LONDON STATUES - PHILOSOPHERS

 

LONDON STATUES - PHILOSOPHERS

     I know next to nothing about philosophy - making me ideally qualified to comment on it - although the pen pictures have been shamelessly copied and pasted from ChatGPT.  Feel free to make your own uninformed comments, after all this is what social media is all about, the clueless leading the clueless. Any pearls of wisdom/thoughts (perish the thought) of my own in this post are in italics, they will likely be cliché-laden and should be taken with a pinch of salt. 

     Not so long ago, old farts in the pub mostly discussed the three Ps: Property, Pensions and Prostates (not Plato). But in these surreal times, the main subject of conversation is more likely to be American Politicians who could learn something from these learned philosophers - obviously not Marx, who I believe was a bit of a leftie.

    Unsurprisingly, all ten statues are of men - who (as I’ve been told many times), always have to have a good think before actually doing anything (like making a "to do" list).

Confucius c. 551–479 BC

    Confucius saw philosophy as a practical guide to living well rather than abstract speculation. He emphasised moral character, respect for tradition, social harmony, and the importance of good rulers setting a virtuous example. Society, for Confucius, worked best when everyone understood their role and behaved with ren (humaneness) and li (proper conduct). His influence on East Asian thought has been deeper and longer-lasting than almost any Western philosopher’s.

Maughan Library, Chancery Lane

    The statue was presented to King's College by the Confucian Academy in 2010. On the plinth is some text in Chinese. Thinking it must be some choice words of wisdom from the great man, I got my niece Sam Yu Wen to translate. According to Sam, it says: "The statue was presented to King's College by the Confucian Academy in 2010".

    

    His teachings were collected after his death by his students.

    For much of history, passing exams on Confucian texts was the key to getting a Chinese civil-service job.
    At one time he was a government official - and was sacked.

Quotes: 

    "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop."

    "By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is the bitterest."

   "The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."

Plato c. 428–348 BC

      Plato believed that the physical world is a poor shadow of a higher realm of perfect "Forms" -  ideal versions of truth, beauty and justice. He distrusted democracy, having watched Athens put Socrates to death, and instead imagined a society ruled by philosopher-kings: intelligent, educated, and incorruptible. His dialogues shaped Western philosophy so thoroughly that almost everything since has been, as someone said, “a footnote to Plato.”

Burlington House, Burlington Gardens

     "Plato" was probably a nickname meaning "broad-shouldered".

     He founded the Academy, often regarded as the world’s first university.

Quotes:

     "Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something." [Often attributed to Plato, but may not have been his words. Too relevant to ignore!]

     "The measure of a man is what he does with power." 

     "The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."

     I'm guessing Plato isn't taught in American schools. And I doubt if Donald Trump has ever read Plato. Whilst Boris Johnson wasn't one of our best PMs, at least he could quote the ancient philosophers in Greek and Latin.

      

Aristotle 384–322 BC

     Aristotle rejected Plato’s other-worldly perfection in favour of careful observation of the real one. He believed knowledge came from experience, that virtue was a matter of balance (the famous “golden mean”), and that humans flourish through reason and community. Unlike Plato, Aristotle was happy getting his hands dirty with biology, politics, drama and ethics — laying foundations for science as well as philosophy.

Burlington House, Burlington Gardens

    He tutored Alexander the Great.

    He wrote about everything from ethics to meteorology to cuttlefish.
    Many of his works survive only as lecture notes, not polished books.

Quotes: 

     "Happiness depends upon ourselves."

     "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

     [And I always thought it was listening to the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger]

Thomas More 1478–1535

     More is best known for Utopia, a deceptively calm description of a rational, communal society that quietly exposes the corruption and inequality of Tudor England. A devout Catholic and a humanist, he believed conscience mattered more than convenience - a belief that cost him his head when he refused to support Henry VIII’s break with Rome. Idealism, irony and martyrdom sit uneasily together in his legacy.

     

Thomas More Chambers, 51 and 52 Carey Street

     More studied law at nearby Lincoln's Inn. This statue was unveiled in 1886.

Chelsea Old Church, Cheyne Walk

     Thomas More once lived near here and worshipped in this church. This statue, unveiled in 1969, is unusual in being coloured, despite being fashioned in bronze. Sculpted by L. Cubitt Bevis, it caused controversy at the time, with renowned art historian Sir John Rothenstein resigning from the selection committee over the design. Others felt More appeared to be sitting on a toilet.

