Editing J. J. C. Smart

{{short description|Australian philosopher and academic}}
{{Use Australian English|date=January 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| region = [[Western philosophy]]
| era = [[20th-century philosophy]]
| image = JJC Smart.jpg
| name = J. J. C. Smart
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AC|FAHA|size=100%}}
| birth_name = John Jamieson Carswell Smart
| birth_date = {{birth date|1920|9|16|df=y}}
| death_date  = {{death date and age|df=yes|2012|10|06|1920|9|16}}<ref name=obit>{{cite web |url=http://tributes.canberratimes.com.au/obituaries/canberratimes-au/obituary.aspx?n=jjc-smart-jack&pid=160330496 |title=J.J.C. (Jack) SMART Obituary: View J.J.C. SMART's Obituary by The Canberra Times |publisher=Tributes.canberratimes.com.au |access-date=14 October 2012 |archive-date=17 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217035228/http://tributes.canberratimes.com.au/obituaries/canberratimes-au/obituary.aspx?n=jjc-smart-jack&pid=160330496 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| birth_place = [[Cambridge]], England
| death_place = [[Melbourne]], Australia
| nationality = {{hlist | Australian | British}}
| other_names = Jack Smart
| alma_mater = {{ubl | [[University of Glasgow]] | [[Queen's College, Oxford]]}}
| school_tradition = {{hlist | [[Analytic philosophy]] | [[Australian realism]]}}
| institutions = {{ubl | [[University of Adelaide]] | [[La Trobe University]] | [[Australian National University]]}}
| academic_advisors = [[Gilbert Ryle]]
| doctoral_students = [[Mark Colyvan]]<br>[[Phillip H. Wiebe]]
| notable_students  = [[Jeff Malpas]]<ref name=:0a>{{Cite web|title=Tree – David Chalmers|url=http://consc.net/tree/|access-date=2020-07-22|language=en-US}}</ref><br>[[Henry Krips (scholar)|Henry Krips]]<ref name=:0a/>
| main_interests = {{hlist | [[Philosophy of mind]] | [[metaphysics]] | [[philosophy of science]] | [[philosophy of time]] | [[political philosophy]] | [[philosophy of religion]]}}
| influences = {{hlist | [[Gilbert Ryle]] | [[Henry Sidgwick]]}}
| influenced = {{hlist | [[D.&nbsp;M. Armstrong]] | [[David Lewis (philosopher)|David Lewis]]}}
| notable_ideas = {{hlist | [[Mind–brain identity theory]] | [[rate of passage argument]] | [[nomological danglers]]}}
}}
'''John Jamieson Carswell Smart''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AC|FAHA}} (16 September 1920 – 6 October 2012)<ref name=obit/> was a British-Australian philosopher who was appointed as an Emeritus Professor by the [[Australian National University]]. He worked in the fields of [[metaphysics]], [[philosophy of science]], [[philosophy of mind]], [[philosophy of religion]], and [[political philosophy]]. He wrote several entries for the ''[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]''.<ref>{{Citation|last=Smart|first=J. J. C.|title=The Mind/Brain Identity Theory|date=2017|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/mind-identity/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Spring 2017|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2019-09-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Smart|first=J. J. C.|date=2004-03-09|title=Atheism and Agnosticism|url=https://stanford.library.sydney.edu.au/archives/win2015/entries/atheism-agnosticism/}}</ref>

==Career==
Born in [[Cambridge]], England, of Scottish parents, Smart began his education locally, attending [[The Leys School]], a leading independent boarding school. His younger brothers also became professors: Alastair (1922–1992) was Professor of Art History at Nottingham University; [[Ninian Smart|Ninian]] was a professor of [[religious studies]] and a pioneer in that field. Their father, [[William Marshall Smart]], was John Couch Adams Astronomer at [[Cambridge University]] and later [[Regius Professor of Astronomy, Glasgow|Regius Professor of Astronomy]] at [[Glasgow]]. In 1950, W.&nbsp;M. Smart was President of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]]. In 1946, Jack Smart graduated from the [[University of Glasgow]] with an [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]], followed by a BPhil from [[Oxford University]] in 1948. He then worked as a Junior Research Fellow at [[Corpus Christi College, Oxford]], for two years.

