John Madison Cooper (November 29, 1939 – August 8, 2022) was an American philosopher who was the Emeritus Henry Putnam University Professor of Philosophy at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

and an expert on

ancient philosophy This page lists some links to ancient philosophy, namely philosophical thought extending as far as early post-classical history (). Overview Genuine philosophical thought, depending upon original individual insights, arose in many cultures ...

Education and career

Cooper earned his Ph.D. at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1967 and taught there until 1971, when he accepted a tenured position in philosophy at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

, where he taught until he moved to Princeton in 1981. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts & Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States of America, United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bow ...

in 2001. In 2011, Cooper delivered the

John Locke Lectures The John Locke Lectures are a series of annual lectures in philosophy given at the University of Oxford. Named for British philosopher John Locke, the Locke Lectures are the world's most prestigious lectures in philosophy, and are among the world' ...

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, and in 2012, he delivered the

Tanner Lectures on Human Values The Tanner Lectures on Human Values is a multi-university lecture series in the humanities, founded in 1978, at Clare Hall, Cambridge University, by the American scholar Obert Clark Tanner. In founding the lecture, he defined their purpose as fol ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Philosophical work

He is the editor of the Hackett edition of the complete works of

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

, as well as author of ''Pursuits of Wisdom: Six Ways of Life in Ancient Philosophy from Socrates to Plotinus'' and a number of other books on ancient Greek philosophy. WorldCat
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Selected books

* ''Reason and Human Good in Aristotle'' (Hackett, 1975) * ''Reason and Emotion'' (1999) * ''Knowledge, Nature, and the Good'' (2004) * ''Pursuits of Wisdom: Six Ways of Life in Ancient Philosophy from Socrates to Plotinus'' (2012)

Honors

Marshall Scholarship The Marshall Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans ndtheir country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. It is widely considered one of the most prestigious sc ...

References

External links

Princeton University faculty page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, John M. 1939 births 2022 deaths 21st-century American philosophers Princeton University faculty American scholars of ancient Greek philosophy Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Harvard College alumni Presidents of the American Philosophical Association Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Writers from Memphis, Tennessee