Catherine Joanna Rowett (born 29 December 1956, previously publishing as Catherine Osborne from 1979 to 2011) is a British former

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

representing the Green Party of England and Wales, and academic. She is Professor of Philosophy at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

. She is known in particular for her work on

Greek Philosophy Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empir ...

, especially the

Pre-Socratic philosophers Pre-Socratic philosophy, also known as early Greek philosophy, is ancient Greek philosophy before Socrates. Pre-Socratic philosophers were mostly interested in cosmology, the beginning and the substance of the universe, but the inquiries of thes ...

. She was a

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(MEP) for the

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from 2019 until 31 January 2020, when the United Kingdom left the European Union.

Academic career

Rowett read Classics at the

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, where she was also awarded her PhD with a dissertation on Hippolytus of Rome and

. The dissertation was published as ''Rethinking Early Greek Philosophy: Hippolytus of Rome and the Presocratics'' by

Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University; currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, making it the first university publishing enterprise in th ...

in 1987. Rowett became a Junior Research Fellow of New Hall, Cambridge in 1984. In 1987, she took up a Senior Research Fellowship at

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and 200 ...

while also a

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

Postdoctoral Fellow. From 1990 Rowett was a lecturer in philosophy at Swansea University. On leaving Swansea in 2000, Rowett became

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

in Greek Culture at the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

and then 2003 she moved to the

as a lecturer in philosophy. Rowett became Reader in 2006 and then Professor of Philosophy in 2008. She was the Head of the School of Philosophy (later incorporated into the current School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies) from 2005 to 2008. Rowett was awarded a

Leverhulme Trust The Leverhulme Trust () is a large national grant-making organisation in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1925 under the will of the 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), with the instruction that its resources should be used to suppo ...

Research Fellowship from 2007 to 2009 for her work on knowledge and truth in Plato, which formed the foundation of her work published as ''Knowledge and Truth in Plato: Stepping Past the Shadow of Socrates'' by Oxford University Press in 2018.

Political career

Rowett stood as a

candidate for the constituency of South Norfolk in the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and 2017 general elections. She was selected as the lead Green Party candidate for the

in the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...

and was elected with her Green Party list receiving 12.7% of the votes cast. The party topped the poll in Norwich with 26% of the votes cast in the city. Her seat was dissolved on 31 January 2020, following the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union.

Selected publications

As Catherine Rowett

* ''Knowledge and Truth in Plato: Stepping Past the Shadow of Socrates'' (Oxford University Press, 2018)

As Catherine Osborne

* ''Philoponus: On Aristotle Physics 1.4-9'' (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle, Duckworth, 2009) * ''Dumb beasts and Dead Philosophers: Humanity and the Humane in Ancient Philosophy and Literature'' (Oxford University Press, 2007) * ''Philoponus Commentary on Aristotle's Physics book 1.1-3'' (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle, Duckworth, 2006) * ''Presocratic Philosophy: a very Short Introduction'' (Oxford University Press, 2004) * ''Eros Unveiled: Plato and the God of Love'' (Clarendon Press, 1994) * ''Rethinking Early Greek Philosophy: Hippolytus of Rome and the Presocratics'' (Cornell University Press, 1987)

References

External links

University of East Anglia staff page

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowett, Catherine 1956 births Living people British classical scholars Women classical scholars Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Academics of the University of East Anglia Green Party of England and Wales MEPs Green Party of England and Wales parliamentary candidates MEPs for England 2019–2020 21st-century women MEPs for England