    He was Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor, losing his head over a matter of conscience.
    He wrote Utopia, meaning "nowhere" partly as satire, though people keep taking it literally.
    He was later canonised as a saint, despite having no qualms about sending Lutherans to the stake.

Quotes:
    "A man's country is not a certain area of land, but a place where one is not a slave."
    "The greatest wealth is to live content with little."
    "I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first." [his last words]

John Locke 1632–1704

     Locke argued that humans are born as a tabula rasa - a blank slate - shaped by experience rather than innate ideas. Politically, he believed governments exist only by the consent of the governed and must protect life, liberty and property. If they fail, people have the right to overthrow them. His ideas directly influenced the Enlightenment, the American Revolution, and modern liberal democracy.

Burlington House, Burlington Gardens

     He trained as a doctor and helped treat the Earl of Shaftesbury.

     His idea of the mind as a blank slate made him the intellectual godfather of modern education.
     He spent years in exile in the Netherlands for being politically awkward.

Quotes: 

     "All men are created equal."

     “Where there is no law, there is no freedom.”
     "New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common."

Adam Smith 1723–1790

    Smith is often caricatured as the prophet of greed, but his thinking was subtler than that. He believed markets could organise society efficiently through self-interest, but only when tempered by moral sympathy and social norms. His “invisible hand” was not a free pass for selfishness, but an observation about how complex systems sometimes balance themselves - imperfectly and not without consequences.

       Burlington House, Burlington Gardens    Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

    He never actually used the phrase "capitalism".
    He once walked into a tanning pit while deep in thought.
    His "invisible hand" appears only a handful of times in his writing.

Quotes:
    "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner."
    "It is the highest impertinence and presumption, therefore, in kings and ministers, to pretend to watch over the economy of private people."
    "Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice."

Jeremy Bentham 1748–1832

     Bentham reduced ethics to a radical simplicity: actions are right if they increase happiness and wrong if they cause suffering. His utilitarianism aimed to make law, punishment and government rational rather than traditional or moralistic. Famously eccentric, he requested that his preserved body be displayed after death - proof that even the most calculating philosophers can be wonderfully odd.

   Burlington House, Burlington Gardens                  UCL, Gordon Square                                  

                                                                           (photo courtesy Philip Stevens)                       

     Jeremy Bentham's preserved body, also known as the "Auto-Icon", is on display at University College London (above right). His skeleton is dressed in his own clothes, with a wax head, and seated in a glass cabinet. An attempt to mummify his real head didn't work; so a wax replica was made instead. As a result of past pranks and thefts, the original head is stored securely at UCL. Philosophers spend their lives asking difficult questions about life and death. Bentham solved the problem by simply refusing to leave.

     The Auto-Icon, still attends meetings at UCL.

     He invented utilitarianism: the greatest happiness of the greatest number.

     He once proposed prison designs so efficient they terrified everyone.

Quotes: 

     "The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation."

     "Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure."

     "All punishment is mischief: all punishment in itself is evil."

John Stuart Mill 1806–1873

     Mill refined Bentham’s utilitarianism by arguing that not all pleasures are equal - intellectual and moral pleasures matter more than mere comfort. He was a passionate defender of free speech, individual liberty, and women’s rights, believing society progresses only by tolerating dissent. If modern liberalism has a conscience, Mill helped give it one.

Temple Gardens, Victoria Embankment

    Jeremy Bentham was his godfather.
    He was educated so intensely he suffered a mental breakdown in his twenties.
    Despite disliking public speaking, he served as an MP.
    His advocacy for women’s rights was decades ahead of its time.
    He credited much of his thinking to his wife, Harriet Taylor, unusually generous for the era.

Quotes:
"Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing."

 "The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way."
"It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied."

Karl Marx 1818–1883

    Marx saw history as a struggle between economic classes, driven by who controls production and who does the work. He believed capitalism inevitably creates inequality and alienation, and would eventually collapse under its own contradictions. Few thinkers have had their ideas so widely adopted, distorted, weaponised and argued over - often by people who never read him properly.

Highgate Cemetery

     As a rule, I only include statues that can be seen free of charge. But this, one of London's most famous statues, is well worth the £10 admission fee as you get to see many more interesting memorials - ranging from Michael Faraday to George Michael. Click here for my guide post on Highgate Cemetery.

