John Anderson approached Ruth in the Quad and asked if ... - setis

A

PHILOSOPHIC

AFFAIR

Correspondence between John Anderson
and Ruth Walker 1935 - 1951




Synopsis of Anderson/Walker Correspondence 1935 - 1951 1
August 1935 3
August 1935 - January 1936 6
June 1936 - March 1938 11
April 1938 - June 1938 18
July 1938 - January 1940 25
January 1941 - November 1942 31
March - December 1943 41
1945 - 1947 46
1948 - Mar 1950 58
April - May 1950 69
May - October 1950 78
1951 88



Synopsis of Anderson/Walker Correspondence 1935 - 1951


The correspondence between John Anderson and Ruth Walker for this period
falls into five distinct phases. The correspondence between 1935 and 1937
details their first meeting and subsequent relationship. There is little
intellectual discussion during this period and little indication of
emotional commitment. In his A Passion to Oppose, Brian Kennedy argued
that John 'seduced' Ruth although there is little evidence that such a
seduction actually took place. Kennedy does not explicate what he means by
the notion of 'seduction' but if such a term implies flattery and
sophistry, then clearly John was not a seducer in this sense.

John and his family leave for Europe at the end of 1937 for a twelve month
sabbatical and he writes to Ruth that this will be a 'purgative period' for
them both. Although none of Ruth's letters survive from this period, it is
clear from John's letters that the correspondence is mainly of an
intellectual nature. He considers the questions of 'the place of women in
the Andersonian ethic' and whether goods are possible in domestic life and
in one of his replies he states that 'freed sexuality, like freed thinking,
would colour all one's activities', a statement he repeated in his 1942
paper on 'Obscenity' and which later became quite important for the
Libertarian Society. The correspondence for this period also covers a wide
range of theoretical topics including Plato, Marxism and capitalism,
Freud's Totem and Taboo, contemporary British philosophy and the political
events leading up to the war.

The third phase of their relationship extends from 1939 to 1943 and the
correspondence is characterised by a deepening of their emotional
relationship. In 1940 he confesses to Ruth that he lacks a 'delicacy of
perception in regards to other people's feelings' and at the start of 1941
he writes a long letter to Ruth at 4am in the morning in which he confesses
to being in a 'crisis of love'. Throughout 1941, John composes a series of
love poems for Ruth and their correspondence continues in a general manner
throughout 1942 and 1943, concluding with another poem by John, 'Thought
never catches love'.

The next period in their correspondence dates from 1945 to 1947 and the
letters are characterised by a mixture of personal reflections and
observations on the nature of the Andersonian movement. In 1947 John
writes to Ruth that he is inadequate at sensing her sensitivities and
loneliness and her reply 'the disinterestedness of Socrates', demonstrates
her ability to mix personal reflection with philosophic speculation. She
criticises John's relationship with his 'disciples' and the view of some of
these disciples that Ruth is simply an 'accommodating female'. John's reply
to this letter is another example of how Ruth stimulates John's thinking on
certain points. He states that he doesn't think that any 'movement'
derives from a particular person and distinguishes between the inner ring
and outer ring of the Andersonian movement. He argues that those who have
made the most of his theoretical material have been those who have hung off
personal intimacy while those which whom he has had intimate relationships
are those on a lower intellectual level.

The fifth phase of their relationship occurs during 1949 and 1950. At the
start of 1949 John confides to Ruth that his major problem since his
childhood has been his Idealism or totalism, that he finds many things
'puzzling' and can't seem to make the pieces 'add up' or form a single
theme. He locates this difficulty in his romantic conception of love
although he thinks that love does have an integrating effect. He concludes
that no one but her would appreciate his 'idealism' or see that it could
have a stimulating effect. Throughout the nineteen forties, the most
interesting correspondence occurs after the A.A.P. conference at Newport in
January of each year. John's 1940 letter stating that he 'lacks delicacy
of perception', his 1941 love poems to Ruth, his 1947 letter where he
states that his 'mind is all mixed in with his heart' and the 1949 letter
on his 'Idealism', all follow a Newport conference where John and Ruth
would have had time alone. However the Newport conference for 1950 appears
to have been a particularly difficult one for Ruth and within a few weeks
she has been hospitalised after suffering a nervous breakdown. Her
hospitalisation lasts until June and the success of her recovery can be
gauged by her questioning of John on the issue of philosophical 'style' in
July. His letter on 'Humanism' is remarkable for his comments on his
'destructive' criticism and 'mere refuting mechanism' and that there may be
much of value in positions like 'rationalism' which cannot be shown by the
mere 'refutation' of it as a philosophical position.

