Thomas Edmund Jessop was born in 1896 in the West Riding of Yorkshire. After teaching at the University of Glasgow, he held the Ferens Chair in philosophy at the University College in Hull, England from 1928. Until 1945, he was the only member of the Philosophy Department at the school. He served the British Council (where he was called upon to interpret British ideals to other European countries) and was a fellow of the British Psychological Society. He authored several books and was an honorary director of the Student Christian Movement.
Jessop served in World War I, during which he was awarded the Military Cross. He was twice wounded and permanently disabled. During World War II, he worked as a civilian in the educational and chaplaincy services of the Army and the Royal Air Force, including teaching a course to Canadian troops. During his time working in public relations during the war, he addressed both troops and the public on the nature of the war, including Nazism and its origins. In 1944, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire. He was especially interested in adult education and citizenship, contributing to this through broadcasting, committee work, and teaching. Jessop was a Methodist and an honorary director of the Student Christian Movement. His publications include 1940’s Law and Love: A Study of the Christian Ethic, and The Scientific Account of Man. He retired from the University of Hull in 1960. Jessop died in 1980.
As the inaugural Dunning Trust lecturer, Jessop held three lectures: The Rise and Fall of Freedom, The Vindication of Freedom & Freedom and Social Order. Each emphasized the individual in society and what needed to be done to create the optimal society. Jessop argued that individualization went hand-in-hand with freedom. Individuality is not a birthright, he said, but an achievement, one that we must be careful not to hinder. He traced the twin developments of individuality and freedom from the Greeks, through the spread of Christianity, to the Renaissance and Reformation, reaching its peak and remaining there from the 19th century to 1930. His second lecture addressed the failure of science to make sense of humans, since freedom, the characteristic part of humans, is found nowhere else in nature, insisting on the relevance of philosophy. He saw humans as lying outside of nature, as a “spiritual being in the universe” so long as we exercise freedom. His third lecture addressed the difficulty of government that lay in the resolution of public order with private freedom. He didn’t believe the state to be responsible for shaping and maintaining public order.
Jessop visited Queen’s for three weeks in January, making himself available to students outside of his three lectures.
Listen to an excerpt from his lectures or read the full transcript below.
