Edward John Craig (born 26 March 1942) is an English academic philosopher, editor of theRoutledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and formerKnightbridge Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. He is also a formercricketer at first-class level: a right-handedbatsman for Cambridge University and Lancashire.^[1]

Craig was born inFormby, Lancashire, and educated atCharterhouse. He read philosophy atTrinity College, Cambridge (1960–1963), and was Reader in Philosophy at Cambridge from 1992 to 1998. He became Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy in 1998, a chair he held until his retirement in 2006. He is a Fellow of Churchill College. He edited the journalRatio from 1988 to 1992.^[2]

It was while an undergraduate at Cambridge that Craig made hisfirst-class cricket debut forCambridge University againstSurrey atFenner's. He made sixteen appearances in his debut season for the university and gained hiscricket Blue.^[3] He also made the first of his two appearances for theGentlemen against the Players in this season, as well as making his first-class debut forLancashire againstNottinghamshire. He made three further appearances in total that season for Lancashire.^[4] His debut season was a resounding success, with 1,528 runs at anaverage of 42.44. He made fivecenturies and had a high score of 208not out.^[5] For Cambridge University alone, he scored 1,342 runs at an average of 47.92, including a score of 105 inThe University Match,^[3] and his unbeaten 208 againstL.C. Stevens' XI.^[6]

In 1962, Craig made sixteen first-class appearances for Cambridge University,^[4] scoring 1,158 runs at an average of 44.53.^[3] He once again appeared for the Gentlemen against the Players in its final fixture, as well as making a further two first-class appearances for Lancashire inthat season's County Championship againstEssex andSussex. He appeared six times in first-class cricket for his native county, scoring 214 runs at an average of 21.40, though he only passed fifty once,^[7] making 89 againstNottinghamshire the previous season at theTown Ground, Worksop.^[8] His overall season first-class record stood at 1,151 runs at an average of 31.97, with a highest score of 151not out.^[5] He continued to play for Cambridge University in 1963, making fewer appearances than previous seasons due to examination commitments. He made ten appearances, with his final first-class appearance coming against Oxford University in The University Match at Lord's.^[4] He performed less consistently than in previous seasons, scoring 424 runs at an average of 30.28, with a highest score of 87, one of three half-centuries.^[5] In total, Craig made 42 first-class appearances for the university, scoring 2,879 runs at an average of 39.98, with a highest score 208 not out among his seven centuries.^[7]

Ultimately, Craig decided to pursue a career in academia rather than cricket.Mike Brearley, who played alongside him in the Cambridge University team, described him as "a better scholar and batsman than I was". The cricket writerJohn Arlott included Craig in a list of players he considered had the potential, had they continued with their cricket careers, to have playedTest cricket.^[3] Despite the end of his professional cricket career, he did appear forCambridgeshire in a singleList A match againstOxfordshire in the 1st round of the1967 Gillette Cup,^[9] scoring 12 runs before being dismissed byDavid Laitt. Cambridgeshire won the match by four wickets,^[10] but Craig didn't feature for the county again.

• The Mind of God and the Works of Man (1987)
• Knowledge and the state of nature (1990)
• Was wir wissen können: Pragmatische Untersuchungen zum Wissensbegriff. Wittgenstein-Vorlesungen der Universität Bayreuth (1993)
• Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1996) (General Editor)
• Hume on religion (1997)
• Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (2002)
• The Shorter Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2005)
• Philosophy: A Brief Insight (2009)

• Edward Craig atESPNcricinfo
• Edward Craig at CricketArchive

• 1942 births
• Living people
• People from Formby
• People educated at Charterhouse School
• Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
• English cricketers
• Cambridge University cricketers
• Gentlemen cricketers
• Lancashire cricketers
• Cambridgeshire cricketers
• Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge
• 20th-century English philosophers
• 20th-century English writers
• 20th-century English male writers
• 21st-century English philosophers
• Knightbridge Professors of Philosophy

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