PHILOSOPHY

MACMURRAY AND THE BBC TALKS

Speaker: Philip Hunt, Chairman of the Macmurray Society, on 4 February 1999

Opening his talk, Philip Hunt said that John Macmurray was just beginning to re-emerge from post-war obscurity. It was now clear that he had something important to say to the present generation, as had been recognised by the Prime Minister among others. To get his main ideas across, it was easier to proceed by way of narrative rather than exegesis; in the course of the talk, though, the main outlines of his philosophy would probably emerge.

The particular cultural influences affecting Macmurray's thought had been Hebrew and Greek: the Hebrew from parental influences, the Greek from school and university. The Hebrew God was a worker: he had created the Universe and formed Mankind to help Him in His continuing task of creation. His World was a world of change. To the Greeks all change was distasteful; generally a change for the worse. Their Golden Age lay in the past. The Greeks had dominated Western philosophy for two millennia; in his own search for
philosophy, though, Macmurray had become suspicious of the foundations of Greek philosophy and `was reaching for a new philosophical form', based on the Hebrew ideas of God and Change, not the Greek notion of a God perfect, changeless, beyond history. This entailed a change of viewpoint, from the Self as Thinker to the Self as Agent. We stop to think. The "You" was not an inference, but an essential element in the basic concept of The Person: "I need You in order to be Myself." He summarised his formal philosophy as "All meaningful knowledge is for action; all meaningful action for friendship".

Now for the narrative. Macmurray became an influential figure in the short heyday of the BBC's venture into Adult Education: short, because it demanded too much prime listening time. 1t was also outwith the BBC Charter. The BBC held the monopoly for broadcasting facilities, but the Adult Education programme was devised by a separate Council with a five-year commission only. During those five years, Macmurray became a force in broadcasting. His first series, on Freedom and Ethics, was described as producing "a miniature renaissance among thousands of listeners". His background pamphlet became a best seller, and the recommended model for all broadcast series in adult education. Though his ethical views were popular among younger listeners, they offended the Establishment, provoking attacks in the Press. Attempts were made to deny Macmurray speaking time; and an Open Letter "Is it sedition?" was sent to the Prime Minister. Macmurray advocated an ethic based on Love and Freedom, alternative to the established ethic of "My Station and its Duties". As the Great Depression deepened, the BBC lost its innovative nerve. Macmurray got labelled in Establishment quarters as a `dangerous' speaker. Little came his way until 1941, when he was invited by the Religious Department to undertake a series of four talks "any subject of his choice".

The subject he chose he described as "the unsolved problem of our civilisation": the relation between religion and politics. In 1940 he had drawn a distinction between `Society' and `Community': Society constituted by a common purpose, Community, arising from sharing a common life.

Politics is the stuff of the former: religion, of the latter. Now, in 1941, he approached the same problem from the bottom up _ from the standpoint of the individual Self, with two distinct but related aspects: the Functional, in the realm of work, where people are related hierarchically; where inequality rules and where discipline, order, duty and obedience hold sway; and the Personal, where human beings are of equal — and infinite _ value, and where differences of race, sex, class or function are irrelevant. These two aspects of life must be reconciled. They are opposites, with a tension between them: inseparable, limiting one another; essential to one another, forming a unity. You can't use them, separate them, or let them run in parallel without disaster. He came up with a general principle: "The Functional life is for the Personal life: the Personal life is through the Functional life." This principle was welcomed by his friends in the Religious Department who gave it wide distribution overseas. Unfortunately, the broadcasts attracted little attention here at home from the public at large. They had coincided with Pearl Harbour, when people's minds were on other things. Nevertheless, nearly sixty years later, we can see how prescient Macmurray was. The Western World is suffering today from the inroads which the Functional life is making on the Personal life. The balance must be restored if we are to avoid disaster.

Philip Hunt