Abstract

Max Charlesworth, a leading Australian philosopher and ethicist, was born in 1925 in Numurkah, the younger son of William and Mabel Charlesworth.Max obtained his B.A. in 1946 and his M.A. in philosophy in 1948. In 1950, he married Stephanie Armstrong. In the same year, Max was the first recipient of the Mannix scholarship for Catholic students to further their studies overseas. However, having contracted TB, he was forced to spend the next 2 years at the Gresswell Sanatorium.Dissatisfied with what he considered the narrow-minded analytic philosophy he had been taught, Max wanted to study contemporary European philosophy. He took the advice of his professor, Alexander Boyce Gibson, to study at the University of Louvain in Belgium, instead of taking the well-trodden path to Oxford or Cambridge. Max and Stephanie spent 3 years in Louvain, where he was awarded his doctorate ‘avec la plus grande distinction’ in 1955.Max’s first academic post was as a lecturer in philosophy at the Un ..