Ewing's correspondence. Very little of Ewing's incoming correspondence survives, and it is assumed that only these letters were selected by Ewing for preservation.
/1-12 Letters from Henry Habberley Price (1899-1984), Wykeham professor of logic, University of Oxford, 1935-1959. Includes:
- /1 7 Jul 1922, a long letter, which discusses Kant, whom Price describes as "the Nursing Father of modern philosophy"; considers that Realism rather subjective Idealism is the true philosophical descendant of Kant, and believes Kantianism can be developed as "a genuine and stable Realism", also makes criticisms of the Idealist view of experience.
- /2 29 Aug 1923, long letter expressing critical views on the teaching of philosophy at Oxford, also criticises Neo-Kantians, of whom he considers Ewing to be one;
- /3 10 Jul 1935, Price's election as professor of logic;
- /4 23 Jan 1936, gives his opinion of Harold Prichard [Prichard (1871-1947), White's professor of moral philosophy at Oxford (1928-1937)], and his unpublished work;
- /5 13 Oct 1939, discusses relations between philosophy and other disciplines such as physics and psychology, the role of philosopher vis-a-vis other experts; impact of war at Oxford;
- /6 7 Dec 1940, discusses philosophical theism, feels there is a need to make "theism intellectually respectable again", notes some recent converts from a theism, expresses his hopes for the intellectual work of Ian Ramsay [1915-1972, theologian, later bishop of Durham], and speculates that Oxford may be "the last stronghold of Agnosticism a generation from now";
- /7 31 Oct 1941, a letter discussing the relative importance of democracy and rule of law as guarantors of freedom and good government, expresses preference for "Anglo-Saxon" views of liberty over Rousseau's, which seems "next door to the Totalitarian State";agrees with R G Collingwood that political philosophy needs to be taken more seriously;
- /8 24 Dec 1942, Ewing's work on political philosophy, includes detailed commentary, especially on Ewing's views of international government;also stresses vital importance of rule of law as political concept;
- /9 27 Nov 1943, Price's election as fellow of British Academy, belated congratulations to Ewing for same honour; delays to publishing Ewing's book on political philosophy, feels it would have more impact post-war;
- /10 22 Oct 1944, a detailed letter outlining Price's views on the nature of the good;
- /11 9 Nov 1945, his work on "Introduction to the theory of knowledge", discusses nature of the good, criticises Ewing's conception of good as "good of its kind";
- /12 10 Apr 1946, holiday plans, need to complete his planned book on the theory of knowledge, publication of his British Academy lecture.
/13-14 letters from Alan Stout [1900-1983, philosopher], 9 Sep & 14 Nov 1937, responds to Ewing's commnets on his paper on Descartes, including views on an ultimate Creator.
/15-17, letters from A E Taylor [1869-1945, philosopher, professor of moral philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, 1924-41], 10 Jul 1937-10 Jan 1938, /15, praises Ewing's essay on 'Meaninglessness' and criticises "current nonsense" in philosophy, expresses critical views of the logical positivists and their views on "meaningful statements",/17 prises Ewing's article on Kant.
/18-19, two letters from Alexander J B Porteous, 26 Jun 1935, personal details, plus Alan Stout's paper; 25 Oct 1937, [incomplete]refers to appointment of C A Campbell to chair of logic at Glasgow.
/20 Letter from "Dick" [probably Richard Aaron, 1901-1987, professor of philosophy, U.C.W. Aberystwyth, former colleague of Ewing at Swansea], personal details and philosophy at Aberystwyth.
/21 letter from"Cyril" [relation?], 23 Oct 1938, comments on the Munich agreement, sceptical but believes Neville Chamberlain due some praise.
/22 letter from C A Campbell, 2 Jan 1948, [1897-1974, professor of logic and rhetoric at the University of Glasgow]discusses notion of "sensum" and nature of cognition
Seven letters in an envelope marked 'Special letters', including
- /23 a long letter from J H Muirhead, 11 Dec 1934 [1855-1940, philosopher], praising Idealism, shares his rejection of the "epistemological argument" for Idealism, and as far as perception is concerned considers "I am a realist of the realists". Believes that Ewing is too harsh on T H Green's political theory and Bernard Bosanquet's aesthetics, and does not believe that realists have made significant contributions here. Suggests that Ewing might like to present his views in a book on Realism to be published under auspices of the Library of Philosophy, which Muirhead edits.
- /24 letter from G F Stout, 10 Oct 1934, [1860-1944, philosopher, professor of logic at St Andrew's, father of the philosopher Alan Stout, see /13-14], praise for Idealism; critical of "veiled dogmatism" of Cambridge philosophical analysis.
- /25 from Norman Kemp Smith, 12 Dec 1934, [1872-1958, philosopher, professor of logic at Edinburgh University], praise for Idealism.
- /26 letter (And transcript by ACE0 from Samuel Alexander, 13 Aug 1935 [formerly professor of philosophy, University of Manchester], comments on Idealism, thinks Ewing's views on "representative perception" are reasonable, but does not share them.
- /27 undated letter (and transcript by ACE) from Susan Brooke, thanking Ewing for his help, after she received a first class degree.
- /28, letter from Willaim Pepperell Montague, [1873-1953, philosopher, professor of philosophy at Columbia University] 15 Oct 1937, praises Ewing's article 'Defence of causality', but wishes had referred to his own work. His "Refutation of Logical Positivism...absolutely first rate, by far the best treatment..."
- /29 From Bill Kneale [1905-1990, White's professor of moral philosophy, university of Oxford, 1960-66] 24 Nov 1970 concerning the "self-contradicting thesis".
/30-31Two letters from John E. Smith of Yale University, 13 Oct 1952, 17 Aug 1955, concerning an exchange of views in Review of Metaphysics.
/32 A letter from Errol Harris of Northwestern University, 29 Sep 1969, regarding Ewing's comments on a typescript of Harris.
/33-34 Two letters W N Medlicott (William Norton Medlicott (1900–1987), historian, former colleague of Ewing at University College, Swansea) / 33 22 Feb 1932, gives his impressions of the University of Texas, Austin, where he is a visiting scholar /34 28 Nov[?], personal details, including wife's employment, life in Swansea.
/35-39, letters from Isabel Westcott, 22 Jul 1929-28 Dec 1937, letters of personal nature, life at University College, Swansea [Westcott was a lecturer in English At Swansea].
/40-46, letters from Emma Ewing [mother] to ACE, 1921-193023 copy letters and drafts for testimonials for former students, 1947-1956, and undated.
/47-48 Two letters from Ewing to his mother, describing a journey to Greece [prob. 1920s].
/49 A letter from Janetta Sorley to Ewing's aunt, 13 Feb 1948, concerning funeral of Emma Ewing, includes order of service (copy).
/50-58, letters from publishers etc. (Macmillan, Methuen, Hodder & Stoughton, English Universities Press) concerning publications of Ewing, 1952-1955.
/59-68, ten postcards from Ewing to Miss Sargent [cousin], 1940s-1960s.
/69-94, drafts and copies of testimonials written by Ewing for former students, 1938-1956.
/95 postcard from J. A. Stierlin to Emma Ewing, 14 Dec 1936 [in German], shows town of Schaffhausen [Switzerland].