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Home , Alan Code, Hugh Mellor, Simon Blackburn

CURRICULUM VITAE OF SIMON BLACKBURN, FBA

Education

Fellow of the British Academy, 2001. Honorary LLD, University of Sunderland, 1998. PhD, Cambridge, 1970: ‘The ’, examined Professors A.J. Ayer and M. Hesse. Part 2 Moral Sciences Tripos (), BA degree, 1965. Senior Scholar of Trinity 1964 Part 1 Moral Sciences Tripos (1964). Trinity College, Cambridge 1962. Clifton College, Bristol 1957–61 (Scholar).

Professional Experience

Distinguished Research Professor of , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2008-present Professor of Philosophy, , 2001-present. Fellow Emeritus, Pembroke College Oxford Erskine Fellow, University of Canterbury, Summer 2001. Visiting Distinguished Professor, C.U.N.Y. Graduate School, Spring 1998, Spring 1999, Fall 1999, Fall 2003 Visiting Professor, University of Bari, Italy, Summer 1995 Adjunct Professor, Australian National University, 1993—present Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1990—2000. Nelson Visiting Lecturer, U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Fall 1988 Visiting Distinguished Professor, , Spring 1988 Distinguished Visitor to Poland (Cracow) October 1987 Distinguished Visitor to University of Calgary, January 1987 Visiting Professor, Princeton University, Spring 1987 Research Readership of the British Academy, 1986—88. Editor of 1985—90 Visiting Distinguished Professor, Oberlin College, Fall 1984 Chairman, Board of PPE examiners, Oxford, 1983 Radcliffe Research Fellowship, 1980—1982 Visiting Professor, Universidad Autonomia de Mexico, 1982 Visiting Associate Professor, University of British Columbia, 1976 Visiting Associate Professor, University of Melbourne, 1975 Dean of Pembroke, 1971—1974 Fellow & Lecturer in Philosophy, Pembroke College, Oxford 1969—1990 Research Fellowship, Churchill College Cambridge 1967—69

1 Honors

Hagerstrom Lectures, University of Uppsala, Sweden 2008 Erasmus Professor in the Humanities, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, 2007 Ryle Lectures, Trent University, Canada, 2007 Gavin David Young lectures, Adelaide, 2007. Stanislaw Kaminski lectures, University of Lublin, Spring 2006. Lewis Frumkes Annual Lecturer, NYU, Fall 2005 Truax lecturer, Hamilton College, NY, Spring 2005 Lindley Lecture, University of Kansas, Fall 2004 Gifford Lectures, University of Glasgow, Spring 2004 Michael Lumsden Memorial Lecture, University of Nottingham, 2003 Justin Hartnack Memorial Lecture, University of Arhus, 2002 Voltaire Lecture, British Humanists Association 2001 Brown Memorial Lecture, University of Vermont, Spring 2001 Selfridge Distinguished Visitor, Lehigh University, Fall 2000. Frank Fraser Potter Memorial Lecture, Washington State University, Fall 1997 Louis Loeb Memorial Lecture, Emory University, Spring 1997 Radhakrishnan Memorial Lecture, Indian Institute for Advanced Study, Simla, 1995 Wittgenstein Lecturer, University of Bayreuth, July 1992 Gail Stine Memorial Lecture, Wayne State Detroit Spring 1991 R.B. MacCallum Memorial Lecture, Pembroke College Oxford, 1989. E.W. Hall Memorial lecture at the University of Iowa, 1989. Franklin J. Matchette Lecture at the City University of New York, 1988.

Books and Chapters

Plato’s Republic, New York: Grove Atlantic, 2006. : A Guide for the Perplexed. Penguin Books (UK) and OUP (New York) Spring 2005. Lust New York: , 2004 Being Good. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 172pp., 2001. (reprinted as A Very Short Introduction to , 2003) Think, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 312pp. 1999. Truth (edited with Keith Simmons), Oxford: Oxford University Press, vi + 406 pp. 1999. Ruling Passions. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1994. (trans. into Portuguese, Greek, Polish, Turkish, Serbian, Estonian, Rumanian, Mandarin etc.) Essays In Quasi-Realism, New York, Oxford University Press, 1993 Spreading the Word, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1984 Philosophical Logic, Open University Text, 1981 Meaning, Reference and Necessity, (ed.) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1975 Reason and Prediction, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1973

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I have not attempted to keep up with translations, although Oxford University Press informs me that my books have been translated into eighteen languages, including Japanese and Taiwanese. ’s Republic is currently being translated into thirteen languages.

