000452/http://www.giffordlectures.org/Browse.asp?PubID=TPTNOM&Cover=TRUE). (with [A. J. P. Kenny](/source/A._J._P._Kenny), [H. C. Longuet-Higgins](/source/H._Christopher_Longuet-Higgins), and [C. H. Waddington](/source/C._H._Waddington); 1972 [Gifford Lectures](/source/Gifford_Lectures)) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-85224-235-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-85224-235-2)

- 1973. [*The Development of Mind*](https://web.archive.org/web/20080621235816/http://www.giffordlectures.org/Browse.asp?PubID=TPTDOM&Cover=TRUE). (with A. J. P. Kenny, H.C.Longet-Higgins, and C.H.Waddington; 1973 [Gifford Lectures](/source/Gifford_Lectures)) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-85224-263-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-85224-263-8)

- 1973. *[A Treatise on Time and Space](https://archive.org/details/treatiseontimesp0000luca)*. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-416-75070-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-416-75070-2)

- 1976. *[Freedom and Grace](https://archive.org/details/freedomgraceessa0000luca)*. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-281-02932-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-281-02932-6)

- 1976. *Democracy and Participation*. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-14-021882-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-14-021882-3)

- 1978. *Butler's Philosophy of Religion Vindicated*. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-907078-06-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-907078-06-0)

- 1980. *[On Justice](https://archive.org/details/onjusticeperidik0000luca)*. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-824598-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-824598-X)

- 1985. [*Space, Time and Causality: an essay in natural philosophy*](https://archive.org/details/spacetimecausali0000luca). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-875057-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-875057-9)

- 1989. *[The Future: an essay on God, temporality, and truth](https://archive.org/details/futureessayongod0000luca)* [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-631-16659-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-631-16659-9)

- 1990. *Spacetime and Electromagnetism* (with [Peter E. Hodgson](/source/Peter_E._Hodgson)) . [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-852038-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-852038-7)

- 1993. *[Responsibility](https://archive.org/details/responsibility0000luca)*. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-823578-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-823578-X)

- 1997. *Ethical Economics* (with M. R. Griffiths). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-312-16398-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-312-16398-3)

- 2000. [*Conceptual Roots of Mathematics*.](https://archive.org/details/conceptualrootso0000luca) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-415-20738-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-415-20738-X)

- 2003. *An Engagement with Plato's Republic* (with B.G. Mitchell). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-7546-3366-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7546-3366-7)

- 2006. *Reason and Reality*, freely available as a series of .pdf files on Lucas's website (below). Also available as *Reason and Reality: An Essay in Metaphysics* by J. R. Lucas (494 pages, December 2009): Hardback is [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-934297-04-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-934297-04-9) and Softback is [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-934297-06-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-934297-06-3)

- 2016. *Value Economics: The Ethical Implications of Value for New Economic Thinking* (with M.R. Griffiths). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781349958986](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781349958986)

- 2021. *L’economia del valore* (Italian translation, also with M.R. Griffiths).[ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9788804729099](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9788804729099)

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Lucas, John Randolph, FBA - Deaths Announcements - Telegraph Announcements"](https://web.archive.org/web/20220824013800/http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/240729/lucas-john-randolph-fba). *announcements.telegraph.co.uk*. Archived from [the original](http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/240729/lucas-john-randolph-fba) on 24 August 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Lucas, John (23 December 2002). ["Balliol College - History - Past Members - Richard Hare - A Memoir"](https://web.archive.org/web/20021223125317/http://web.balliol.ox.ac.uk/official/history/hare/memoir.asp). Archived from [the original](http://web.balliol.ox.ac.uk:80/official/history/hare/memoir.asp) on 23 December 2002. Retrieved 11 May 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Mr John Lucas"](https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/fellows/john-lucas-FBA). *The British Academy*. Retrieved 11 May 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Oxford Consumers' Group](http://www.communigate.co.uk/oxford/oxfordconsumergroup/index.phtml) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20030830110852/http://www.communigate.co.uk/oxford/oxfordconsumergroup/index.phtml) 30 August 2003 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["John Lucas obituary"](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/john-lucas-obituary-smsk0v226). *[The Times](/source/The_Times)*. 23 April 2020.{{[cite news](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_news)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** [J.R. Lucas, "The Gödelian Argument"](http://www.leaderu.com/truth/2truth08.html)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** John Randolph Lucas (1 January 1973). [*A treatise on time and space*](https://archive.org/details/ATreatiseOnTimaAndSpace). Methien &CO Ltd. p. 332.{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** *The Future* (1989), p. 8.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** *The Future* (1989), p. 4.

## Further reading

- [J R Lucas website archive](https://web.archive.org/web/20160718073705/http://users.ox.ac.uk/~jrlucas/) - archive of homepage with index, includes selection of Lucas's writing

- ["John Lucas obituary"](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/john-lucas-obituary-smsk0v226). *[The Times](/source/The_Times)*. 23 April 2020.{{[cite news](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_news)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service))

- Lucas, John R., 2002, "[The Godelian Argument](https://web.archive.org/web/20120504194710/http://www.leaderu.com/truth/2truth08.html)," *The Truth Journal*.

- ["A Strange Piece of Work:" John Lucas on Complexities of Mind, Machines and Gödel](https://web.archive.org/web/20100222095534/http://simplycharly.com/godel/john_r_lucas_godel_interview.html)

- ["John Lucas"](https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/4547/20-Memoirs-15-Lucas.pdf). *[British Academy](/source/British_Academy)* memoir by *[Richard Swinburne](/source/Richard_Swinburne)* (2022)

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States France BnF data Italy Czech Republic Spain Netherlands Norway Latvia Greece Sweden Israel Catalonia Belgium Croatia Academics CiNii People Trove Other IdRef Yale LUX

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [John Lucas (philosopher)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lucas_(philosopher)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lucas_(philosopher)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.