     Karl Marx's striking grave was funded by the Marx Memorial Fund, set up by the Communist Party in 1955.

 

      Karl Marx once lodged in Soho, at 28 Dean Street, now Quo Vadis, in a squalid and cramped apartment in which three of his children died. When the plaque was unveiled in 1967, it was universally welcomed, especially by the owner of Quo Vadis who observed: "My clientele are the very best .... rich people ....nobility and royalty - and Marx was the person who wanted to get rid of them!"

      His middle name was Heinrich.

     He spent much of his life financially supported by Friedrich Engels.

     He lived in London for decades.
   
Quotes: 

      "Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains."

      "The philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point, however, is to change it."

     "Democracy is the road to socialism."
    "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce."
    ."Social progress can be measured by the social position of the female class."

See also The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital  (there will be a test.)

      The political philosophies of Karl Marx were certainly significant and generally speaking admirable. But in practice they don’t appear to work too well in communities larger than around 200 people. So fine for a kibbutz or extended Asian family.

Bertrand Russell 1872–1970

     Russell combined razor-sharp logic with moral urgency. A pioneer of analytic philosophy, he also wrote for the general public, campaigning against war, nuclear weapons and dogma of all kinds. He believed clarity was a moral duty and that scepticism was healthier than certainty - especially when power is involved.

Red Lion Square

     This bust is near Conway Hall where Russell often lectured.

     His godfather was J.S. Mill, godson of Jeremy Bentham.

     He won the Nobel Prize for Literature, not philosophy. 

     He was also a distinguished  mathematician.
     He was imprisoned during WWI for pacifist activism.
     He came from an aristocratic family and rebelled magnificently.

      He was divorced three times (perhaps for thinking too much?)
     He lived to 97 and remained politically active to the end.

Quotes: 

     "The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."

     "Happiness is nonetheless real because it must come to an end."

     "The essence of the liberal outlook is the wish to make possible a community of men who are free and happy."

APPENDIX

     At the top of this post, I noted that all the statues are of male philosophers. Unable to think of any female philosophers, I found a list. And I'm ashamed to say I'd not heard of any of them, not even Philippa Foot who was born very close to where I grew up in North Lincolnshire. Not only was she a top philosopher, her grandfather was American President Grover Cleveland! 

    If anything, given attitudes in their time, the achievements of female philosophers are even more deserving of recognition than the men.

Ancient & Medieval

• Hypatia (c. 350–415)
  A star of late-antique Alexandria: mathematics, astronomy, Neoplatonism—and tragically murdered for being too brilliant and too visible.

• Diotima of Mantinea (possibly fictional, possibly real)
  Appears in Plato’s Symposium as Socrates’ teacher on love. Even if partly literary, she shaped Western thinking about eros.

• Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179)
  Mystic, theologian, natural philosopher, composer—basically a one-woman Renaissance before the Renaissance.

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Early Modern (when women philosophised despite everything)

• Émilie du Châtelet (1706–1749)
  Philosopher of science and physics; translated Newton into French and corrected Voltaire along the way.

• Anne Conway (1631–1679)
  Her metaphysics influenced Leibniz, which is impressive given she wasn’t allowed a formal education.

• Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673)
  Wrote philosophy, science fiction, and critiques of mechanistic science—loudly, and under her own name. Radical stuff.

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19th–20th Century

• Harriet Taylor Mill (1807–1858)
  Major influence on husband John Stuart Mill’s feminism and ethics - long under-credited.

• Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986)
  The Second Sex changed philosophy, feminism, and how half the world understood itself.

• Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
  Power, totalitarianism, responsibility, evil—few thinkers shaped 20th-century political philosophy more.

• Simone Weil (1909–1943)
  Intense, ascetic, uncompromising—wrote about attention, suffering, and justice like no one else.

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Contemporary & Living Thinkers

• Martha Nussbaum
  Ethics, political philosophy, emotions, justice—hugely influential and very readable.

• Judith Butler
  Changed how philosophy understands gender, identity, and power (and still causes lively arguments).

• Philippa Foot
  Gave us the famous trolley problem - and helped revive virtue ethics.

     I'll wager many of you clicked on trolley problem. I know I did. And, no, Dale Winton, host of Supermarket Sweep, doesn't get a mention.