Refereed papers/articles

‘Julius Caesar and George Berkeley Play Leapfrog’, in McDowell and his Critics, ed. C. & G. MacDonald, 2006. ‘Success Semantics’ in Hugh Mellor, ed. Ramsey’s Legacy, Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 2005. ‘Quasi-Realism No Fictionalism’, in Mark Kalderon, ed. Moral Fictionalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. ‘Must we Weep for Sentimentalism’ in J. Dreier, ed., Contemporary Ethics, Blackwell, 2005. ‘Is there a Crisis of Truth’ in the Humanities?’ British Academy address, Fall 2002. Summary and Replies, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 2002, ‘Realism: Deconstructing the Debate’ Ratio, xv, June 2002, 111–34 ‘Normativity a la Mode’ Journal of Ethics, 2001, 139 – 153. ‘Logical Humanism’ The New Republic, April 2000, 95—100. ‘Revaluations: Hume’ Times Literary Supplement, March 2000, pp.? ‘Professor Whatever’, New Republic, February 7th 2000. Pp. 34—40. ‘Am I Right?’ New York Times Book Review, Feb 21, 1999, p. 24. ‘Alchemies of the Mind’, Times Literary Supplement, October 1999, p. 3—4. ‘Is Objective Moral Justification Possible on a Quasi-realist Foundation?’ Inquiry, Vol 42, June 1999, 195—213. ‘Reply to Harman and Thomson’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 58, 1998, 212–6. ‘Relativization and Truth’, in The Philosophy of P. F. Strawson, Open Court, 1998, 151–167. ‘Wittgenstein, Wright, Rorty & Minimalism’ Mind 1998, 157–181. ‘Trust, Cooperation and Human Psychology’, in Trust and Governance, ed. Valerie Braithwaite and Margaret Levi, New York: The Russell Sage Foundation, 1998, 28–45. ‘Has Kant Refuted Parfit’ (invited contribution to the collection Reading Parfit, edited by Jonathan Dancy), 1997, pp. 180–202. ‘I Rather Think I am a Darwinian’ Philosophy, 71, 1996, pp. 605 - 616. ‘Dilemmas, Dithering, Plumping, and Grief’ in Moral Dilemmas and Moral Theory. ed. H. Mason, New York, Oxford University Press, 1996. ‘Securing the Nots: Moral for the Quasi-Realist’, in Moral Epistemology, New York, Oxford University Press, ed. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, 1996. ‘Practical Tortoise Raising’, Mind, civ, 1995 (this paper was selected as one of the top ten papers published in 1995 by The Annual) ‘Justification, Scepticism and Nihilism’, Utilitas, vii, 1995, pp. 237 - 246 ‘Les aspects du subjectivisme moral’ in the Dictionnaire de Philosophie Morale, ed. Monique Canto Sperber. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1995.

3 ‘The Flight to Realism’ in Virtues and Reasons: Philippa Foot and Moral Theory, edited Rosalind Husthouse, Gavin Lawrence, and Warren Quinn, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995 ‘Circles, Finks, Smells and Biconditionals’, Philosophical Perspectives, 7, 1993. ‘Losing Your Mind: Physics, Identity and Folk Burglar Prevention’ in The Future of Folk Psychology, ed. John Greenwood, Cambridge University Press, 1991. ‘Reply to Sturgeon’ Philosophical Studies 1990 ‘Just Causes’ Philosophical Studies 1990 ‘Hume and Thick Connexions’, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (special half- centenary volume) 1990. ‘Filling in Space’, Analysis (special half-centenary volume), April 1990. ‘Manifesting Realism’, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, xii, ed. French, Uehling & Wettstein, 1989. ‘Government and the Universities’, Times Literary Supplement, Dec. 1988. ‘Attitudes and Content’, Ethics, April 1988. ‘How to be an Ethical Anti-Realist’ in Midwest Studies, xii, 1988, ed. French, Uehling and Wettstein. ‘Morals and Modals’ in Fact, Science and Value, Essays in Honour of A.J. Ayer’s Language, Truth and Logic, edited by C. Wright and G. Macdonald, Blackwell, Oxford 1987. ‘How Can we Tell Whether a Commitment has a Truth Condition?’ in Meaning and Interpretation, ed. Charles Travis, Blackwell, Oxford, 1986 ‘What about Me?’, (invited reply to John Perry) Proceedings of the Supplementary Volume, 1986 ‘Finding Psychology’, Philosophical Quarterly, April 1986 (invited introduction to a special psychology issue) ‘Error and The Phenomenology of Value’ in Ethics and Objectivity, ed. T. Honderich, Routledge & Kegan Paul, Henley, 1985 ‘Supervenience Revisited’ in Exercises in Analysis ed. Ian Hacking, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1985 (anthologised in Moral Realism, ed. G. Sayre McCord, Cornell University Press, 1988) ‘The Individual Strikes Back’ Synthèse 1985 ‘, Truth and Reliability’, Henrietta Hertz Lecture of the British Academy, 1984 ‘Rule Following and Moral Realism’ in Wittgenstein, To Follow a Rule, ed. S. Holtzman & S. Leich, Routledge & Kegan Paul, Henley, 1981 ‘Opinions and Chances’ in Prospects for Pragmatism, ed. D.H. Mellor, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980 ‘Truth, Realism and the Regulation of Theory’ Midwest Studies in Philosophy, v, Minnesota University Press, Minneapolis 1980 ‘Thought and Things’ Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume, 1978 ‘Geach Again’ Analysis , 1977 (with Alan Code) ‘The Power of Russell’s Criticism of Frege’, Analysis , 1977 (joint paper with Alan Code of Berkeley) ‘The Identity of Propositions,’ in Meaning, Reference and Necessity, (ed.) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1975 ‘Moral Realism’ in and Moral Reasoning ed. J. Casey, Methuen, , 1973 ‘Searle on Descriptions’, Mind, 1973

