David Wood (born 1946) was Centennial Professor of Philosophy, and Joe B. Wyatt Distinguished University Professor, at
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
.
Wood has taught philosophy in Europe and the United States for over thirty years, and is the author of 16 books. In addition to teaching at Vanderbilt University, he also co-directs (with Beth Conklin) a research programme in ecology and spirituality for the Centre for the Study of Religion and Culture.
Background
Wood was born in Oxford, England. He was an undergraduate at the
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
, where he was introduced to
phenomenology
Phenomenology may refer to:
Art
* Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties
Philosophy
* Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...
by
Wolfe Mays
Wolfe Mays (1912 – 21 January 2005) was a British philosopher. He was the founder of British Society for Phenomenology and the editor of Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, its journal.
Mays is known for his efforts for introduci ...
. He went on to do graduate work in philosophy at
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...
(1968–1971), where through the good offices of
Alan Montefiore
Alan Claude Robin Goldsmid Montefiore (born 29 December 1926, London) is a British philosopher and Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He is a co-founder and Emeritus President of the Forum for European Philosophy, as well as Joint Presi ...
(at
Balliol College
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
)
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...
was a frequent visitor. Under the influence of a group of
animal rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...
activists led by
Roslind and
Stanley Godlovitch
Stanley may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Film and television
* ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film
* ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy
* ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short
* ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...
– now known as the
Oxford Group
The Oxford Group was a Christian organization (first known as ''First Century Christian Fellowship'') founded by the American Lutheran minister Frank Buchman in 1921. Buchman believed that fear and selfishness were the root of all problems. Fur ...
;
Peter Singer
Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher, currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular, ...
, author of ''
Animal Liberation'' (1975) was associated with them – he became a vegetarian and started Ecology Action, a short-lived environmental group.
He was subsequently hired by the
University of Warwick
The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...
, where he went on to become chair of the philosophy department and director of the Centre for Research in Philosophy and Literature. In 1974 he studied in Paris, and attended lectures by
Claude Lévi-Strauss
Claude Lévi-Strauss (, ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair of Social Anthro ...
,
Michel Foucault
Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...
, Jacques Derrida,
Paul Ricoeur
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
*Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...
and
Michel Serres
Michel Serres (; 1 September 1930 – 1 June 2019) was a French philosopher, theorist and writer. His works explore themes of science, time and death, and later incorporated prose.
Life and career
The son of a bargeman, Serres entered France's ...
. He left Warwick for Vanderbilt in 1994, where he became chair in 1995.
He has been a visiting academic at
Berkeley
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
* George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer ...
,
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
and
Stony Brook, and has taught at
Duquesne and
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
. He is an honorary Professor of Philosophy at Warwick where he ran a research seminar (Fatal Projections: Pathologies of Alterity) in Spring 2006.
He is also an active sculptor and
earth-artist.
Vanderbilt ended its affiliation
with Wood in 2020. Woods subsequently succumbed to unspecified causes in February 2021.
Bibliography
Books authored
*''Reoccupy Earth'' (2019).
*''Time after Time'' (2007).
*''The Step Back: Ethics and Politics after Deconstruction'' (2005).
*''Thinking after Heidegger'' (2002).
*''Philosophy at the Limit'' (1990).
*''The Deconstruction of Time'' (1988; 2nd edn. 2001).
Books edited
*''Eco-Deconstruction Derrida and Environmental Philosophy'' with Matthias Fritsch and Philippe Lynes (2019).
*''Truth'' (2005). with José Medina.
*''On Derrida, Heidegger and Spirit'' (1993).
*''Derrida: A Critical Reader'' (1992).
*''On Paul Ricoeur: Narrative and Interpretation'' (1992).
*''Writing the Future'' (1990).
*''Philosophers' Poets'' (1990).
*''The Provocation of Levinas'' (1988). With
Robert Bernasconi
Robert L. Bernasconi (born 1950) is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Philosophy at Pennsylvania State University. He is known as a reader of Martin Heidegger and Emmanuel Levinas, and for his work on the concept of race. He has also written on the ...
.
*''Exceedingly Nietzsche: Essays in Contemporary Nietzsche Interpretation'' (1988). With
David Farrell Krell
David Farrell Krell (born 1944),VIAF"Krell, David Farrell"/ref> is an American philosopher. He is professor emeritus of philosophy at DePaul University. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy at Duquesne University, where he wrote his dissertation ...
.
*''Derrida and Differance'' (1985). With
Robert Bernasconi
Robert L. Bernasconi (born 1950) is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Philosophy at Pennsylvania State University. He is known as a reader of Martin Heidegger and Emmanuel Levinas, and for his work on the concept of race. He has also written on the ...
.
*''Time and Metaphysics'' (1982). With
Robert Bernasconi
Robert L. Bernasconi (born 1950) is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Philosophy at Pennsylvania State University. He is known as a reader of Martin Heidegger and Emmanuel Levinas, and for his work on the concept of race. He has also written on the ...
.
*''Heidegger and Language'' (1981).
See also
*
List of deconstructionists
This is a list of thinkers who have been dealt with deconstruction, a term developed by French philosopher Jacques Derrida (1930-2004).
__NOTOC__
The thinkers included in this list ''have Wikipedia pages'' and satisfy at least one of the three ...
Notes
External links
*http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/philosophy/faculty/wood.html
*https://as.vanderbilt.edu/philosophy/people/
*https://web.archive.org/web/20080207060243/http://www.artsnashville.org/registry/index.php?scan=az&main=artist&id=193
*http://www.vanderbilt.edu/chronopod/
*https://web.archive.org/web/20070929092358/http://www.earth-art.org/
Interviews
*http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/philosophy/faculty/wood_interview.html Thinking Against the Grain (with Darren Hutchinson)
*http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/philosophy/faculty/wood_interview2.html Food for the Imagination (with William McClure)
*http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/philosophy/faculty/wood_interview3.html Contretemps Interview (with John Dalton)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, David
1946 births
Living people
20th-century American philosophers
20th-century British sculptors
Academics of the University of Warwick
Alumni of New College, Oxford
Alumni of the University of Manchester
British environmentalists
British male sculptors
Continental philosophers
People associated with the Oxford Group (animal rights)
20th-century British male artists