Simon Blackburn
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Simon Blackburn (born 1944) is a British academic philosopher also known for his efforts to popularise philosophy. He is currently Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge University and a fellow of Trinity College, and has previously held teaching posts at Pembroke College, Oxford and the University of North Carolina as an Edna J. Koury Professor.
He has published some popular books on philosophy, among these being Think (1999), an introduction to philosophy, and Being Good (2001), an introduction to ethics. He also wrote Lust (2004), one book among a series covering the Seven Deadly Sins, and The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (1994), a dictionary compiled single-handedly. He also makes occasional appearances in the British media, for instance on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze. However, unlike other popularisers such as Alain de Botton, he is also a highly respected academic, noted as, among other things, a leading proponent of the Humean tradition in moral philosophy, a former editor of the journal Mind and the inventor of quasi-realism. Among his more serious works are Spreading the Word (1984), a textbook on meaning and truth, and Ruling Passions (1998), an exposition of his Humean ethical theory.
External Links
- Personal website (http://www.phil.cam.ac.uk/~swb24/)
- BBC News story (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3387169.stm)
- Blackburn Essay 'In defence of lust' in The New Statesman (http://www.newstatesman.co.uk/aldaily/2003121502.htm)