Oswald Hanfling, (December 21, 1927 – October 25, 2005) was a German philosopher December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... October 25 is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 67 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Early life

Oswald Hanfling was born to in Berlin in 1927. His parents were Jewish and when their business was vandalised on Kristallnacht in 1939, he was sent to England by Kindertransport and lived in Bedford with a foster family. After the war, he traced his family to Israel, with the help of the Red Cross. 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people, with around 14 million followers (as of 2005 [1]). It is one of the first recorded monotheistic faiths and one of the oldest religious traditions still practiced today. ... Die Kristallnacht, also known as die Reichskristallnacht (literally Imperial Crystal Night), die Pogromnacht and in English as the Night of Broken Glass, was a massive nationwide pogrom in Germany and Austria on the night of November 9, 1938 (including the early hours of the following day). ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the British Isles Languages English (de facto) Capital London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001 Census) – Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ... Kindertransport is the name given to a rescue operation initiated by the British Jews for Jewish children in Nazi-occupied countries, following the Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938. ... Bedford is the county town of the English county of Bedfordshire. ... Combatants Allies: • Soviet Union, • UK & Commonwealth, • USA, • France/Free France, • China, • Poland, • ...and others Axis: • Germany, • Japan, • Italy, • ...and others Casualties Military dead: 18 million Civilian dead: 33 million Full list Military dead: 7 million Civilian dead: 4 million Full list World War II, also known as the Second World... The Anarchist Black Cross was originally called the Anarchist Red Cross. The band Redd Kross was originally called Red Cross. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Hanfling left school at the age of 14 to become an "office boy". For the next 25 years he worked in business, eventually running his own employment agency for au pairs. An employment agency is a business that specializes in matching up employers looking to quickly fill a position (usually temporarily) with appropriately-skilled employees. ... An au pair is a single girl (or, rarely, a boy) who helps a host family with childcare and/or other housework while staying as a guest with a host family and generally receiving a small allowance (or pocket money). ...

Education

Bored by business, Hanfling studied 'A' levels and then enrolled on a BA in philosophy by correspondence at Birbeck College. He gained a first, then embarked on a PhD, which he completed in 1971. An A-level, short for Advanced Level, is a General Certificate of Education usually taken during Further Education and after GCSEs. ... A Bachelor of Arts (B.A. or A.B., from the Latin Artium Baccalaureus) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or program in the arts and/or sciences. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on the pedagogy/andragogy, technology, and instructional systems design that is effectively incorporated in delivering education to students who are not physically on site to receive their education. ... The façade of the main building of Birkbeck, University of London (formerly Birkbeck College). ... The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme used to distinguish between the achievements of undergraduate degree holders (such as those gaining bachelors degrees or undergraduate masters degrees) in the United Kingdom. ... Doctor of Philosophy, or Ph. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ...

Academic work

Hanfling was appointed as a lecturer at the Open University in 1970, and worked there until retiring as a professor in 1993. His biggest influence was Ludwig Wittgenstein. Lecturer is the name given to university teachers in most of the English-speaking world (but not at most universities in the US or Canada) who do not hold a professorship. ... The Open University (OU) is the UKs open learning university, established in 1969. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... A professor (Latin: one who publicly professes to be an expert) (or prof for short) is a senior teacher, lecturer and researcher, usually in a college or university. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (IPA: ) (April 26, 1889 – April 29, 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who contributed several ground-breaking works to modern philosophy, primarily on the foundations of logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of mind. ...

Publications

Oswald Hanfling wrote many books, amongst the most popular and significant are:

• Logical Positivism, Blackwell, 1981, ISBN 0-631-12853-0 (his first book)
• Life and Meaning: A Philosophical Reader (Editor), Blackwell, 1988, ISBN 0-631-15784-0
• Wittgenstein's Later Philosophy, Palgrave Macmillan, 1989, ISBN 0-333-47575-5
• Ayer, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997, ISBN 0-753-80182-5
• Philosophy and Ordinary Language: The Bent and Genius of Our Tongue, Routledge, 2003, ISBN 0-415-32277-4

External links

• Obituary