Some recent posts on Cyril Edwin Mitchinson Joad have come up recently.
Mr Joad's 'Buzzing Bluebottle' at "Nigeness"
Joad of Joad Hall at "Philosophy, lit, etc."
I happen to have a copy of Joad's Guide to the Philosophy of Morals and Politics, which is a pretty decent, if occasionally plodding and occasionally glib, undergraduate-level work. One occasionally sees it quoted. Rather remarkably, it is quoted rather extensively in Wilson's concurrence in the notorious abortion case R. v. Morgentaler brought before the Supreme Court of Canada, in order to argue that the state's neutrality on the subject of abortion (and thus the state's refraining from giving it any criminal penalty) is necessary for freedom of conscience. Joad, or, at least, the young Joad, would be pleased; it fits well with his activism in the thirties (during which he explicitly argued for precisely this). I'm not sure if the older Joad would have agreed; he became more conservative, and more pessimistic about what he saw as the decadence and decay of modern society, as he grew older.
It's also briefly mentioned in Olaf Stapledon's Philosophy and Living, although as an appendix to an appendix because the two books came out the same year; but even a brief glance at Stapledon's reading list for beginners in philosophy shows a notable enthusiasm for Joad: "Readers will find that I have made use of Joad's treatment of several subjects. He has a surprising gift for expounding difficult ideas in such a manner that we are left wondering why people say philosophy is obscure." (Stapledon is most famous for his science fiction, most notably Sirius, Odd John, and Starmaker, but, of course, he started out as a philosophy lecturer; he gave it up when he began to think that science fiction might be more lucrative and a more influential venue for his philosophical ideas -- and on both points he was surely right.) So, despite his controversial character, he had his fans, even among philosophers.
ADDED LATER: Paul Raymont discusses some other connections between Joad and the law.
