Manuscripts of H.S. Harris

H. S. (Henry Silton) Harris, author and educator, was born on 11 April 1926 in Brighton England. He received his B. A. (Literae Humaniores) in classics and philosophy from Oxford University in 1949, his M. A. in 1952 and his Ph.D. (philosophy) in 1954 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Following a teaching career at the University of Illinois and at Ohio State University (1951-1961), Harris joined the Philosophy Department at York University, Toronto in 1962. He served as Academic Dean of Glendon College, 1967-1969 and was awarded the title Distinguished Research Professor in 1984. He was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 1988; received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from York University in June 2001 and was inducted the same year into York University's Founders' Honour Society in recognition of his contribution to York's early development. He retired from York in 1996 and lived in Victoria, British Columbia.

Harris was a prolific scholar and an acknowledged authority on the philosophy of Giovanni Gentile and G.W.F. Hegel. He was the author of several books, articles and book chapters on Hegel including Hegel's Development I: Toward the Sunlight (1770-1801), published in 1972; Hegel's Development II: Night Thoughts (Jena 1801-1806), published in 1983; and Hegel's Ladder (Volume 1: The Pilgrimage of Reason; Volume 2: The Odyssey of Spirit) on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, published in 1997.

In addition, Harris prepared several translations with others of Hegel's works to which he added textual notes and introductions including System of Ethical Life and First Philosophy of Spirit, (1979), Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, (1984-87) and Encyclopedia Logic with the Zusätze, (1991). He was unable to see to press manuscripts on Pre-platonic philosophy, Plato, Dante, Goethe, Blake and Hegel and a large collection of articles on philosophy and literature.

Professor Harris died in Victoria on 13 March 2007.