Graham Nerlich

Nerlich graduated Bachelor of Arts with joint honours in Philosophy and English Literature in 1954 and a Master of Arts in 1955, both at University of Adelaide. Then B. Phil, University of Oxford, 1956–1958 with a thesis on Personal Identity,{{Cite journal|last=Nerlich|first=G. C.|date=1958-06-01|title=Sameness, Difference and Continuity|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/18.6.144|journal=Analysis|volume=18|issue=6|pages=144–149|doi=10.1093/analys/18.6.144|issn=0003-2638}} with J. L. Austin, as supervisor and friend. He was Lecturer University of Leicester, England, 1958−1961; University of Sydney, Senior Lecturer 1962–1968; Associate Professor, 1968−1972; Professor, 1972−1973; University of Adelaide, Hughes Professor of Philosophy,{{Cite web|last=Nerlich|first=Graham|title=School of Humanities|url=https://arts.adelaide.edu.au/humanities/department-of-philosophy#our-people}} 1974−1994; Emeritus Professor 1995.{{Citation|title=List of Contributors|date=2012|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.20851/j.ctt1t30501.3|work=A History of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Adelaide|pages=viii–xii|editor-last=Harvey|editor-first=Nick|series=1876-2012|publisher=University of Adelaide Press|jstor=10.20851/j.ctt1t30501.3|isbn=978-1-922064-37-0|access-date=2021-10-09|editor2-last=Fornasiero|editor2-first=Jean|editor3-last=McCarthy|editor3-first=Greg|editor4-last=Macintyre|editor4-first=Clem}}

He was Principal Editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy,{{Cite journal|last=Candlish|first=Stewart|date=2021-02-02|title=The First Hundred Years of (The) Australasian Journal of Philosophy|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2020.1871385|journal=Australasian Journal of Philosophy|volume=100 |pages=22|doi=10.1080/00048402.2020.1871385|s2cid=234036787|issn=0004-8402}} 1968–72, and appointed Founder of the Minkowski Institute, 2013.{{cite web|last1=Nerlich|first1=Graham|title=Founder|url=http://www.minkowskiinstitute.org/founders.html|access-date=|website=Institute for Foundational Studies Hermann Minkowski}}

He was the invited speaker at the International union of history and philosophy of science division of logic, methodology and philosophy of science (IUHPS/DLMPS) Australian delegation at the General Assemblies in Moscow (1987),{{Cite journal|date=1988-09-01|title=International union of the history and philosophy of science division of logic, methodology and philosophy of science (IUHPS/DLMPS) bulletin no. 12|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00869613|journal=Synthese|language=en|volume=76|issue=3|pages=456|doi=10.1007/BF00869613|s2cid=46959118|issn=1573-0964}} and Uppsala (1991).{{Cite journal|date=1992-01-01|title=International union of history and philosophy of science division of logic, methodology and philosophy of science (IUHPS/DLMPS) bulletin no. 16|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00484974|journal=Synthese|language=en|volume=91|issue=1|pages=156|doi=10.1007/BF00484974|s2cid=46974949|issn=1573-0964}}

First convenor University of Adelaide’s Committee on Ethics,{{Cite web|title=Human Research Ethics Committee {{!}} Research Services {{!}} University of Adelaide|url=https://www.adelaide.edu.au/research-services/ethics-compliance-integrity/human-research-ethics/human-research-ethics-committee|access-date=2021-10-09|website=www.adelaide.edu.au|language=en}} of experimentation on humans, Member for the University of Adelaide of committees for the ethics of experiments on animals, and for the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science South Australia,{{Cite web|title=Staff Directory {{!}} Directory Listing -- N|url=https://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/atoz/N.html?orderby=last,first,position_n;dsn=directory.phonebook;letter=N;m=atoz;page=2|access-date=2021-10-09|website=www.adelaide.edu.au}} and SA Pathology, a couple of decades of each till 2017.

