Alexander, Samuel (1859-1938), was an Australian-born philosopher who taught at the English universities of Oxford and Manchester. His concern for the Jews who lived in Europe at that time drew him into the early stages of the struggle to establish a Jewish national homeland.
Alexander was born on Jan. 6, 1859, in Sydney. He settled in England in 1877 and was educated at Balliol College, Oxford University. After gaining his degree in philosophy, Alexander became a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, and remained a tutor there until 1893. In that year, he became professor of philosophy at Manchester University.
At Manchester, Alexander became friendly with a colleague, Chaim Weizmann. Weizmann, an active Jewish politician, later became leader of the Zionist movement, which was dedicated to setting up a Jewish homeland. Through Alexander, Weizmann met the statesman and fellow philosopher Arthur James Balfour. This meeting led, in 1917, to the Balfour Declaration, a British government document that dealt with the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. See Balfour Declaration .
Alexander’s best-known work as a philosopher was his book Space, Time and Deity (1920). Alexander theorized that the basic material of which the universe consists is space-time or pure motion, and that matter, life, and mind have evolved from this basic material. As the evolutionary process continues, God will eventually emerge but has not yet done so. Alexander retired from his post at Manchester in 1924 and was awarded the Order of Merit, the United Kingdom’s highest civilian award, in 1930. He died on Sept. 13, 1938.