The 1951 correspondence commences with a January letter from Ruth
discussing a recent meeting with John (presumably the annual A.A.P.
conference in Newport) and her up-coming departure for the Blue Mountains.
John replies in an undated letter, discussing mainly departmental business.
Ruth writes again on March 29th with a brief discussion of Descartes and
rationalism and John replies a week later, discussing mainly departmental
business. On June 4th, Ruth writes a long letter on philosophy discussing
Descartes, Malebranche and Arnauld in the context of a discussion in Mind
between Lovejoy and Laird. This letter is significant for indicating the
extent of Ruth's recovery from her breakdown of the previous year. Ruth
writes again in July where she discusses departmental business. This is
the last letter between John and Ruth before Ruth departs on sabbatical
leave at the end of 1951.


August 1935


Ruth's Diary - 9th August 1935: John Anderson approached Ruth in the Quad
and asked if she could 'spare a minute' to come to his room. He asked her
to sit down, but she remained standing as he explained the nature of her
mark for an essay, an A(-X).(4). He then enquired about her desire to drop
philosophy for a year, reassuring her that she would not have 'brain fever
or heart failure' if she did. At this point Ruth got up to leave, but
suddenly asked John what he thought of the E.U. business and the suspension
of two students. This led to Ruth telling John that she was a 'good little
Christian Scientist' and John 'wormed all about the doctrines out of me'
which made her squirm. John had already found out a great deal about her
family from Alec Ritchie, 'a fact which shows I have been discussed in this
learned circle before'.(5) Ruth then went on to talk about how her mother
devoted herself to Christian Science and when John asked why she did not
try to correct her mother, this made Ruth squirm even more. Ruth replied
that her mother has a 'religious nature' and would be 'desperately unhappy'
if she didn't have religion to turn to. John asked what this happiness was
anyhow and whether Ruth thought that John was happy. Happiness, he said,
was merely 'a state of satisfaction - a blind refusal to face facts.'
Ruth's mother, he continued, was 'a blockage in the social system',
preventing Ruth from progressing and leading to a stultifying of the
intellect. John suggested that her mother could take up some useful social
work but to be concerned about her passing through an emotional crisis if
she could be shown that religion was false, was not really worth worrying
about. When Ruth objected that she had no right to make her mother
uncomfortable by disturbing her beliefs,(6) John dismissed this as altruism
and said that logically there was no difference - she acted on Ruth and
Ruth on her. Altogether, this made Ruth feel 'pretty small' and she
realised that she does not want to work in this way or commit herself to
anything. This, she believed, was a fault in her - that she always wants
to be able to turn and flee away from things. After this, Ruth went
through a period of stress which she could not 'reproduce in words, for the
man tortured me by his damned logicalness'. Ruth changed the subject and
before she knew where she was she was 'talking about mother (?) and how I
objected to having been beaten by them'. John told Ruth that he was once
very religious - at which she stared at him in amazement - and he confessed
that he once had 'a longing to be good', although he concluded that he 'no
longer wants to be good'.(7) He also told her that he was connected with
the Socialist Party since he was about ten and Ruth thought of him as a
'mental prodigy'. Ruth then told John that at that age she believed in
fairies and when John asked her what sort of fairies she believed in, she
almost blushed. She thought this a 'mean question' but John said he was
simply interested in the topography of fairies. Ruth came away from the
meeting with the feeling that she had been '