I'm currently reading a biography of the ordinary language philosopher J. L. Austin by M. W. Rowe, much of which examines his career in British military intelligence during World War II. Apparently he was successful enough to become a key source for people like Eisenhower—an unusual secondary career for an academic philosopher!
A lot of people in Britain got pulled into the war effort! C. S. Lewis was in the Home Guard patrolling Oxford at night; Tolkien was peripherally involved in (if I remember correctly) military intelligence as a linguist.
I don't recall that one! But might that have been when he was a line officer in the First World War? It'd make more sense he would've been called to do it then.
From Lewis's Home Guard experience, I remember his mentioning one time he and another Home Guardsman were commiserating about how this war clearly wouldn't bring eternal peace to Europe; to which a third Home Guardsman interrupted in surprise, "Then what's the war for anyway!?"
That might have been the case. What I specifically remember is his comment that most men, while expressing their genuine and often strong feelings, commonly sounded insincere because they hadn't learned to write well enough to convey what they felt.
Marshall: clearly nominative determinism.
Also why the top American army rank is "General of the Army" not "Field Marshal": Marshal didn't want to be known as "Field Marshal Marshall."
I'm currently reading a biography of the ordinary language philosopher J. L. Austin by M. W. Rowe, much of which examines his career in British military intelligence during World War II. Apparently he was successful enough to become a key source for people like Eisenhower—an unusual secondary career for an academic philosopher!
A lot of people in Britain got pulled into the war effort! C. S. Lewis was in the Home Guard patrolling Oxford at night; Tolkien was peripherally involved in (if I remember correctly) military intelligence as a linguist.
I remember reading one of Lewis's essays where he discussed his experiences as a censor of servicemen's letters home.
I don't recall that one! But might that have been when he was a line officer in the First World War? It'd make more sense he would've been called to do it then.
From Lewis's Home Guard experience, I remember his mentioning one time he and another Home Guardsman were commiserating about how this war clearly wouldn't bring eternal peace to Europe; to which a third Home Guardsman interrupted in surprise, "Then what's the war for anyway!?"
That might have been the case. What I specifically remember is his comment that most men, while expressing their genuine and often strong feelings, commonly sounded insincere because they hadn't learned to write well enough to convey what they felt.