Richard Ithamar Aaron

Richard Ithamar Aaron (November 6, 1901 – March 29, 1987) was a Welsh philosopher.

Early life and education

Born in Blaendulais, Glamorgan, Aaron was the son of a draper, William Aaron, and his wife, Margaret Griffith. He was educated at Ystalyfera Grammar School, followed by a spell at the University of Wales starting in 1918, where he studied history and philosophy. In 1923 he was elected a Fellow of the university, allowing him to attend Oriel College, Oxford, where he was awarded a DPhil in 1928 for a dissertation titled "The history and value of the distinction between intellect and intuition".

Career

In 1926 he was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Swansea University. After the retirement of W. Jenkin Jones in 1932 Aaron was appointed to the chair of philosophy at Aberystwyth University where he settled, initially at Bryn Hir and later at Garth Celyn. Although his early publications focused on epistemology and the history of ideas, Aaron became fascinated with the work and life of John Locke. The interest was sparked by his discovery of unresearched information in the Lovelace Collection, a collection of notes and drafts left by John Locke to his cousin Per King. In the collection he found letters, notebooks, catalogues, and, most exciting of all, an early draft of Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding, hitherto presumed...
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