Guide to the Papers of David Armstrong, 1945-1991

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9363

Creator:

Armstrong, D.M. (David Malet), 1926-

Extent:

3.71 metres and (27 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should becited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of David Armstrong, National Library of Australia, [class, series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers fall into three categories. The early series comprise a comprehensive record of David Armstrong's philosophical writings extending from his undergraduate days at the University of Sydney until the early 1980s. They include not only the drafts, usually handwritten, of his essays, articles, lectures and book reviews, but associated correspondence with other philosophers and with editors of journals, reviews of his early books, and his notes of lectures that he attended at Sydney and Oxford University.

Secondly, there is a series of files documenting Armstrong's strong interest in a range of social and political questions, especially during the Vietnam War years. They include speeches and addresses, articles for university and other newspapers, records of the Sydney University Association for Cultural Freedom, and papers on the 1970 and 1971 Vietnam Moratoriums.

The third category comprise papers relating to disputes within the Department of Philosophy at Sydney University and the split into two departments in 1973. They include correspondence, submissions, petitions, circulars, agenda papers, cuttings and other papers dating from 1965 until 1985.

Among the correspondents are John Burnheim, Keith Campbell, Noam Chomsky, Michael Devitt, Owen Harries, Eugene Kamenka, W.M. O'Neil, J.J.C. Smart and Alan Stout.

Biographical Note:

David Malet Armstrong was born in Melbourne on 8 July 1926, the son of Commodore John Armstrong, RAN and Philippa Armstrong. He was educated at Dragon School, Oxford, and Geelong Grammar School. He served in the Royal Australian Navy in 1945-46. He then enrolled at the University of Sydney, where he graduated with an Honours degree in Philosophy in 1950. He continued his philosophical studies at Exeter College, Oxford, where his supervisor was H.H. Price. Graduating as a B.Phil., he lectured at London University before returning to Australia in 1955.

Armstrong took up a post as a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne in 1956, becoming Senior Lecturer in 1961. He was awarded a doctorate in 1960. In 1964 he returned to the University of Sydney as the Challis Professor of Philosophy and held this position until his retirement in 1991. Following a split in the Department of Philosophy in 1973, he was the first Head of the Department of Traditional and Modern Philosophy. Since 1991 he has been Emeritus Professor of Philosophy.

Armstrong's particular interests have been in the areas of the theory of knowledge and perception, the philosophy of mind and metaphysics and his writings quickly brought him an international reputation. He has held Visiting Professorships at Yale University, Stanford University and the Universities of Wisconsin, Texas and California. His principal publications are Berkeley's theory of vision (1960), Perception and the physical world (1961), Bodily sensations (1962), A materialist theory of the mind (1968), Belief, truth and knowledge (1973), Universals and scientific realism (1978), The nature of mind and other essays (1980), What is a law of nature? (1983), Consciousness and causality (1984), Universals (1989), A combinatorial theory of possibility (1989), A world of states of affairs (1997) and The mind-body problem (1999).

Armstrong is a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1993.

Armstrong married Madeleine Haydon in 1950 and Jennifer Clark in 1982.

Collection Retrieval Advice:

Please note: each consignment in this collection has a separate box number sequence (i.e. there are multiple Box 1's). Please cite the relevant Class number as well as the Box number when requesting retrieval of material from the collection.

Provenance:

The papers were donated by Professor Armstrong to the National Library under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme in 1992. Further papers were added in 1999, 2001 and 2012.

Arrangement:

The papers were filed chronologically by Professor Armstrong in a number of series and this arrangement has been maintained by the Library.

Conditions Governing Access:

Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn239780).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should becited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of David Armstrong, National Library of Australia, [class, series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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