Smart served in the [[World War II|Second World War]] with the [[British Army]] where he was [[Officer (armed forces)|commissioned]] as a [[second lieutenant]] in the [[Royal Corps of Signals]] on 9 October 1941 and given the [[service number]] 212091.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35306|page=5938|date=10 October 1941|supp=y}}</ref><ref name="officers">{{cite web|url=https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_S02.html#Smart_JJC|title=British Army officer histories|publisher=Unit Histories|access-date=21 August 2021}}</ref> His war service was mainly in [[British Raj|India]] and [[British rule in Burma|Burma]].<ref name="officers" /> He was demobilised in April 1946 and in 1950 was granted the honorary rank of [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]].<ref name="officers" />

He arrived in Australia in August 1950 to take up the Chair of Philosophy at the [[University of Adelaide]], which he occupied from 1950 until 1972. After twenty-two years in Adelaide, he moved to [[La Trobe University]] where he was Reader in Philosophy from 1972 to 1976. He then moved to the [[Australian National University]] where he was Professor of Philosophy in the Research School of Social Sciences from 1976 until his retirement in 1985, and where the annual Jack Smart Lecture is held in his honour.<ref>[http://philrsss.anu.edu.au/smart-lecture.php]{{dead link|date=October 2012}}</ref> Following his retirement he was [[Emeritus]] Professor at [[Monash University]].

Smart was a Foundation Fellow of the [[Australian Academy of the Humanities]] at its establishment in 1969.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our history |url=https://humanities.org.au/about/our-history/ |access-date=2023-11-25 |website=Australian Academy of the Humanities |language=en-AU}}</ref> In 1990 he was awarded the Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia.<ref name="monash1">{{Cite web|url=http://arts.monash.edu.au/philosophy/staff/jsmart.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321185415/http://arts.monash.edu.au/philosophy/staff/jsmart.php|url-status=dead|title=Monash University Website|archive-date=21 March 2012}}</ref> In 1991 he was elected to become an honorary Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and in 2010, elected to become an honorary Fellow of [[Queen's College, Oxford]].<ref name="monash1"/>

At first Smart was a [[Behaviorism#Behaviorism in philosophy|behaviourist]] before becoming an early proponent of [[Type physicalism|type identity theory]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/mind-identity/|title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|first=J. J. C.|last=Smart|chapter=The Mind/Brain Identity Theory |editor-first=Edward N.|editor-last=Zalta|date=5 May 2017|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|via=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy}}</ref>

==Metaphysics<!--'Rate of passage argument' redirects here-->==
Smart's main contribution to metaphysics is in the area of [[Philosophy of space and time|philosophy of time]].  He has been an influential defender of the [[B-theory of time]], and of [[perdurantism]].

His most important original arguments in this area concern the passage of time, which he claimed is an illusion.  He argued that if time really passed, then it would make sense to ask at what rate it passes, but this requires some second time-dimension with respect to which passage of normal time can be measured. This in turn faces the same problems, and so there must be a third time-dimension, and so on.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smart |first=Jack |url=https://archive.org/details/essaysinconceptu011140mbp |title=Essays in Conceptual Analysis |editor=Flew |editor-first=Antony |editor-link=Antony Flew |pages=214–215 |chapter=River of Time |year=1960 |publisher=Macmillan & Co |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/essaysinconceptu011140mbp/page/n230/mode/1up}}</ref> This is called the '''rate of passage argument'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> and it was originally put forward by [[C. D. Broad]].<ref>J. J. C. Smart, "The river of time", ''[[Mind (journal)|Mind]]'' '''58''' (232):483–494 (1949). {{JSTOR|2250877}}</ref><ref>Ned Markosian, "How fast does time pass?", ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' '''53'''(4):829–844 (1993). {{JSTOR|2108255}}</ref>

Smart changed his mind about the nature and causes of the illusion of the passage of time.  In the 1950s, he held that it was due to people's use of [[Anthropocentrism|anthropocentric]] temporal language.  He later came to abandon this linguistic explanation of the illusion in favour of a psychological explanation in terms of the passage of memories from [[Short-term memory|short-term]] to [[long-term memory]].

==Philosophy of mind==
Regarding the [[philosophy of mind]], Smart was a [[Physicalism|physicalist]]. In the 1950s, he was also one of the originators, with [[Ullin Place]], of the [[mind–brain identity theory]], which claims that particular states of mind are identical with particular states of the brain. Initially, this view was dubbed "[[Australian materialism]]" by its detractors, in reference to the stereotype of Australians as "down-to-earth" and "unsophisticated".

Smart's identity theory dealt with some extremely long-standing objections to physicalism by comparing the mind–brain identity thesis to other identity theses well known from science, such as the thesis that lightning is an electrical discharge, or that the morning star is the evening star.  Although these identity theses give rise to puzzles such as [[Gottlob Frege]]'s [[Reference#Reference and meaning|puzzle of the Morning Star and Evening Star]], in the scientific cases, some claim that it would be absurd to reject the identity theses on this ground.  Since the puzzles facing physicalism are strictly analogous to the scientific identity theses, it would then also be absurd to reject physicalism on the grounds that it gives rise to these puzzles.

