Peter Thomas Geach, 1916-2013

Abstract

This translation aims to shed light on the personal and scientific life of the English translator and philosopher Peter Thomas Geach, to reveal the joints that played a decisive role in his life, especially his family, which perhaps influenced how he dealt with his children and academic colleagues. Despite its harshness, this life created a brilliant and exceptional mind that played a role in his translation of many works from English to Polish, and from German to English. The importance of translating this essay appears in clarifying the intellectual link between him and his wife, Elizabeth Anscombe, and the extent of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s influence on their thoughts. The essay also sheds light on Geach's most important works, the motivations behind its writing, and his stance on the most contemporary philosophical currents, particularly those of Gottlob Frege, and ancient philosophical doctrines such as Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates. To know to what extent did Saint Thomas Aquinas influence his thought? What direction did he adopt from Renaissance philosophers such as Hume, Locke, and Hobbes? Also, the importance of the essay appears in tracing the intellectual transformation that occurred in Geach's mind throughout his life, understanding the reasons behind the many errors that appeared in his later works, particularly his "God and The Soul", his stance on “Causality and Creation”, “Form and Existence”, and what he wrote about “The True and Living God”. Additionally, it explores his stance on the problems associated with Aristotelian logic and helps us understand the perspective he presented in the philosophy of language.