Graham Wallas: Address Given at the London School of Economics and Political Science, October 19th, 1932

Abstract

Addresses given at the London School of Economics and Political Science, October i9th, I932* Sir Josiah Stamp DR. BROWN, the Wilde Reader in Mental Philosophy at Oxford, told us recently in York that every man is a different man to every person he meets. If a man is inconstant in his behaviour, or approaches different men differently, this must obviously be true, but if he is invariable in temper and outlook to all with whom he comes in contact, the difference must lie in those who supply the other half of the contact. I believe everyone would agree upon the complete consistency of Graham Wallas's character and approach. So far as he was concerned he was the same to us all, and yet, according to our different temperaments alnd interests, we each record with quite different emphasis what were to us the greatest characteristics of the man. Each of us brought to that contact his own preconceived notions and complex of expectations, and while I desire very much to escape from the entirely individual angle of my own experience in paying my tribute to Graham Wallas, and, in making my estimate of him, to express sentiments of a more representative character, at the same time I make no apology for starting on an entirely personal note. Graham Wallas stood for me in a totally different position from any other thinker of my acquaintance. This is probably because I approached him originally in circumstances which were unique and entirely personal. At the age of 3I, although I had just secured my degree, and had a fairly wide acquaintance with thinkers of all kinds through their books, I had never, in fact, met in the flesh any man of repute-teacher or lecturer. The opportunity had been completely denied me, for I had wandered all over the country with my bag of books-largely the spoils of the London School of Economics Common Room