==Ethics==
In ethics, Smart was a defender of [[utilitarianism]]. Specifically, he defended "extreme", or [[act utilitarianism]], as opposed to "restricted", or [[rule utilitarianism]]. The distinction between these two types of ethical theory is explained in his essay ''Extreme and Restricted Utilitarianism''.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=2216786|title=Extreme and Restricted Utilitarianism|last1=Smart|first1=J. J. C.|journal=The Philosophical Quarterly|year=1956|volume=6|issue=25|pages=344–354|doi=10.2307/2216786}} Based on a paper read to the Victorian Branch of the Australasian Association of Psychology and philosophy, Oct. 1955.  Smart later stated that he made mistakes in this essay (for example, that probably maximizing benefit is not the same thing as maximizing probable benefit).  However, perhaps because of this very fact, that is, perhaps because Smart did not fall prey to what might be called the "philosopher's disease" of attempting to be obsessively precise, this essay lays out a clear, readable presentation of act utilitarianism.</ref>

Smart gave two arguments against rule utilitarianism.  According to the first, rule utilitarianism collapses into act utilitarianism because there is no adequate criterion on what can count as a "rule".  According to the second, even if there were such a criterion, the rule utilitarian would be committed to the untenable position of preferring to follow a rule, even if it would be better if the rule were broken, which Smart called "superstitious rule worship".<ref name=":0b">{{cite journal|jstor=2216786|title=Extreme and Restricted Utilitarianism|last1=Smart|first1=J. J. C.|journal=The Philosophical Quarterly|year=1956|volume=6|issue=25|pages=344–354|doi=10.2307/2216786}} Based on a paper read to the Victorian Branch of the Australasian Association of Psychology and philosophy, Oct. 1955.  Smart's views on rule utilitarianism have been challenged, for example by [[Alan Gibbard]]</ref>

Another aspect of Smart's ethical theory is his acceptance of a preference theory of well-being, which contrasts with the [[hedonism]] associated with "classical" utilitarians such as [[Jeremy Bentham]].  Smart's combination of the preference theory with [[consequentialism]] is sometimes called "[[preference utilitarianism]]".

Smart's arguments against rule utilitarianism have been very influential, contributing to a steady decline in its popularity among ethicists during the late 20th century. Worldwide, his defence of act utilitarianism and preference theory has been less prominent but has influenced philosophers who have worked or been educated in Australia, such as [[Frank Cameron Jackson|Frank Jackson]], [[Philip Pettit]], and [[Peter Singer]].

One of Smart's two entries in ''[[The Philosophical Lexicon]]'' refers to his approach to the consequences of act utilitarianism: to "outsmart" an opponent is "to embrace the conclusion of one's opponent's ''[[reductio ad absurdum]]'' argument."<ref>{{Cite web |title=PDF {{!}} The Philosophical Lexicon, 8th Edition {{!}} ID: jw827p68f {{!}} Tufts Digital Library |url=https://dl.tufts.edu/concern/pdfs/jw827p68f |access-date=2022-09-24 |website=dl.tufts.edu}}</ref>  This move is more commonly called "biting the bullet".

== Works ==

:[https://web.archive.org/web/20161109021527/https://personal.lse.ac.uk/robert49/teaching/mm/articles/Smart_1956Utilitarianism.pdf "Extreme and Restricted Utilitarianism"], ''[[The Philosophical Quarterly]]'', Oct. 1956, pages 344–354.<ref>Corrected and reprinted in [[Philippa Foot]] (ed.), ''[[iarchive:theoriesofethics0000unse_s7o0/page/171/mode/1up|Theories of Ethics]]'' (1967), and Michael D. Bayles (ed.), ''Contemporary Utilitarianism'' (1968).</ref>
:''An Outline of a System of Utilitarian Ethics'', 1961.<ref>Reprinted in ''[[iarchive:utilitarianismfo00smar|Utilitarianism : For and Against]]'' (1973), with Smart's chapter "Act-Utilitarianism and Rule-Utilitarianism" also being republished in ''[[iarchive:readingsinproble0000unse/page/12/mode/1up|Readings in the problems of ethics]]'' (1965) and ''[[iarchive:moralitygoodlife0000unse/page/371/mode/1up|Morality and the Good Life]] (''1997).</ref>
:''Philosophy and Scientific Realism'', 1963.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Caton |first=Charles E. |date=1965 |title=Review of Philosophy and Scientific Realism |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2183132 |journal=[[The Philosophical Review]] |volume=74 |issue=4 |pages=537–539 |doi=10.2307/2183132 |jstor=2183132 |issn=0031-8108 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alexander |first=Peter |date=1966 |title=New Books |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2251839 |journal=Mind |volume=75 |issue=299 |pages=442–444 |doi=10.1093/mind/LXXV.299.442 |jstor=2251839 |issn=0026-4423 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hirst |first=R. J. |date=1965-02-01 |title=J. J. C. Smart, Philosophy and Scientific Realism |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1093/bjps/XV.60.358 |journal=[[The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science]] |volume=15 |issue=60 |pages=358–360 |doi=10.1093/bjps/XV.60.358 |issn=0007-0882 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
:''[[iarchive:problemsofspacet0000smar|Problems of Space and Time]]'', 1964 (edited, with introduction).
:''[[iarchive:betweenscienceph0000smar|Between Science and Philosophy: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science]]'', 1968.
:''[[iarchive:utilitarianismfo00smar|Utilitarianism : For and Against]]'' (co-authored with [[Bernard Williams]]; 1973)
:''[[iarchive:ethicspersuasion0000smar|Ethics, Persuasion and Truth]]'', 1984.
:''[[iarchive:essaysmetaphysic0000unse/page/n6/mode/1up|Essays Metaphysical and Moral]],''1987.
:''[[iarchive:ourplaceinuniver0000smar|Our Place in the Universe: A Metaphysical Discussion]],'' 1989.
:''[[iarchive:atheismtheism0000smar|Atheism and Theism (Great Debates in Philosophy)]]'' (including contributions by [[John Haldane (philosopher)|John Haldane]]; 1996)

