Anthony O'Hear (born 1942 in

Cleethorpes Cleethorpes () is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England with a population of 29,678 in 2021. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry ...

) is a British philosopher. He is

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

at the

University of Buckingham The University of Buckingham (UB) is a non-profit private university#United Kingdom, private university in Buckingham, England, and the oldest of the country's six private universities. It was founded as the University College at Buckingham (U ...

and Head of the Department of Education. He held the role of Honorary Director of the

Royal Institute of Philosophy The Royal Institute of Philosophy, founded in 1925, is a charitable organisation that holds and funds lectures and events on philosophical topics. It publishes two journals and offers grant programmes as part of its mission to share philosophica ...

and editor of its journal ''

'' until 2019 and co-founder of the Journal of Applied Philosophy with Brenda Almond. He is also editor emeritus of '' The Fortnightly Reviews new series. O'Hear was a

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

special adviser on

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

for approximately ten years. He was especially influential during the time of

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

and

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

when he was teaching at Bradford University. He continues to be active in

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

circles, especially in advocating

social conservatism Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on Tradition#In political and religious discourse, traditional social structures over Cultural pluralism, social pluralism. Social conservatives ...

. His relationship with

New Labour New Labour is the political philosophy that dominated the history of the British Labour Party from the mid-late 1990s to 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The term originated in a conference slogan first used by the ...

was more troubled.

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

- who was himself criticised for having "exploited (her) death for political ends... gushing about the People's Princess, standing at the airport to receive her coffin as if he were the Head of State"- dismissed O'Hear as an "old-fashioned snob" for his views on

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...

(views which obtained substantial media coverage). A. N. Wilson wrote in support of O'Hear's view: "When Professor Anthony O'Hear claimed that Diana represented "fake Britain", many a bosom will have returned an echo. His claim that she stood for "the evaluation of feeling, image and spontaneity over reason, reality and restraint" might have been ignored, had not its sour tone been almost justified by the response of the Prime Minister." O'Hear has, however, endorsed the cultural policies of the Attlee government.1998 Spectator article
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Bibliography

His publications include: *''Karl Popper'' (1980) *''What Philosophy Is'' (1985) *''The Element of Fire'' (1989) *''An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science'' (1990) *''Beyond Evolution'' (1997) *''After Progress'' (1999) *''Introducing Christianity'' (2000) *''Philosophy in the New Century'' (2001) *''Plato's Children'' (2006) *''The Great Books: From The Iliad and The Odyssey to Goethe's Faust: A journey through 2,500 years of the West's classic literature'' (2007) *''Transcendence, Creation and Incarnation: From Philosophy to Religion'' (Transcending Boundaries in Philosophy and Theology) (2020)

References

External links

Professor Anthony O'Hear
at The University of Buckingham
The Royal Institute of PhilosophyThe Fortnightly Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohear, Anthony British philosophy academics Academics of the University of Buckingham Academics of the University of Bradford 1942 births Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire Philosophy journal editors People from Cleethorpes