John Grote struggled to construct an intelligible account of philosophy at a time when radical change and sectarian conflict made understanding and clarity a rarity. This book answers three questions: * How did John Grote develop and contribute to modern Cambridge and British philosophy? * What is the significance of these contributions to modern philosophy in general and British Idealism and language philosophy in particular? * How were his ideas and his idealism incorporated into the modern philosophical tradition? Grote influenced his contemporaries, such as his students Henry Sidgwick and John Venn, in both style and content; he forged a brilliantly original philosophy of knowledge, ethics, politics and language, from a synthesis of the major British and European philosophies of his day; his social and political theory provide the origins of the 'new liberal' ideas later to reach their zenith in the writings of Green, Sidgwick, and Collingwood; he founded the 'Cambridge style' associated with Moore, Russell, Broad, McTaggart and Wittgenstein; and he was also a major influence on Oakeshott.

An objective of this book is to discuss some of the contributions made by John Grote to philosophy. This work is an extension of a dissertation written for the doctorate at Boston University. The author wishes to acknowledge the invaluable assistance in many places to Professor Peter A. Bertocci and the late Professor Edgar S. Brightman both of whom read the entire manuscript in its original form. Also, the author acknowledges the encouraging interest and support of his wife, Helen, whose many suggestions have improved the writing and without whose assistance this work would not have been accomplished. The author assumes complete responsibility for whatever errors or deficiencies appear in the book. All known writings of Grote are listed and the more important ones analyzed. LAUCHLIN D. MACDONALD CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1. JOHN GROTE'S LIFE i. Sketch of his life John Grote will remain best known by reason of the thought formu lated in the Exploratio Philosophica, or Rough Notes on Modern I ntellectu al Science. To the philosophical world of his own time he was well known as the teacher who ably held the chair of Moral Philosophy in the University of Cambridge from r855 until the year of his death, r866, to the Knightbridge Professor, William Whewell whose in succession Philosophy of Science is the subject of at least one chapter of the Exploratio Philosophica. Grote's birthplace was Beckenham in Kent, and the date, May 5, r8r3.