Graham was a keen actor mainly in amateur theatre;{{Cite web|title=Graham Nerlich|url=https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/249445|website=The Australian Live Performance Database|publisher=AusStage|access-date=2021-10-09}} Theatre Guild,{{Cite web|title=PastProductions|url=https://www.adelaide.edu.au/theatreguild/past-productions|access-date=2021-10-07|website=Theatre Guild {{!}} University of Adelaide|language=en}} and Independent Theatre,{{Cite web|title=History|url=https://www.independenttheatre.org.au/history|access-date=2021-10-07|website=Independent Theatre|language=en-US}} where he met Margaret Rawlinson,{{Cite web|title=Margaret Rawlinson|url=https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/422208|access-date=2021-10-09|website=The Australian Live Performance Database|publisher=AusStage}} the stage manager and married her. Professional appearances with South Australian State Theatre Co,{{Cite web|title=State Theatre Company South Australia - Season 2021|url=https://statetheatrecompany.com.au/|access-date=2021-10-07|website=State Theatre Company|language=en-US}} a couple of  small television and film appearances and narrations. Particularly interested in Shakespearean parts – played Ferdinand in Tempest,{{Cite news|last=Nerlich|first=Graham|title=OnDit page 7|work=[OnDit]|url=https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/125330/1/OnDit1950_V18N9_Oct.pdf|access-date=}} and later, same play, as Prospero, also Shylock, King Lear and Polonius. He also appeared in several modern plays e.g. Jumpers by Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party.

Nerlich has never had a religious faith,{{Cite journal|last=Nerlich|first=Graham|date=1978|title=Review of A Treatise on Time and Space|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/687023|journal=The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science|volume=29|issue=3|pages=295–298|doi=10.1093/bjps/29.3.295|jstor=687023|issn=0007-0882}} and is opposed to religions generally as they are liable to promote commandment ethics and as influential but misleading falsehoods and dogmas; he wrote on this theme the article on 'Popular arguments for the existence of God' in the 1967 Encyclopedia of Philosophy.{{Cite web|last=Nerlich|first=Graham|title=Popular Arguments for the Existence of God|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/popular-arguments-existence-god|access-date=2021-10-10|website=www.encyclopedia.com}} He was patron of the South Australian Humanist Society (now defunct), and of Voluntary Assisted Dying South Australia, which helped to change the relevant South Australian law on this in 2021.{{Cite web|last=Nerlich|first=Graham|title=Voluntary euthanasia|url=https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/lsic/Submissions/Submission_794_-_Graham_Nerlich.pdf}}

At Sydney University, Nerlich as head of the Philosophy Department had difficulty in containing the "Sydney philosophy disturbances", in which political differences between left and right created heated conflict over proposed new courses in Marxism-Leninism and over democratisation.{{cite book |last=Franklin |first=James |author-link=James Franklin (philosopher) |date=2003 |title=Corrupting the Youth: A history of philosophy in Australia|chapter=ch 11 |chapter-url=http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/corruptingtheyouthch11.pdf |location=Sydney |publisher=Macleay Press |page=295 |isbn=1876492082}}

When J. J. C. Smart left Adelaide University in 1972, Nerlich moved to Adelaide to take the chair. 1974 saw the beginning of significant changes in administrative style at Adelaide University. Headship of the Department was no longer tied to occupancy of the Chair. It became an elected position independent of academic rank. Nerlich was elected immediately and quickly moved to allow student representation at staff meetings, among other democratic measures. These changes have persisted, and were instituted not only in Philosophy but also in the University generally. Nerlich’s research and publication in his two decades in the Hughes Chair was divided mainly between studies in the ontology of space, time and space-time, and ethics. In the former and larger output he defended realism toward space-time and especially a unique role for it in ontology as providing geometrical, non-causal explanation in General Relativity. Geometric non-causal explanation was also argued to figure in the explanation of incongruent counterparts and the failure of similarity geometry in non-Euclidean space. Nerlich’s interest in the philosophy of physics had been stimulated earlier by Smart, and both have enjoyed good relations with the physics departments.{{Cite book|last1=Editors; Harvey|first1=Nick|url=https://doi.org/10.1017/9781922064363|title=A History of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Adelaide 1876-2012|last2=Fornasiero|first2=Jean|last3=McCarthy|first3=Greg|last4=Macintyre|first4=Clem|last5=Crossin|first5=Carl|publisher=University of Adelaide Press|year=2012|isbn=978-1922064370|location=Adelaide|pages=412|doi=10.1017/9781922064363|hdl=2440/74965}}

