Richard Robinson ( Watton, Norfolk, 12 April 1902 – 6 May 1996,

Oxford 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 ...

) was an English secularist philosopher.

Biography

Robinson was educated at

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, independent, day and boarding school in the English public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school whi ...

and

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 th ...

.The Independent - Obituary
14 June 1996. He taught at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

from 1928 to 1946, then returned to Oxford University for over 20 years. He translated and edited books and articles on

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 ...

and

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

. Most of his books were academic, but ''An Atheist's Values'' gave him a popular audience. Nicolas Walter, writing in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', described the book as "one of the best short accounts of liberalism (a term Robinson accepted) and humanism (a term he ignored) produced during the present century, all the more powerful for its lucidity and moderation, its wit and wisdom."

Works

* ''The Province of Logic'' (1931) * ''Definition'' (1950) * ''An Atheist's Values'' (1964, Oxford University Press) : --- paperback (1975, Blackwell) * ''Essays In Greek Philosophy'' (1969, Oxford University Press) * ''Plato's Earlier Dialectic'' (1985, Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition) * ''Travellers in Time: Seven Epic Stories of Early Exploration'' (1986, Queen Anne Press)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Richard 20th-century English philosophers British atheists 1996 deaths 1902 births Fellows of Oriel College, Oxford People from Watton, Norfolk