Michael Dummett
In their own terms: The Wykeham Professor of Logic at Oxford, applying analytical philosophy to card game history
As history sees them: The scholar who proved tarot was a game, not a mystery school curriculum — and made the history more interesting than the myth
Founded academic tarot history. Demonstrated through rigorous evidence that tarot was a card game for 350+ years before occult appropriation. His work demolished esoteric origin myths while documenting the actual transmission of ideas.
Biography
Born June 27, 1925, in London. Educated at Sandroyd School and Winchester College, he served in the Intelligence Corps during World War II. He studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Christ Church, Oxford, and became a Fellow of All Souls College in 1950. He was appointed Wykeham Professor of Logic at Oxford in 1979, one of the most prestigious chairs in analytic philosophy.
Dummett's academic reputation rested on his philosophical work on the theory of meaning and the philosophy of mathematics (particularly intuitionism). But he maintained a parallel career as a card game historian, bringing the same rigorous analytical method to tarot that he applied to logic. His 600-page 'The Game of Tarot' (1980) was the foundational work of academic tarot history, demonstrating through archival evidence that tarot was a card game for 350 years before occult appropriation.
With Ronald Decker and Thierry Depaulis, he published 'A Wicked Pack of Cards' (1996), tracing the origins of occult tarot from Court de Gebelin through Eliphas Levi, and 'A History of the Occult Tarot' (2002), continuing the story through 1970. Together these works demolished many esoteric origin myths while documenting the actual transmission of ideas with scholarly rigor. Dummett died December 27, 2011. He proved that the real history of tarot is more interesting than the myths.
Key Works
- The Game of Tarot (1980) — 600-page foundational work of academic tarot history
- A Wicked Pack of Cards (1996) — Origins of the occult tarot tradition, with Decker & Depaulis
- A History of the Occult Tarot (2002) — Continuation covering 1870-1970, with Decker & Depaulis
Timeline
Dummett publishes 'The Game of Tarot'
Michael Dummett (Wykeham Professor of Logic, Oxford) publishes 600-page foundational work of academic tarot history. Demonstrates that tarot was a card game for 350+ years before occult appropriation.
Dummett, Decker & Depaulis publish 'A Wicked Pack of Cards'
Traces the occult tarot tradition from de Gebelin through Levi with scholarly rigor. Demolished many origin myths while documenting the actual transmission of ideas.
Dummett, Decker & Depaulis publish 'A History of the Occult Tarot'
Continues from where 'A Wicked Pack of Cards' left off, covering Paul Christian through the modern renaissance. Completes the Dummett school's historical survey.