Simon Blackburn
| Simon Blackburn | |
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| Born | 12 July 1944 (age 71) |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School | Analytic |
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Main interests
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Notable ideas
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Quasi-realism |
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Influences
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Simon Blackburn (born 12 July 1944) is a British academic philosopher known for his work in metaethics, where he defends quasi-realism, and in the philosophy of language; more recently, he has gained a large general audience from his efforts to popularise philosophy. He retired as the professor of philosophy at the University of Cambridge in 2011, but remains a distinguished research professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, teaching every fall semester. He is also a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a member of the professoriate of New College of the Humanities.[1] He was previously a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford and has also taught full-time at the University of North Carolina as an Edna J. Koury Professor. He is a former president of the Aristotelian Society, having served the 2009–2010 term. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2002[2] and a Foreign Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2008.[3]
Contents
Education
Blackburn attended Clifton College and went on to receive his bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1965 from Trinity College, Cambridge. He obtained his doctorate in 1970 from Churchill College, Cambridge.
Work
In philosophy, he is best known as the proponent of quasi-realism in meta-ethics and as a defender of neo-Humean views on a variety of topics. He is a former editor of the journal Mind. He makes occasional appearances in the British media, such as on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze. Blackburn was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007.[4]
As a patron of the British Humanist Association, he has argued against the existence of God, preferring to describe himself as an "infidel" rather than an "atheist".[5] He was one of 55 public figures to sign an open letter published in The Guardian in September 2010, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK,[6] and has argued that religionists should have less influence in political affairs.[5] At the same time, he has also argued, in a televised debate, against the claim of "New Atheist" Sam Harris that morality can be derived from science.[7]
Books
- Reason and Prediction (1973). ISBN 0-521-08742-2.
- Spreading the Word (1984) - a text. ISBN 0-19-824650-1.
- Essays in Quasi-Realism (1993). - a defense of quasi-realism as applied to ethicsISBN 0-19-508041-6 and ISBN 0-19-508224-9.
- The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (1994) - compiled whole-handedly. ISBN 0-19-211694-0.
- Ruling Passions (1998) A defense of a NeoHumean theory of reasons and moral motivation. ISBN 0-19-824785-0.
- Truth (1999) (edited with Keith Simmons) - from Oxford Readings in Philosophy series. ISBN 0-19-875250-4.
- Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy. (1999) ISBN 0-19-210024-6 and ISBN 0-19-969087-1.
- Being Good (2001) - an introduction to ethics. ISBN 0-19-210052-1.
- Reprinted as Ethics: A Very Short Introduction in Oxford University Press' Very Short Introductions series. ISBN 0-19-280442-1.
- Lust (2004) - one of an Oxford University Press series covering the Seven Deadly Sins. ISBN 0-19-516200-5.
- Truth: A Guide (2005). ISBN 0-19-516824-0.
- Plato's Republic: A Biography (2006) - from Atlantic Books' Books That Shook the World series. ISBN 1-84354-350-8.
- "What do we really know? -The Big Questions of Philosophy" - (2009) from Quercus. ISBN 978-1-78087-587-3.
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- Mirror, Mirror: The Uses and Abuses of Self-Love (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014)
References
- ↑ https://www.nchum.org/faculty/professor-simon-blackburn
- ↑ http://www.britac.ac.uk/fellowship/sections/index.cfm?member=4362
- ↑ http://www.cam.ac.uk/news/cambridge-academics-elected-to-american-academy-of-arts-sciences
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Philosophy Now's interview with Simon Blackburn, November 2013, accessible here
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8vYq6Xm2To&feature=related
External links
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- Articles with hCards
- 1944 births
- 20th-century philosophers
- 21st-century philosophers
- Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
- Analytic philosophers
- Cambridge University Moral Sciences Club
- English humanists
- English philosophers
- Fellows of Pembroke College, Oxford
- Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge
- Living people
- Moral philosophers
- People educated at Clifton College
- Philosophy academics
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty
- Presidents of the Aristotelian Society
