Dickinson, Goldsworthy Lowes (1862-1932), was a British humanist, historian, and philosopher. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, he became a pacifist and wrote several books against war and anarchy. He was dedicated to the cause of international peace and did much work toward founding the League of Nations.
Dickinson’s first love as a scholar and humanist was the culture of ancient Greece. His study The Greek View of Life (1896) was a standard work on ancient Greek civilization for many years. He also wrote Plato and His Dialogues (1931), an analysis of the great classical Greek philosopher. Dickinson’s works on modern history included Revolution and Reaction in Modern France (1892) and The Development of Parliament in the Nineteenth Century (1895). After visiting China, he wrote a sympathetic account of that country in Letters from John Chinaman (1901). His agnostic views on religion are reflected in Religion, a Criticism and a Forecast (1905) and Religion and Immortality (1911). He presented his views on war and anarchy in The European Anarchy (1916), The Choice Before Us (1917), and especially The International Anarchy, 1904-1914 (1926).
Dickinson was born on Aug. 6, 1862, in London. He was educated at Charterhouse and King’s College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1884. He later taught political science at Cambridge and London universities. He died on Aug. 3, 1932.
