Dewi Zephaniah Phillips
Dewi Phillips late in life
Born	24 November 1934 Morriston,Glamorgan, Wales
Died	25 July 2006(2006-07-25) (aged 71) Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales
Education
Alma mater	Swansea University St Catherine's College, Oxford
Thesis	The language of talking to god : an investigation of some philosophical problems connected with prayer (1961)
Philosophical work
Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Analytic philosophy
Main interests	Philosophy of religion, ethics,philosophy of literature
Notable ideas	A new role for the philosophy of religion: not in uniting theology and philosophy, but in recognising and analysing their different functions[1]

Dewi Zephaniah Phillips (24 November 1934 – 25 July 2006), usually cited asD. Z. Phillips, was aWelshphilosopher andtheologian. Phillips was a leading proponent of theWittgensteinianphilosophy of religion.

Phillips was born inMorriston,Swansea, into aCongregational family on 24 November 1934.^[2] He was the youngest of the three sons of David and Alice Phillips. He attended the formerSwansea Grammar School. Phillips studied philosophy atSwansea University from 1952 to 1958,^[3] where his teachers includedJ. R. Jones,R. F. Holland,Peter Winch, and, most importantly,Rush Rhees. From 1958 to 1961, he then studied at theUniversity of Oxford, where he matriculated atSt Catherine's College. While he was at Oxford he undertook a dissertation whichAnglicanphilosopher Michael Foster initially tutored^[4] and whichRush Rhees later supervised.^[5] In 1965 his dissertation became the source for his first bookThe Concept of Prayer.^[6]

After his graduation from the University of Oxford, Phillips began his academic career in 1961 as an assistant lecturer in philosophy atQueen's College, Dundee. In the following year he became a lecturer. In 1963 he obtained a post as lecturer in philosophy at theUniversity College of North Wales,Bangor.^[7]

In 1965 Phillips returned toSwansea University, to take up a lectureship in the Department of Philosophy. He was promoted to a senior lectureship in 1967. In 1971 he became its professor and head of department. He was also Dean of the Faculty of Arts (1982–1985) and Vice-Principal (1989–1992). His research interests included thephilosophy of religion,ethics, philosophy andliterature,Simone Weil,Søren Kierkegaard, andLudwig Wittgenstein.

In 1993 Phillips was appointed Danforth Professor of Philosophy of Religion at theClaremont Graduate University inCalifornia, and thereafter divided his time between Claremont and Swansea where, in 1996, he became the Rush Rhees Professor Emeritus and Director of the Rush Rhees Archives and Peter Winch Archives based in Swansea University.

While at Swansea, Phillips made a substantial contribution to the University's reputation as a centre of Wittgenstein's philosophy, the Swansea School of Philosophy.^[8] Scottish DominicanFergus Kerr noted: 'He became the best known of the "Swansea Wittgensteinians": philosophy understood as a kind of intellectual therapy in dark times rather than constructive theorizing; against prevalent aspirations and practice in the discipline, philosophical work as reminding ourselves of things we may overlook but cannot deny, rather than adding to the sum of knowledge by quasi-scientific discoveries.'^[9]

The Swansea school of thought is, perhaps, most thoroughly articulated as a positive research program in Phillips' own book on the subject, "Philosophy's Cool Place" (1999), in which he argues for the merits of "contemplative philosophy." On this view, philosophy is an activity involving both inquiries about reality and elucidations of the various contexts in which people live and speak. In contrast to the New Wittgenstein school of thought, philosophy is not limited to purely "therapeutic" treatments and the removing of philosophical confusion. Here, Phillips is primarily indebted to the work of Rush Rhees. For Phillips, what gives philosophy its unique disciplinary feature is its primary concern with the question of the nature of reality: "How can philosophy give an account of reality which shows that it is necessary to go beyond simply noting differences between various modes of discourse, without invoking a common measure of 'the real' or assuming that all modes of discourse have a common subject, namely, Reality?"^[10]

Phillips gave many endowed lectures during his tenure at California'sClaremont Graduate University. These included the Cardinal Mercier Lectures (Leuven),Marett Lecture (Oxford), Riddell Lectures (Newcastle), McMartin Lectures (Carleton University, in Ottawa), Hintz Lecture (Tucson), the Aquinas Lecture (Oxford), and Vonhoff Lectures (Groningen).

Phillips argues that prayer is not primarily a request for empirical outcomes, as if addressing a cosmic agent who intervenes in natural processes. Such a view, he contends, misconstrues prayer’s grammar, reducing it to a transactional mechanism akin to superstition. Instead, prayer is an expressive act, embedded in the believer’s form of life, reflecting their relationship with God.^[11]

Phillips asserts that prayer’s meaning consists in its role in religious practice, not in its causal efficacy. For example, petitionary prayer expresses dependence on God, articulating hopes or fears, while contemplative prayer fosters spiritual alignment. He rejects the notion that prayers must be answered in the sense of causal effect. He argues that this expectation distorts the purpose of prayer. Prayer, for Phillips, is a mode of self-reflection and moral orientation, not a tool for manipulating reality.

His conclusion emphasises that understanding prayer requires attending to its use in the language game of the religious community, not imposing external criteria of rationality. This clarifies prayer’s significance as a practice of devotion, distinct from empirical or metaphysical claims.

Outside philosophy and academia, Phillips was strongly committed to theWelsh language and theculture of Wales, including drama and poetry. He had books published in Welsh by Welsh publishers and he promoted the use of the Welsh language in local schools. He was instrumental in the founding of theTaliesin Arts Centre on the campus ofSwansea University. He was honoured by membership of theGorsedd Circle of the National Eisteddfod. He was a home supporter of theSwans, the colloquial name by whichSwansea City Football Club is universally known.

