By the time of the posthumous publication of the final volume of his principal work,
The Nature of Existence (1921, 1927), metaphysics in general and idealism in particular were largely out of intellectual favor.
John McTaggart Ellis was born 3 September 1866 at Norfolk Square, London, the eldest surviving son of Francis Ellis, a judge, and Caroline Ellis. The family adopted the surname McTaggart as a condition for obtaining a legacy from a wealthy relative, the Scottish baronet Sir John McTaggart, giving Jack (as he was always called), who had already been named after a great-uncle, the memorable appellation John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart--a name he always delighted in using in its full form. He was educated at Clifton College, an institution to which he remained immensely loyal: in later years he became a governor of the institution, and his will stipulated that the remainder of his estate should go to the college after the death of his wife. In 1885 he entered Trinity College of the University of Cambridge. There he studied under the philosophers Henry Sidgwick and James Ward and became a member of the Apostles, a debating society that had great influence on the British intellectual scene.
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