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Professor Kenny, who spent his career at Oxford University (where he was also Master of Balliol College), wrote widely in the history of philosophy, free will, Wittgenstein, and philosophy of religion (where he was a leading “analytical Thomist”). Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Kenny or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.
(Thanks to David Gordon for the information.)
Tony Kenny used to say that he realized early on that he was not going to do important original work in philosophy, and that history of philosophy should be his metier. I think this was modesty rather than disingenuousness: I don’t think he was looking to be contradicted. But I think he must have known that Action, Emotion and Will was an important book for many philosophers, and though it was unfashionable in the late 20C, he perhaps hoped that it would stand the test of time.
Sometimes it is said that a view worthy of refutation is a worthy work indeed. Davidson’s work on action sentences (which leads to areas of inquiry in semantics and metaphysics of events, for example) is a direct response to Kenny’s. I can’t speak for the semantics (and other aspects of philosophy of language and linguistics that have sprung up) but the metaphysics debate that resulted is still important for its own sake and for applications in computing, for example.
In 196I I entered graduate school at the University of Chicago, in Political Science of all places. After two weeks I convinced Manley Thompson to let me come into the Department of Philosophy. A main reason for my switch, I told Manley, was that I liked the way philosophers talked. The only example I had was Kenny’s graduate seminar, which I had added to my course list. He was without hint of dogma, listened seriously to questions and comments and put forth plausible and engaging answers. As a visitor he was unusually available to us and could be lured to the coffee house for further discussion. I learned a great deal from him both in content and in method of operation. Years later he visited Davis, where the same traits were on display.
An important person for me.
Many respectful and affectionate remembrances appear on the Balliol College website.
https://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/news/2026/august/sir-anthony-kenny-1931-2026
I recommend, to those who have not read it, Kenny’s spiritual autobiography ‘A Path From Rome’. Sadly it seems to be out of print. Time for a reissue?
Kenny and I worked together when he was Chair of the Wittgenstein Trustees/Board of Editors and I was Secretary. The work was tiresome and complicated. He did it wisely and efficiently, with the right mixture of tact and firmness. It is no surprise that he was so often called on to administer much grander organisations – Balliol, the British Academy, Rhodes House.
The Last Grand Master of a Grander Age
https://firstthings.com/
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