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Andrew Harrison, obituary note
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Chris Bertram
May 20, 2005, 10:35:52 AM5/20/05
to PHIL...@liverpool.ac.uk
My former colleague Michael Welbourne has written the following obituary
note about Andrew Harrison who died last Saturday at the age of 67.
Andrew's funeral will be at funeral on Friday 27th May (next Friday) at
Canford Cemetery, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol at 11.30am.
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Andrew Harrison had a long association with the University of Bristol .
He read English & Philosophy in the late 50s, and apart from four years
away in Oxford and Keele where he met his wife Mo, he spent the
remainder of his life in the Philosophy Department. He will be
remembered by generations of students for the selfless generosity of his
teaching. This had scant regard for the exigencies of timetables and was
delivered as much in pubs, on the street and at home, as in his office.
For him teaching, research and life were indivisible, and even weaker
students were made to feel that they were traveling with him on a hard
but fascinating and important intellectual journey. Teaching apart,
dozens of former students benefited from his unstinting concern for
their welfare. And the entire department rejoiced in the magnificent
river picnics he and Mo organised and cooked for annually after the
summer exams. Andrew made his reputation in Aesthetics, understood in a
quite distinctive way. He approached it through classical topics in
philosophy: language, metaphor, truth, fiction. His central concern was
with the cognitive processes involved in making things out of materials.
The Centre for Cognitive Issues in the Arts, which he founded, brought
together colleagues from Psychology, Archaeology and Art History as well
as Philosophy, and reflected his own extensive range. Sadly, the cruel
degenerative illness which afflicted his last years thwarted his
ambition to spend his retirement creating more of his own pictures and
building the ultimate dolls’ house for his grandchildren.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
note about Andrew Harrison who died last Saturday at the age of 67.
Andrew's funeral will be at funeral on Friday 27th May (next Friday) at
Canford Cemetery, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol at 11.30am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew Harrison had a long association with the University of Bristol .
He read English & Philosophy in the late 50s, and apart from four years
away in Oxford and Keele where he met his wife Mo, he spent the
remainder of his life in the Philosophy Department. He will be
remembered by generations of students for the selfless generosity of his
teaching. This had scant regard for the exigencies of timetables and was
delivered as much in pubs, on the street and at home, as in his office.
For him teaching, research and life were indivisible, and even weaker
students were made to feel that they were traveling with him on a hard
but fascinating and important intellectual journey. Teaching apart,
dozens of former students benefited from his unstinting concern for
their welfare. And the entire department rejoiced in the magnificent
river picnics he and Mo organised and cooked for annually after the
summer exams. Andrew made his reputation in Aesthetics, understood in a
quite distinctive way. He approached it through classical topics in
philosophy: language, metaphor, truth, fiction. His central concern was
with the cognitive processes involved in making things out of materials.
The Centre for Cognitive Issues in the Arts, which he founded, brought
together colleagues from Psychology, Archaeology and Art History as well
as Philosophy, and reflected his own extensive range. Sadly, the cruel
degenerative illness which afflicted his last years thwarted his
ambition to spend his retirement creating more of his own pictures and
building the ultimate dolls’ house for his grandchildren.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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