Kathleen Wilkes – report of the comission doctor honoris causa award of the University of Zagreb, Croatia

Doctor Kathleen Vaughan Wilkes was born on 23 June 1946 in Great Britain. She graduated in Literae Humaniores at Oxford University at St. Hilda’s College with first class grades and with support from Abbott Scholarship. As a Princeton National and University Fellow she studied philosophy at the University of Princeton where she received her master’s degree in 1971 and doctoral degree in 1973. In the same year she received her master’s degree at Oxford University. In the academic year 1972–1973 she worked as a research fellow at King’s College in Cambridge. As a visiting professor she visited many universities in Canada, United States, and in China, and as a lecturer she was invited to different universities, academies and conferences in North America, China and throughout the whole Europe from west to east and to Turkey. From 1973 till today she has been working as a CUF Lecturer at Oxford University and as a Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at St. Hilda’s College.
Academic Activity
Doctor Kathleen V. Wilkes’ research work is involved mainly in the field of classical philosophy, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science (especially philosophy of cognitive science), philosophy of religion and philosophy of politics. Her opus encompasses more than fifty-five articles as well as review articles in the English language. Her work has also been translated in other languages. She has published three books: Physicalism, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978; Real People, Oxford University Press, 1988; Philosophical Problems in Artificial Intelligence (in Chinese), Academic Publisher, Peking, 1991. The manuscript of her fourth book is nearly completed and the title is The Autonomy of Psychology, also for Routledge. Doctor Kathleen V. Wilkes is an often-cited author, and her most prominent book, Real People, has also been printed, in paperback edition. In Real People her approach to philosophy, especially philosophy of science, is the most clearly formulated through critical analysis of the so-called “thought experiments” practised in theory of personal identity. Since these experiments are not only being used in philosophy of cognitive science, philosophy of mind and comparable fields, her analysis caused a widespread discussion about their role in other sciences. Moreover, this analysis is also an implicit criticism of the method of analytical philosophy, which creates artificial counter examples in order to falsify the argument of the opponent even if the point is drastic or unreal. It also criticises the kind of analytic philosophy engaged in an unrestricted logical game and journey through possible worlds. In contrast Doctor K. V. Wilkes throughout her whole opus pleaded for confronting philosophy with scientific and real empirical facts about people and the world around us, and giving these facts power over the conceptualisation freed from any philosophic dogmatism. For example, in the modern debate about human rationality she is searching for the specific traits of the human mind in continuity with the intelligence of animals, including approval from the results of scientific research.
Kathleen Vaughan Wilkes’ academic reputation can also be seen through her membership of editorial boards of seven magazines. She was also one of the editors of International Studies in the Philosophy of Science from 1986 to 1996; this magazine made its breakthrough on the academic market under the subtitle “Dubrovnik Papers” and is still issued. She is also one of the editors of the proceedings Modelling the Mind, OUP 1990 and of the chapter “Memory and Learning” in The Encyclopaedic- Dictionary of Psychology, Blackwell, 1983. 
Social Activity
Along with her academic activity, Doctor K. V. Wilkes is also known for her rich public and organisational activities, that stretch beyond Europe. Her famous newspaper articles are mainly connected to events in Central and Eastern Europe and, of course, to Croatia. Since 1978 she has published in different newspapers such as New Statesman, Times, Guardian, Observer and others. She has also participated in many university, national, and international boards for inter-university co-operation and she has organised several conferences, especially in Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Russia and in Holland. She is also one of the founders of three institutions: Jan Hus Educational Foundation in 1979 (Barbara Day wrote about this in her book The Velvet Philosophers), Oxford Colleges Hospitality Scheme (for Central and Eastern European Universities) founded in 1981 and OSI/FCO Chevening Scholars Scheme (for Central and Eastern European doctoral students) founded in 1986. All of these institutions are still active and work to help scholars and students of Central and Eastern Europe in their academic work. For her academic work and social activities she was awarded by the Czech Academy of Science in 1992 and by the Polish Ministry of Science in 1992.
