| Stephen R. L. Clark | |
|---|---|
| Born | 30 October 1945 Luton, Bedfordshire |
| Residence | Liverpool, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | M.A. (Oxford), D.Phil. (Oxford) |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford, All Souls College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Philosopher; associate editor of the British Journal for the History of Philosophy |
| Known for | Philosophy of animal rights, religion, and political philosophy |
| Spouse | Gillian Clark |
| Children | Samuel, Alexandra, Verity |
| Parents | D.A.R. Clark (father), M.K. Clark (mother)[1] |
Stephen Richard Lyster Clark (born 30 October 1945) is a British philosopher and former professor of philosophy at the University of Liverpool.[2]
Clark specializes in the philosophy of religion, political philosophy, science fiction, and animal rights. His philosophical position might be broadly described as Christian Platonist, but with many peculiarly modern variations on the basic theme. He is the author of 16 books, including The Moral Status of Animals (1977), Animals and Their Moral Standing (1997), and G.K. Chesterton: Thinking Backwards, Looking Forwards (2006), as well as 65 scholarly articles, and chapters in another 90 books. He was editor-in-chief of the Journal of Applied Philosophy for 11 years, and remains a member of its editorial board. He is currently an associate editor of the British Journal for the History of Philosophy.[2] He is also chair of the board of trustees of Philosophy in Britain, a charity that represents the interests of professional philosophers in the UK.[3]
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Clark was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, though the family came originally from Shropshire/Staffordshire. His father, D. A. R. Clark, was an apprentice railway engineer who became a technology teacher, and his mother, M. K. Clark, was a teacher and the daughter of MP Samuel Finney.[1] After leaving Nottingham High School in 1964, he attended Balliol College, Oxford, 1964-8, followed by a fellowship at All Souls, 1968-75. He graduated with a first-class honours degree in Greats (Classics) in 1968, and was awarded his D.Phil. in 1973.[1]
After Oxford, he lectured in moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow for nine years, until he was appointed professor of philosophy at Liverpool in 1984. He retired from this post at the end of 2009. He has also been a visiting professor at Vanderbilt University and held an Alan Richardson Fellowship at Durham University. Clark delivered the 1981-1982 Gifford Lectures at the University of Glasgow, entitled "From Athens to Jerusalem."[1]
Clark served on the British government's Animal Procedures Committee, a group that advises the Home Secretary on animal-testing issues, from 1998 until 2006.[4] He has also been involved with the Boyd Group, a think tank set up by researchers involved in animal testing, and others who oppose it,[5] and sits on the board of the Center on Animal Liberation Affairs, the first scholarly centre set up to advance the debate about animal liberation.