John Anderson (1 November 1893 – 6 July 1962) was a Scottish philosopher who occupied the post of Challis Professor of Philosophy at Sydney University from 1927 to 1958.
Anderson's promotion of 'freethought' in all subjects, including politics and morality, was controversial and brought him into constant conflict with the august senate of the university.
To Anderson, an acceptable philosophy must have significant 'sweep' and be capable of challenging and moulding ideas in every aspect of intellect and society.
[6] After arriving in Sydney in 1927 he associated with the Communist Party of Australia and contributed to their journals, sometimes under a nom de plume[2] but, by about 1932 he began to believe that communism under Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union was a dictatorship with no room for workers' control or participation.
[2][7] During the war years, Anderson developed a unique theory of liberal democracy where liberty was not a right, but an activity exercised in opposition to the State.
Similarly, democracy was not a set of formal features of a system of government, but is the way a group proceeds in its decision-making processes.
As Sydney University's Challis Professor of Philosophy, Anderson was a formidable champion of the principle of academic freedom from authoritarian intervention.
It is legendary that the university's Senate, accepting that it could not realise its desire to sack the controversial Challis Professor, sought to reduce Anderson's stature and influence by creating a new chair of "Moral and Political Philosophy" to which Alan Stout was appointed.
Stout (who had been urged by Anderson to apply for the position) was a steady admirer and supporter of the Challis Professor and declined to undercut his prestige in any way.
These include identity, diversity, existence, relation, universality, particularity, number, order, quantity, intensity, substance, causality, and individuality.
[15] – David Armstrong (2005)Anderson's influence has spread through his personal impact on several generations of students, the "Andersonians", who include the philosophers named above, together with Hedley Bull and Eugene Kamenka; the World War II organiser Alf Conlon, many members of the Sydney Push, Tonga's 'I.
He advocated religious and sexual freedoms and free discussion of issues in an era when mention of taboo subjects commonly resulted in angry public condemnation by prominent moralists.
[17]: p12 In 1951 he refused to allow students to use the Freethought Society to canvass the 'No' case for Menzies' attempt to ban the Communist Party in the referendum of that year.
[16]: p144 Anderson broke off contact with the former disciples who formed the Libertarian Society and never associated with "Push" people who routinely sang his praises along with the bawdy songs he had imported to his new country.