Gwilym Ellis Lane Owen () was a British classicist and philosopher who is best known as a scholar of ancient philosophy. He was a specialist on the work of the Greek philosopher Aristotle.
Born to a Welsh father and an English mother in Portsmouth, Owen studied Classics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, but was called up to serve as an intelligence officer in World War II. After returning to England, he taught philosophy at the University of Oxford and moved to a chair at Harvard University in 1966. His final appointment was the Laurence Professorship of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, which he held from 1973 until his death in 1982.
One of the leading philosophers of his generation, Owen published numerous papers on Aristotle's metaphysics and ontology. Among his best-known publications are 'Logic and Metaphysics in Some Early Works of Aristotle' (1960), 'Dialectic and Eristic in the Treatment of the Forms' (1968), and 'Aristotelian Pleasures' (1972). Although most of his work focussed on Aristotle, he also wrote an influential article on Plato's Timaeus (1953). The central theme of his scholarly work was to demonstrate the importance of method and argument over dogmatism in ancient philosophy.
According to philosopher John M. Cooper, Owen "led [a] reorientation in ancient philosophy that began in the 1950s in Britain and North America". His papers, in the words of philosopher Malcolm Schofield, provided "a new way of writing about ancient philosophy", while his services to the discipline were recognised with numerous honours, including a Fellowship of the British Academy.
Early life, education, and military service
Gwilym Ellis Lane Owen was born in May 1922 at Portsmouth in South East England, the son of the Welshman Ellis Owen and his English wife Edith Lane. His father worked as a secretary at the Portsmouth and Isle of Wight Ice and Cold Storage Company. After receiving his secondary education at Portsmouth Grammar School, he went to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he began to study Classics in 1940. However, the following year he was called up for military service at the Royal Corps of Signals. Having served as an intelligence officer in Siam, Burma, and India until 1946, he returned to Oxford to continue his studies.
During his second stint at university, Owen became involved in the publication of The Isis Magazine, one of Oxford's student newspapers and kept company with a group of contemporaries with literary interests. His friends included the novelist Kingsley Amis, journalist Ludovic Kennedy and the theatre critic Kenneth Tynan. In 1948, he graduated with a first-class Bachelor of Arts. Encouraged by the philosopher Gilbert Ryle, he went on to obtain a Bachelor of Philosophy. This degree, which he completed in 1950, marked a shift in academic interest from historical topics towards philosophy.
Career
Beginnings in England
Owen's first academic appointment was a research fellowship at Durham University from 1950 to 1953. This brief stint saw the preparation of his first scholarly publication, an article on Plato's Timaeus. In 1953, he was elected to the newly established lectureship of ancient philosophy at Oxford. Although his post was designed to provide teaching on Pre-Socratic philosophy, he also directed regular classes on Plato and Aristotle aimed at graduate students. Together with Ryle and their colleague J. L. Austin, he provided a generation of future scholars with a foundation on these two philosophers. In addition to his university assignment, he became a fellow of Corpus Christi College in 1958. In 1963, he was elevated to a professorship.
During his time at Oxford, Owen was part of a drive to revive academic collaboration on the philosophy of Aristotle. He was one of the founders of the revived Oxford Aristotelian Society, an influential close-reading group. Their meetings were attended by a core of leading contemporary philosophers, including W. D. Ross, Martha Kneale and her husband William Kneale. His other collaborative project were the Symposia Aristotelica, triennial meetings of international Aristotle scholars initiated by Owen and the Swedish classicist Ingemar Düring. He was particularly engaged in organising the 1957 and 1963 editions of the conference, the latter of which was held at Oxford.