Basil Mitchell (academic)

Basil George Mitchell, D.D., FBA (9 April 1917 – 23 June 2011) was a British philosopher and one-time Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion at the University of Oxford. Mitchell argued strongly for the place of religious belief in public debate and was a prominent critic of liberal humanism.

Mitchell was educated at King Edward VI School, Southampton and The Queen's College, Oxford. After service in the Royal Navy, primarily in the Mediterranean, he became tutor in philosophy at Keble College, Oxford in 1947 and moved to Oriel College, Oxford to take up a university chair in 1968. His inaugural lecture, "Neutrality and Commitment", attracted much favourable comment at the time. Later, Mitchell was instrumental in creating a new Oxford honours school devoted to philosophy and theology.

Mitchell delivered the 1974–76 Gifford Lectures at the University of Glasgow, entitled Morality, Religious and Secular. Among his other important publications in the philosophy of law and of religion include the edited anthology Faith and Logic (1957), Law, Morality and Religion in a Secular Society (1966). which was a contribution to the debate over law and morality between H. L. A. Hart and Patrick Devlin, The Justification of Religious Belief (1981), and his Sarum Lectures, Faith and Criticism (1992). There is also a collection of essays, How to Play Theological Ping-Pong (1993). Mitchell edited the widely used "Oxford Reading in Philosophy" anthology, The Philosophy of Religion. Finally. Mitchell wrote a pamphlet entitled Can Social Policy Be Morally Neutral?, published by The Social Affairs Unit. Mitchell was a prominent figure in the Church of England and a member of several of its doctrinal commissions on faith and morals.

Two of his noteworthy contributions to the philosophy of religion were his short essay in the "Theology and Falsification" debate between Antony Flew, R. M. Hare and himself, in which he tried to counter Flew's parable of the "invisible gardener" with his own "parable of the partisan" and his development of the "cumulative-case" method of justifying religious belief, notably in his book The Justification of Religious Belief.

Further contributions include an essay on "The Christian Conscience" to the Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity. In addition, he wrote an autobiographical essay, "War and Friendship", for the Kelly James Clark anthology, Philosophers Who Believe. His most recent publication is An Engagement with Plato's Republic,(2003) co-written with his Oxford friend and fellow philosopher J.R. Lucas. Steven Holtzer and William Abraham co-edited a Festschrift for him, The Rationality of Religious Belief, which includes an appreciation of his thought and character by Oliver O'Donovan, and an essay on the Eucharist by Michael Dummett. He has recently published a memoir, Looking Back: on Faith, Philosophy and Friends in Oxford.