Activities connected to Croatia
Doctor Kathleen Vaughan Wilkes’ connection to Croatia begins with her participation in an international postgraduate course called Philosophy and Science in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She first began as a lecturer and later became the director of the course and she is the one responsible for its continuing existence, even when Dubrovnik was under attack, all to this day. During her time the course reached its peak with dozens of participants every year from more than ten countries. She made it possible for Croatia’s philosophers to have many contacts and acquaintances, as well as being yearly informed about the most important events in the profession. However, this does not exhaust her activities in the Inter-University Centre in Dubrovnik (IUC). Besides being the co-director of two other courses: Philosophy of Mind and What does it mean to be European, Doctor K. V. Wilkes fulfilled her duties as President of the IUC Executive Board from 1986 to 1993.
The people of Dubrovnik remember her best for the reason that she refused to leave the city when the siege of the Yugoslav Army started in 1991. During the whole course of the siege, she was the “unofficial secretary to the mayor” who wrote letters to eminent people and to officials throughout the world, from Prince Charles to Vice-president Gore and Dole and also to different newspapers. Everyday she called BBC World Service. And she also called people such as Lord Carington and Margaret Thatcher, and what was appreciated most be the people of Dubrovnik was that she was practically the editor of the daily bulletin Glas iz Dubrovnika. And after the blockade ended K. V. Wilkes actively helped Dubrovnik and Croatia – at one occasion she herself drove an ambulance bringing medical aid, she also organised the purchase of landmine detectors, etc. She wrote a manuscript about the events in Dubrovnik called Lead upon Gold, but unfortunately a British publishing house lost interest in it after the beginning of tragic events in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her assistance to Jill Craigie, the late wife of her close acquaintance Michael Foot in making her well-known documentary film “Two Hours Away from London” was especially valuable. She also gave her statement to one of the investigators of The Hague Court about the background and acts of siege on Dubrovnik. She is one of the founders of the British-Croatian Society and has been its president since 1995.
Because of her merit for Croatia she was proclaimed a freeman of Dubrovnik in 1993, and in 1997 she was awarded an Order of Danica Hrvatska.
Conclusion
Based on these facts, it is obvious that Doctor Kathleen Vaughan Wilkes is a productive, respected, and influential philosopher who has through her activities not only significantly helped Croatia’s struggle for independence and defence from the Great Serbian aggressors but she helped and is still helping the development of the Croatian academic community. It is our honour to positively evaluate and whole-heartedly support the proposition to give Kathleen Vaughan Wilkes an honorary doctoral degree of the University of Zagreb.
Zagreb, 27 March 2001
Professor Srđan LELAS, D. Sc.
Professor Branko DESPOT, D. Sc.
Professor Ante PAŽANIN, D. Sc.
Professor Danilo PEJOVIĆ, D. Sc.
Professor Zvonimir ŠIKIĆ, D. Sc.

• Tereza Kesovija – posebna gošća
• Akademski zbor “Ivan Goran Kovačić”, Dirigent Saša Britvić

I
An honorary Doctorate of the University of Zagreb is conferred to Doctor Kathleen Vaughan Wilkes (b. 23 June 1946), a distinguished and internationally renowned philosopher, a publicist and a longtime head of a postgraduate course Philosophy and Science in Dubrovnik, without breaks even during the siege on the city of Dubrovnik for her exceptional scientific work and for selflessly supporting Croatia in its process of independence and defense from aggression as well as for her great contribution to Croatia’s academic community.
II
The formal ceremony, the signing of Doctor Kathleen Vaughan Wilkes in the Book of Doctors Honoris Causa of the University of Zagreb and the bestowal of a Diploma will be held on 22 May 2001.
III
This decision shall come into force on the day it is promulgated.
Rector Professor Branko Jeren, D.Sc.