Simon Blackburn (born 12 July 1944) is an English academic philosopher known for his work in metaethics, where he defends

quasi-realism Quasi-realism is the meta-ethical view which claims that: # Ethical sentences do not express propositions. # Instead, ethical sentences project emotional attitudes as though they were real properties. This makes quasi-realism a form of non-cogn ...

, and in the philosophy of language; more recently, he has gained a large general audience from his efforts to popularise philosophy. He has appeared in multiple episodes of the documentary series '' Closer to Truth''. During his long career, he has taught at

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 ...

Cambridge University , 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 ...

, and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Life and career

Blackburn was born on 12 July 1944 in

Chipping Sodbury Chipping Sodbury is a market town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sodbury, in the unitary authority area of South Gloucestershire, in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England. It was founded in the 12th century by William ...

, England. He attended

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , hea ...

and went on to receive his bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1965 from

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. He obtained his doctorate in 1969 from

Churchill College, Cambridge Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but still retains a strong interest in the arts and humanities. In 1958, a trust was establis ...

. He retired as the 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 ...

in 2011, but remains a distinguished research professor of philosophy at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

, teaching every fall semester. He is also a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

, and a member of the professoriate of New College of the Humanities. He was previously a Fellow of

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named aft ...

and has also taught full-time at the University of North Carolina as an Edna J. Koury Professor. He is a former 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 Squa ...

, having served the 2009–2010 term. He 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 s ...

in 2002 and a Foreign Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2008. He is a former editor of the journal ''

Mind The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...

''.

Philosophical work

In philosophy, he is best known as the proponent of

meta-ethics In metaphilosophy and ethics, meta-ethics is the study of the nature, scope, and meaning of moral judgment. It is one of the three branches of ethics generally studied by philosophers, the others being normative ethics (questions of how one ou ...

and as a defender of neo- Humean views on a variety of topics. "The quasi-realist is someone who endorses an anti-realist metaphysical stance but who seeks, through philosophical maneuvering, to earn the right for moral discourse to enjoy all the trappings of realist talk." In 2008 '' The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy'', which was authored by Blackburn, was published. In 2014 Blackburn published ''Mirror, Mirror: The Uses and Abuses of Self-Love'', focusing on different philosophical aspects of self-love, discussing modern forms and manifestations of pride, amour-propre, integrity or self-esteem through various philosophical frameworks and ideas.

Public philosophy

He makes occasional appearances in the British media, such as on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

's '' The Moral Maze''. He is a patron of

Humanists UK Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious b ...

(formerly the British Humanist Association), and when asked to define his atheism, he said he prefers the label ''infidel'' over ''atheist'': He was one of 55 public figures to sign an open letter published in ''The Guardian'' in September 2010, stating their opposition to

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...

's state visit to the UK, and has argued that "religionists" should have less influence in political affairs. At the same time, he has also argued, in a televised debate, against the position of the

antitheist Antitheism, also spelled anti-theism, is the philosophical position that theism should be opposed. The term has had a range of applications. In secular contexts, it typically refers to direct opposition to the belief in any deity. Etymology The ...

author and philosopher Sam Harris that morality can be derived from science. He was one of 240 academics to sign a letter to the Equality and Human Rights Commission opposing 'radical gender orthodoxy', published in The Sunday Times.

Books

*''Reason and Prediction'' (1973). . *''Spreading the Word'' (1984) – a text. . *''Essays in

Quasi-realism Quasi-realism is the meta-ethical view which claims that: # Ethical sentences do not express propositions. # Instead, ethical sentences project emotional attitudes as though they were real properties. This makes quasi-realism a form of non-cogn ...

'' (1993). – a defence of quasi-realism as applied to ethicsISBN 0-19-508041-6 and . *'' The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy'' (

994 Year 994 ( CMXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * September 15 – Battle of the Orontes: Fatimid forces, under Turkish gener ...

2015), 3rd ed. – compiled whole-handedly. . *''Ruling Passions'' (1998) A defence of a NeoHumean theory of reasons and moral motivation. . *''Truth'' (1999) (edited with Keith Simmons) – from Oxford Readings in Philosophy series. . *'' Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy''. (1999) and . *''Being Good'' (2001) – an introduction to ethics. . ** Reprinted as ''Ethics: A Very Short Introduction'' in

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

' Very Short Introductions series. . *''Lust'' (2004) – one of an

series covering the Seven Deadly Sins. . *''Truth: A Guide'' (2005). . *''Plato's Republic: A Biography'' (2006) – from Atlantic Books' Books That Shook the World series. . *''How to read Hume'' (2008) – Granta Publications. . *"What do we really know? -The Big Questions of Philosophy" – (2009) from Quercus. . * *''Mirror, Mirror: The Uses and Abuses of Self-Love'' (Princeton, NJ:

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

, 2014) *''On Truth'' (2018)

References

External links

Personal website

Simon Blackburn talks with Jenny Attiyeh on
Thoughtcast
BBC News story

Blackburn discusses Plato's Republic

An interview with Simon Blackburn on ''The Marketplace of Ideas''

Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 21 April 2009 (video)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blackburn, Simon 1944 births 20th-century British philosophers 21st-century British philosophers Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Analytic philosophers Cambridge University Moral Sciences Club English humanists English philosophers Fellows of Pembroke College, Oxford Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Living people Moral philosophers People educated at Clifton College Bertrand Russell Professors of Philosophy Presidents of the Aristotelian Society University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty Mind (journal) editors