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*[[Graham Oppy|Oppy, Graham]] [https://figshare.com/articles/chapter/Jack_Smart/3117544 "Smart, J. J. C. (‘Jack’)"] in: ''[https://library.oapen.org/viewer/web/viewer.html?file=/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/31527/627410.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y A Companion to Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand (Second Edition)],'' 2014, pp.&nbsp;516–519 ([[Open access|Open Access]]) 
*{{cite book |title=Who's Who in Australia |year=1990 }} 
*{{cite book |editor-last=Pettit |editor-first=Philip |editor-link=Philip Pettit |editor2-last=Sylvan |editor2-first=Richard |editor2-link=Richard Sylvan |editor3-last=Norman |editor3-first=Jean |title=Metaphysics and Morality: Essays in Honour of J.J.C. Smart |year=1987 }}
*{{cite book |last=Franklin |first=James |url=https://web.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/contents.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080113144550/https://web.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/contents.html |archive-date=2008-01-13  |title=Corrupting the Youth: A History of Philosophy in Australia |year=2003 |author-link=James Franklin (philosopher)}}
*[[David Malet Armstrong]], [http://www.ditext.com/armstrong/swans.html "Black Swans: The formative influences in Australian philosophy"], in: [[Berit Brogaard|B. Brogaard]] and [[Barry Smith (ontologist)|B. Smith]], eds., ''Rationality and Irrationality: Proceedings of the 23rd International Wittgenstein Symposium'', Vienna, 2000 - "Jack" Smart at the University of Adelaide and two philosophers he recruited, Ullin Place and C. B. "Charlie" Martin

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121116032704/http://philrsss.anu.edu.au/special-events/jack-smart-lecture The annual Jack Smart lecture] at Philosophy RSSS, the Australian National University
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20210608220100/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/30/jjc-smart JJC Smart obituary] by Jane O'Grady, ''[[The Guardian]]'', London, 30 October 2012
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20210608222918/https://philosophynow.org/issues/94/JJC_Smart_1920-2012 "J.J.C. Smart (1920-2012)"] by [[Graham Nerlich]] in ''[[Philosophy Now]]''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20201025235801/https://www.monash.edu/news/articles/vale-j.-j.-c.-smart "Vale J. J. C. Smart"] obituary notice from Monash University with tributes from John Bigelow and [[Graham Oppy]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121031135514/https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-john-smart-gifted-scottish-philosopher-who-became-a-leading-light-in-australia-1-2566512 "John Smart; gifted Scottish philosopher who became a leading light in Australia"] ''[[The Scotsman|Scotsman]]'' obituary
* [https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11841-013-0361-5.pdf "J. J. C Smart (1920-2012): Remembering Jack"] Chadha, M., Bilimoria, P. & Bigelow, J., ''[[Sophia (journal)|SOPHIA]]'' (2013) 52: 1.
* [http://www.rutherfordjournal.org/article050101.html "J. J. C. Smart, 1920 - 2012"] by John Bigelow, with Elizabeth Smart and Helen Smart
*[https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_S02.html#Smart_JJC British Army Officers 1939–1945]

{{Analytic philosophy}}
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:Consequentialists]]
[[Category:2012 deaths]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of Australia]]
[[Category:Utilitarians]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian philosophers]]
[[Category:21st-century Australian philosophers]]
[[Category:Australian atheists]]
[[Category:Atheist philosophers]]
[[Category:Australian philosophers of mind]]
[[Category:Philosophers of religion]]
[[Category:Australian metaphysicians]]
[[Category:People educated at The Leys School]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Monash University]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Adelaide]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Australian National University]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Oxford]]
[[Category:British political philosophers]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Corps of Signals officers]]
[[Category:People from Cambridge]]
[[Category:British emigrants to Australia]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Cambridge]]