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Information about Simon Blackburn

Western Philosophy
Contemporary philosophy
Simon Blackburn
Name:Simon Blackburn
Birth:1944 (United Kingdom)
School/tradition:Analytic philosophy
Main interests:Ethics, Truth
Notable ideas:Quasi-realism
Influences:David Hume


Simon Blackburn (born 1944) is a British academic philosopher also known for his efforts to popularise philosophy. He attended Clifton College and went on to receive his bachelor's degree in Moral Sciences (i.e. philosophy) in 1965 from Trinity College, Cambridge. He is currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Philosophy, a position formerly held by philosophers such as Elizabeth Anscombe, G.H. Von Wright, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and G.E. Moore. He is also a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and has previously held teaching posts at Pembroke College, Oxford and the University of North Carolina as an Edna J. Koury Professor.

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 Vice-President of the British Humanist Association and 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.

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). ISBN 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) - an expose of his theory. ISBN 0-19-824785-0.
  • Truth (1999) (edited w/ Keith Simmons) - from Oxford Readings in Philosophy series. ISBN 0-19-875250-4.
  • Think (1999) - an introduction to philosophy for beginners. 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 OUP's Very Short Introductions series. ISBN 0-19-280442-1.)
  • Lust (2004) - one of an OUP 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 1-84-354350-8.

External links

Contemporary philosophy in the Western world, for the sake of brevity and for the purposes of this article, is defined as themes and projects in philosophy conducted within the last four decades.
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Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" [2]   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
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Analytic philosophy (sometimes, analytical philosophy) is a generic term for a style of philosophy that came to dominate English-speaking countries in the 20th century.
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Ethics (via Latin ethica from the Ancient Greek ἠθική [φιλοσοφία]
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truth extends from honesty, good faith, and sincerity in general, to agreement with fact or reality in particular.[1] The term has no single definition about which the majority of professional philosophers and scholars agree.
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Quasi-realism is an expressivist meta-ethical theory developed by Simon Blackburn which asserts that though our moral claims are projectivist we understand them in realist terms as part of our ethical experience of the world.
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David Hume (April 26, 1711 – August 25, 1776)[1] was a Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian. He is considered one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment.
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1910s  1920s  1930s  - 1940s -  1950s  1960s  1970s
1941 1942 1943 - 1944 - 1945 1946 1947

Year 1944 (MCMXLIV
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Philosophy is the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live (ethics); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what counts as genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles of reasoning (logic).
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Philosophy is the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live (ethics); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what counts as genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles of reasoning (logic).
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Clifton College

Motto Spiritus Intus Alit
(Latin: The spirit nourishes within)
Established 1862

Type Independent

Headteacher Mark J Moore

Location College Road
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1930s  1940s  1950s  - 1960s -  1970s  1980s  1990s
1962 1963 1964 - 1965 - 1966 1967 1968

Year 1965 (MCMLXV
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Trinity College

                     
College name The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity
Motto Virtus Vera Nobilitas
(Latin: Virtue is true nobility)
Named after
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University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the world's most prestigious universities.
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The University of Cambridge was the birthplace of the 'analytical' school of philosophy in the early 20th century.

Today it is still a world-class centre for philosophy. The most recent Research Assessment Exercise (2001) gave Cambridge the highest possible score (5*A).
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G. E. M. Anscombe (18 March, 1919 – 5 January, 2001) (born Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe, also known as Elizabeth Anscombe) was a British analytic philosopher.
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Georg Henrik von Wright (pronounced, roughly, fon vrikt, IPA: [je:ɔrj hɛn:rik fɔn-vrik:t],) (June 14, 1916 – June 16, 2003) was a Finnish philosopher, who succeeded Ludwig Wittgenstein as professor at the University of Cambridge.
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Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (IPA: ['luːtvɪç 'joːzɛf 'joːhan 'vɪtgənʃtaɪn]
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George Edward Moore, usually known as G. E. Moore, (November 4 1873 – October 24 1958) was a distinguished and influential English philosopher who was educated at Dulwich College[1] and went on to study, and later teach, at the University of Cambridge.
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Trinity College

                     
College name The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity
Motto Virtus Vera Nobilitas
(Latin: Virtue is true nobility)
Named after
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University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the world's most prestigious universities.
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Pembroke College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located in Pembroke Square. As of 2006, Pembroke had an estimated financial endowment of £40.5 million.
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University of Oxford (usually abbreviated as Oxon. for post-nominals, from "Oxoniensis"), located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world.
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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public, coeducational, research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Also known as The University of North Carolina, Carolina, North Carolina, or simply UNC
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Quasi-realism is an expressivist meta-ethical theory developed by Simon Blackburn which asserts that though our moral claims are projectivist we understand them in realist terms as part of our ethical experience of the world.
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In philosophy, meta-ethics (sometimes called "analytic ethics")[1] is the branch of ethics that seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties, and ethical statements, attitudes, and judgments.
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David Hume (April 26, 1711 – August 25, 1776)[1] was a Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian. He is considered one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment.
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The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism. The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, equality and mutual respect.
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Mind is a well-respected British journal, currently published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Mind Association, which deals with philosophy in the analytic tradition. It was founded by Alexander Bain in 1876 with George Croom Robertson as editor.
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The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Type Broadcast radio and television
Country  United Kingdom
Availability    National
International 
Founder John Reith
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