Sarah Jean Broadie (née Waterlow; 3 November 1941 – 8 August 2021) was a British philosopher, a Professor of Moral Philosophy and Wardlaw Professor at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

. Broadie specialised in

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 ...

, with a particular emphasis on

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 phil ...

and

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 ...

. Her work engages with

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

and both ancient and contemporary

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

. She has achieved numerous honours throughout her career as an academic philosopher. Broadie studied Greats at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

, graduating in 1960. Previously she has worked at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

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 ...

, Rutgers, and

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

Awards and honours

Broadie's first major honour came in 1990 when she was elected as a Fellow of the

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

. In 2002, she was elected as a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. Broadie was invited to give the Nellie Wallace Lectures at the University of Oxford in 2003. Her series was titled, 'Nature and Divinity in the Philosophies of Plato and Aristotle.' In the same year Broadie was also elected as 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 2006 Broadie was elected as member of the Academia Europaea. Members of the Academia are nominated by peers and must be eminent scholars in their fields. In 2012 Broadie became the 105th President of the

Aristotelian Society The Aristotelian Society for the Systematic Study of Philosophy, more generally known as the Aristotelian Society, is a philosophical society in London. History Aristotelian Society was founded at a meeting on 19 April 1880, at 17 Bloomsbury Squar ...

, and delivered the Presidential Address titled 'Actual Instead.' Broadie was an Honorary Fellow of

. She was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the

2019 Birthday Honours The 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as ...

for services to classical philosophy.

Books

As Sarah Waterlow

*Nature, Change, and Agency in Aristotle's Physics: a philosophical study (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1984) *Passage and Possibility: a study of Aristotle's modal concepts (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1984)

As Sarah Broadie

*Ethics with Aristotle (Oxford University Press, New York, 1991) *Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: Philosophical Introduction and Commentary, with a new translation by Christopher Rowe (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002) *Aristotle and Beyond: Essays on Metaphysics and Ethics (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007) *Nature and Divinity in Plato's Timaeus (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011) *Plato's Sun-Like Good (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2021)

Personal life

Sarah Broadie was the daughter of the distinguished physiologist

John Waterlow John Conrad Waterlow (13 June 1916 – 19 October 2010) was a British physiologist who specialised in childhood malnutrition. Waterlow was born into a well known London printing family. Whilst growing up, the family home was often visited by th ...

and married the philosopher and author Frederick Broadie in 1984.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Broadie, Sarah British philosophers British women philosophers Academics of the University of St Andrews Academics of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Sarah Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...

Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford 1941 births 2021 deaths Women classical scholars British classical scholars