• 2009, The Shape of Space.{{Cite book|last=Nerlich|first=Graham|title=The Shape of Space|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780521456456|location=England|pages=312}} This is a revised and updated edition of Graham Nerlich's classic book (1976). It develops a metaphysical account of space that treats it as a real and concrete entity, showing that shape plays a key explanatory role in space and spacetime theories. James Franklin agrees, 'It is hard to believe the question makes sense for something that does not really exist.'{{rp|325}}
• 1990, Values and Valuing: Speculations on the Ethical Life of Persons.{{Cite book|last=Nerlich|first=Graham|title=Values and Valuing: Speculations on the Ethical Life of Persons|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1989|isbn=9780198248477|location=Oxford|pages=232}} Nerlich concludes that valuing will be good only if it results in objective values that are authentic to the individual's nature and surrounding culture.
• 1994, What Spacetime Explains: Metaphysical Essays,{{Cite book|last=Nerlich|first=Graham|title=What Spacetime Explains: Metaphysical Essays|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1994|isbn=9780521452618|location=Cambridge|pages=283}}
• 2013, Einstein's Genie Spacetime out of the Bottle,{{Cite book|last=Nerlich|first=Graham|url=http://www.minkowskiinstitute.org/mip/books/nerlich.html|title=Einstein's Genie: Spacetime out of the bottle|publisher=Minkowski Institute Press|year=213|isbn=9781927763131|location=Canada|pages=230}}
• 2014 , Never Mind about the Bourgeoisie: The Correspondence Between Iris Murdoch and Brian Medlin 1976-1995,{{Cite book|last1=Dooley|first1=Gillian|title=Never Mind about the Bourgeoisie: The Correspondence Between Iris Murdoch and Brian Medlin 1976-1995|last2=Nerlich|first2=Graham|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|year=2014|isbn=9781443855440|location=Cambridge|pages=270}}

• {{Cite journal|date=1973|title=Hands, Knees, and Absolute Space|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2024929|journal=The Journal of Philosophy|volume=70|issue=12|pages=337–351|doi=10.2307/2024929|jstor=2024929|last1=Nerlich|first1=Graham}}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Nerlich|first1=Graham|last2=Mortensen|first2=Chris|date=1978|title=Physical Topology|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30226174|journal=Journal of Philosophical Logic|volume=7|issue=1|pages=209–223|jstor=30226174}}
• {{Cite journal|date=1979|title=How to Make Things Have Happened|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00455091.1979.10716233|journal=Canadian Journal of Philosophy|volume=9 |issue=1|pages=1–22|doi=10.1080/00455091.1979.10716233|last1=Nerlich|first1=Graham|s2cid=171382190 }}
• {{Cite journal|date=1979|title=What Can Geometry Explain?|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/bjps/30.1.69|journal=The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science|volume=30|issue=1|pages=69–83|doi=10.1093/bjps/30.1.69|last1=Nerlich|first1=Graham}}
• {{Cite journal|date=1982|title=Special Relativity is not based on causality|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1093/bjps/33.4.361?journalCode=bjps|journal=The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science|volume=33|issue=4|pages=361–388|doi=10.1093/bjps/33.4.361|last1=Nerlich|first1=Graham}}
• {{Cite journal|date=1991|title=How Euclidean geometry has misled metaphysics|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2026946|journal=Journal of Philosophy|volume=88|issue=4|pages=169–189|doi=10.2307/2026946|jstor=2026946|last1=Nerlich|first1=Graham}}
• {{Cite journal|date=2005|title=Can Parts of Space Move? On Paragraph Six of Newton's Scholium|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/20013315|journal=Erkenntnis|volume=62|issue=1|pages=119–135|jstor=20013315|last1=Nerlich|first1=Graham|doi=10.1007/s10670-004-8709-4|s2cid=120784672}}
• {{Cite book|editor-last=Petkov|editor-first=V|chapter-url=http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/5453/1/Sptm-no_cause.pdf|publisher=Springer Publishing|year=2010|isbn=9783642135378|title=Space, Time and Spacetime Physical and Philosophical Implications of Minkowski's Unification of Space and Time|pages=181–191|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-13538-5_8|chapter=Why Spacetime is Not a Hidden Cause: A Realist Story}}

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Category:1929 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:20th-century Australian philosophers

Category:21st-century Australian philosophers

Category:Australian philosophers of science

Category:Australian atheists

Category:Academic staff of the University of Adelaide

Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities

Category:University of Adelaide alumni

Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford