Barbara Jane Heal (''née'' Kneale, born 21 October 1946) is a British philosopher, and since 2012, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Biography

Heal is daughter of a pair of notable Oxford philosophers

William Calvert Kneale William Calvert Kneale (22 June 1906 – 24 June 1990) was an English logician best known for his 1962 book ''The Development of Logic'', a history of logic from its beginnings in Ancient Greece written with his wife Martha. Kneale was als ...

and Martha Kneale (née Hurst). She was educated at

Oxford High School for Girls Oxford High School is an Independent school (UK), independent day school for girls in Oxford, England. It was founded by the Girls' Day School Trust in 1875, making it the city's oldest girls' school. History Oxford High School was opened on ...

and

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, where she read first History before changing to Philosophy (Moral Sciences) after two years. She also took her PhD at Cambridge, working on problems in the philosophy of language. After two years of post-doctoral study in the US, at Princeton and Berkeley, she was appointed to a Lectureship at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

. After ten years at Newcastle, she returned to the

as a lecturer in 1986. She was awarded her personal professorship in 1999. In the same year she became the first female President of

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

serving between 1 October 1999 and 2003. She was elected a Fellow of the

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 ...

in 1997. She was also President of the Aristotelian Society from 2001 to 2002. Heal has written extensively on the philosophy of mind and language. Her work in the philosophy of mind came to be known as 'simulation' or 'co-cognition'- that our understanding of other people is achieved by, so far as we are able, placing ourselves inwardly in their situation and then allowing our thoughts and emotions to run forwards in a kind of imaginative experiment.

Publications

*''Fact and Meaning'', 1989 *''Mind, Reason and Imagination'', 2003

References

Sources

* "Heal, Prof. (Barbara) Jane," ''Who's Who 2012'', A & C Black, 2012; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2011; online edn, Nov 201
accessed 25 Jan 2012

Biography

Publications

References

Sources

Further reading