From 1959 until 1961 Phillips was the minister of Fabian's Bay Congregational Church,Swansea^[12] where he had begun preaching in his nativeWelsh in his teens. He was licensed to preach but he was notordained as a minister, which was his original intention.^[13]

In 1959 Phillips married Margaret Monica Hanford with whom he had three sons, Aled, Steffan and Rhys.^[14][15]

Phillips died of aheart attack in Swansea University Library on 25 July 2006. He was 71. From 2001 to 1996, when he retired, he was the Rush Rees Research Professor (Emeritus) atSwansea University.^[16] At the time of his death he held the Danforth Chair in Philosophy of Religion atClaremont Graduate University, California.

Phillips was perhaps best known for his publications in thephilosophy of religion. However, he also had published articles in the subjects of ethics, philosophy, literature andLudwig Wittgenstein, and inWelsh language literature publications. He was editor of the journalPhilosophical Investigations, the Swansea Studies in Philosophy and the Claremont Studies in the Philosophy of Religion. A selection of his publications is listed below.

• The concept of prayer. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. 2014 [originally 1965].ISBN 978-0-415-73455-4.

• Death and immortality. London: Macmillan and Co. 1970.ISBN 978-0-333-10270-1.
• Faith and philosophical enquiry. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge: Routledge. 2013 [originally 1970].ISBN 978-0-415-65969-7.
• WithH.O. Mounce.Moral practices Volume VI. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. 2003 [originally 1970].ISBN 0-415-31846-7.
• With Ilham Dilman.Sense and delusion. Londonj: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1971.ISBN 0-7100-6935-9.
• Athronyddu Am Grefydd Cyfeiriadau Newydd. Llandysul: Gwasg Gorner. 1974.ISBN 0850882451.
• Religion without explanation. Oxford: Blackwell. 1976.ISBN 0631171002.

• Dramâu Gwenlyn Parry. Caernarfon: Gwasg Pantycelyn. 1982.ISBN 1874786380.
• Through a darkening glass. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. 1982.ISBN 9780268018450.
• Belief, change and forms of life. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press. 1986.ISBN 978-1-349-07920-9.
• R.S. Thomas: Poet of the hidden God. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications. 1986.ISBN 978-0-915138-83-8.
• Faith after foundationalism. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. 2013.ISBN 978-0-415-82220-6.

• From fantasy to faith. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan. 1991.ISBN 0333529561.
• Interventions in ethics (Swansea Studies in Philosophy). London: Palgrave Macmillan. 1991.ISBN 0333524144.
• Wittgenstein and religion. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press. 1993.ISBN 0-333-52378-4.
• Introducing philosophy: The challenge of scepticism. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. 1996.ISBN 0-631-20040-1.
• Philosophy's cool place. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. 1999.ISBN 0-8014-3600-1.
• Co-edited with Timothy Tessin.Religion and Hume's legacy. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press. 1999.ISBN 978-1-349-27737-7.

• Co-edited with Timothy Tessin.Kant and Kierkegaard on religion. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press. 2000.ISBN 978-0-333-79023-6. Retrieved26 July 2025.
• Recovering religious concepts. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press. 2000.ISBN 978-1-349-41139-9. Retrieved26 July 2025.
• Religion and the hermeneutics of contemplation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2001.ISBN 0-521-80368-3. Retrieved26 July 2025.
• The problem of evil and the problem of God. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press. 2005.ISBN 0-8006-3775-5.
• With Kai Nielsen.Wittgensteinian Fideism?. London: SCM Press. 2005.ISBN 978-0334040057.

• Religion and friendly fire. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate. 2004.ISBN 0-7546-4111-2.
• "John Locke (1632–1704)".Efrydiau Athronyddol.67 (1): 1-15. 2004.

• Edelman, John, ed. (2009).Sense and reality Essays out of Swansea. Lancaster: Gazelle Books Services.ISBN 978-3-86838-041-5. Retrieved26 July 2025.
• Kerr, Fergus (2007)."Comment: In Memoriam D.Z. Phillips".New Blackfriars.88 (1013):1–3.doi:10.1111/j.1741-2005.2006.00147.x.JSTOR 43251098. Retrieved19 May 2025.
• Sandry, Alan, ed. (2005).Wittgenstein in Swansea Philosophy and Legacy. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.ISBN 9781837722259.
• von der Ruhr, Mario (2009). "Wittgenstein, Rhees, and the Swansea School". In Edelman, John (ed.).Sense and reality: Essays out of Swansea. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. p. 219-235.doi:10.1515/9783110328813.219. Retrieved19 May 2025.

• Interview of D.Z. Phillips on YouTube by Steven McMeans in 1995 in Claremont California.
• Gaita, Raimond (21 August 2006)."Professor Dewi Phillips".The Guardian. Retrieved5 March 2025.
• "D. Z. Phillips".The Times. Retrieved5 March 2025.

• 1934 births
• 2006 deaths
• Analytic philosophers
• Wittgensteinian philosophers
• Welsh philosophers
• Alumni of Swansea University
• People from Morriston
• People educated at Bishop Gore School
• 20th-century British philosophers
• 20th-century Welsh writers
• 20th-century Welsh male writers
• 20th-century Welsh educators
• 21st-century British philosophers
• 21st-century Welsh writers
• 21st-century Welsh educators
• Philosophers of religion
• Academics of Swansea University
• Alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford

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