Simon Blackburn

Western Philosophy Contemporary philosophy

Name	Simon Blackburn
Birth	1944 in UK
School/tradition	Analytic
Main interests	Ethics · Truth
Notable ideas	Quasi-realism
Influenced by	David Hume

Simon Blackburn (born 1944) is a British academic atheist philosopher known for his efforts to popularise philosophy. He attended Clifton College and went on to receive his bachelor's degree in Moral Sciences (i.e. philosophy) in 1965 from Trinity College, Cambridge. He is currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Philosophy. He is also a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and has previously held teaching posts at Pembroke College, Oxford and the University of North Carolina as an Edna J. Koury Professor.

In philosophy, he is best-known as the proponent of quasi-realism in meta-ethics and as a defender of neo-Humean views on a variety of topics. He is a Vice-President of the British Humanist Association and a former editor of the journal Mind.

He makes occasional appearances in the British media, such as on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze.

[edit] Books

Reason and Prediction (1973). ISBN 0-521-08742-2.
Spreading the Word (1984) - a text. ISBN 0-19-824650-1.
Essays in Quasi-Realism (1993). ISBN 0-19-508041-6 and ISBN 0-19-508224-9.
The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (1994) - compiled whole-handedly. ISBN 0-19-211694-0.
Ruling Passions (1998) - an expose of his theory. ISBN 0-19-824785-0.
Truth (1999) (edited w/ Keith Simmons) - from Oxford Readings in Philosophy series. ISBN 0-19-875250-4.
Think (1999) - an introduction to philosophy for beginners. ISBN 0-19-210024-6 and ISBN 0-19-969087-1.
Being Good (2001) - an introduction to ethics. ISBN 0-19-210052-1.
- Reprinted as Ethics: A Very Short Introduction in Oxford University Press' Very Short Introductions series [1]. ISBN 0-19-280442-1.
Lust (2004) - one of an Oxford University Press series covering the Seven Deadly Sins. ISBN 0-19-516200-5.
Truth: A Guide (2005). ISBN 0-19-516824-0.
Plato's Republic: A Biography (2006) - from Atlantic Books' Books That Shook the World series. ISBN 1-84-354350-8.