This obituary notice is to be published in The Australian, the only newspaper that is published in all states of Australia. That is why it emphasizes the Australian connection. I have been asked to write a longer piece for the Australasian Journal of Philosophy.

 
    David Lewis, the greatest philosopher of our age, great friend of Australia and its philosophers, died suddenly at Princeton, New Jersey, on October 14th. He was 60 years old and had taught at Princeton University since 1970.

    Lewis is not the sort of philosopher who will be much read by educated persons who are not philosophers. His influence was, and will long continue to be, on other philosophers. His writings are beautifully clear and elegant, but they are difficult. He could be compared with the great G.W. Leibniz in the 17th century whose complex system and powerful reasonings have made him immortal within the profession. The same is likely to be the case with Lewis.

    Lewis was also a great teacher, as generations of graduate students at Princeton, including many Australians and New Zealanders, can attest. But it didn’t stop with students. He was always ready to look at serious work, and give it criticism where needed and at the same time – something rarer – make suggestions for improvement. A philosopher, now Professor at Nottingham University, tells me “I first met Lewis in Sydney. I recall being terrified at the prospect. He owed me nothing but over the years has given more help in philosophy than just about anyone.” Indeed, he educated us all.

    Lewis’ contact with Australia came when he was a graduate student at Harvard and he attended the seminar given by a distinguished visitor, Jack Smart, then Professor at Adelaide University. Smart is always proud to say “I educated David Lewis, or, rather, he educated me.” It was in this seminar that David met his wife-to-be Stephanie, an undergraduate. It was a devoted marriage and they made a wonderful pair, he apparently grave, silent for long intimidating periods, but speaking with total precision when occasion called for it, she bubbling with talk, jokes, kindness and a general knowing-it-all. She is known everywhere as Steffi, but I doubt if anybody would have dared to speak of Dave.

    It was this seminar that led to the first visit of the Lewises to Australia. Smart arranged for David to give the Gavin David Young lectures in Adelaide. They delighted in Australia. They liked the (usually) no-nonsense style of philosophers in Australia, and relatively relaxed style of Australian philosophy conferences. They liked the beer and the wine, the informal restaurant dining, the slang, the bush and its “vision splendid”.  They started coming almost every year – about twenty five times in all Steffi tells me. We took them to our hearts.

    Being the people that they were, they read about Australia before even coming. They knew all about Australian birds, and it was quite humiliating to go on a bush walk with them. They got to know the Australian folk songs, and David would sometimes sing little known ones in a light but pleasant voice. He knew all about the Australian rail system – though I think the English railways were his special love – and would frequently take rail journeys, perhaps by himself, often reading or writing philosophy on the train.

    The place of their special affection, though, was Melbourne. For many years they stayed at one of the colleges attached to Melbourne University. David liked to work in the excellent small library attached to the Philosophy department. And they fell in love with Australian Rules football, their club being Essendon. In 1985 my wife and I were in the US and stayed with the Lewises for a weekend. It was Grand Final week. Steffi had hired a cable TV and the US 24-hour sports station had the game scheduled for 2 a.m. She hung her great black and red Essendon scarf on the front door to guide the Australian graduate students, some with rather bewildered American girl friends, that staggered in. Then, in real time. we all watched the final. Essendon won.

    David knew the whole philosophy scene in Australia and New Zealand better, perhaps, than anybody else did, and was from time to time asked to advise on the future of Departments. He was made an honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, an honour that, together with an honorary doctorate from Melbourne University, pleased him as much as any of the many that he received.

    In recent years he was much affected by the severe diabetes that he had had to deal with, characteristically uncomplainingly, for all his life. Eventually, a kidney transplant became necessary, the organ being donated, of course, by Steffi. His very last visit to this country was in June and July of this year. He looked much older and was slower in moving, but his mind and his ability to work were unimpaired. In Canberra he gave the recently instituted Jack Smart Lecture at the Australian National University. It was an important paper on the philosophical implications of quantum physics. Then on to Melbourne and following that Hobart, where the annual philosophy conference was held this year. For many of us, that was the last time that we saw him. Steffi has buried him with his Essendon club ticket.

David Armstrong
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy
University of Sydney