‘His philosophical acumen was matched by exceptional kindness and pastoral sensitivity’

Gerry Hughes, perhaps the finest Jesuit philosopher of his generation, died on the evening of 2 November at the age of 87. When Heythrop College moved from north Oxfordshire to Oxford Circus in 1970, Gerry had just finished his doctorate at the University of Michigan. He had written on Aristotelian moral responsibility, but in that first year at the new Heythrop there were no courses in philosophy, let alone Aristotle. Gerry occupied himself preparing for the following year – and teaching one student the Philosophy of Mind. That student, later to become an accomplished teacher of philosophical theology, described his time with Gerry as the “greatest intellectual experience of my life”.

Many of Gerry’s students would agree. His command of the philosophical sources of the British and American analytic tradition was immense. He was also able – as one of his Heythrop colleagues remarked – to “make with the mind to a remarkable degree”. With a lightning quick intellect he was a formidable antagonist – he could come across at times as quite scary. But his philosophical acumen was matched by exceptional kindness and pastoral sensitivity. Whether in one-to-one tutorials or the more interactive seminars and lectures at which he excelled, he was a great teacher. He wanted to make his students understand, to draw them into a serious conversation, to spot flaws and unspoken assumptions, and be critical and intelligent in everything they said and did. No one was left untouched by this brilliant yet genial personality.