4 ‘Goodman’s Paradox’ American Philosophical Quarterly Studies in , 1969

Book Reviews

Critical Notice of Frank Jackson, From to Ethics, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Vol 78, March 2000. Pp. 119—124 Critical Notice of ’s Wise Choices, Apt Feelings , for Ethics, Spring 1992. ‘Making Ends Meet’, Critical Notice of , Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, Philosophical Books, 1986

This list does not include most of my earlier Reviews and Critical Notices. I have reviewed for most British journals, The Philosophical Review, Synthèse, The London Review of Books and frequently for the Times Literary Supplement, including longer notices of Richard Rorty’s Prospects for Pragmatism, Stephen Stich’s From Folk Psychology to Cognitive Science, Crispin Wright’s Collected Papers, the work and influence of G.E. Moore, the collected papers of Paul Grice, and Metaphysics and Morals by Iris Murdoch. I reviewed Scanlon’s What we Owe to Each Other for the New York Times Book Review, and the second volume of Ray Monk’s biography of Russell, as well as Bernhard Henri Levy on Sartre for The Sunday Times. I have written review essays for the Financial Times, and have done numerous pieces for the New Republic, including articles on Umberto Eco, Martin Heidegger, Martha Nussbaum, A. J. Ayer Stephen Pinker, and Donald Davidson. These and some other reviews are visible at www.phil.cam.ac.uk/~swb24/.

Professional Service

In 1992–3 I chaired the University of North Carolina Committee on Cultural Diversity in the General Education Syllabus, whose report was accepted and implemented in 1993. In 1995 I chaired the Taskforce on Educational Support Services in the university, for the university’s reaccreditation exercise. I also served on the Dean’s Committee on Appointments to Endowed Professorships. From 1992–1995 I served on the American Philosophical Association Program Committee (Eastern Division). I serve on the board of Hume Studies and of Ethics. In 1999—2000 I served on the Distinguished Professorship selection committee for UNC. In 2000 I was appointed to the Fellowship Selection Committee of the Leverhulme Trustees. I sit on various committees in Cambridge, and I am currently Chair of the British Academy Grants Committee, responsible for distributing research money to humanities and arts research projects in the UK. I am a Vice-President of the British Humanists Association. and Action, Mexico 1981. Realism and Science, Halifax Nova Scotia, 1983. Invited lecturer to European University, Alpbach, summer 1983 University of Toronto series on Philosophy of Language (other speakers: Katz, Stalnaker, Kaplan), Fall 1984. The Future of , Munich, Spring

5 1986, Zadar, Yugoslavia, Fall 1986, Oberlin Colloquium, Spring 1989 , Analysis half- centenary conference, Cambridge University, Spring 1990, Conference on Value, Welfare and Morality, Bowling Green State University, Spring 1990, International Gifford Conference on the work of , St. Andrews, Scotland, Nov. 1991, American Philosophical Association, December 1991, Society for Hispanic-, Spring 1992, Beijing Conference for Philosophy of Science, June 1992, Aristotelian Society July 1991, Santa Clara Conference on Hume, Spring 1993. Hume Society (keynote address) Rome, 1994, Hutcheson Conference, Glasgow, 1994; Achilles and the Tortoise, Glasgow, 1995, Notre Dame Conference on the work of Bernard Williams, 1995, Hume and Contemporary Pragmatism, University of Sydney, Australia, Summer 1997, Jean Hampton Memorial Conference, University of Arizona, Fall 1997, Naturalism and Rationality Conference, University of Stirling, Spring 1998, Multiculturalism and Moral Philosophy, University of Oslo, September 1998. Royal Institute of Philosophy lecture, London, October 1998. ‘Naturalism and Normativity’ Edinburgh University, May 1999. ‘Some remarks on Minimalism and Truth’ St Andrews University, May 1999. ‘Why Bother to Think?’ Edinburgh International Festival Book Fair, August 1999. ‘Relativism revisited’ Royal Society for Philosophy (London) September 1999. ‘Emotion and Valuation’ Ohio State University, Columbus, October 22, 1999. ‘Virtue Epistemology’, Santa Barbara conference on epistemology, November 1999. ‘Intention and Tort’ University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia law and philosophy conference, November 1999. Institute of Arts and Sciences talk: ‘Why bother to Think?’ February 2000. ‘Elizabeth Anscombe on Desire’, University College, London February 2000. ‘Relativism revisited’ University of Nebraska, Lincoln, March 2000. ‘The Theory of Ruling Passions’ Arizona State, Tempe, April 2000. Campus Visiting Professor, Ohio State, Athens, May 10th - 13th, 2000, Philosophical Exchange Lecture, New York State University, Brockport, November 2000, Enlightenment and Aristotelian Virtues, Bonn, Spring 2002, Utility and Law Confernce, Lisbon, Spring 2003, Mind, Bucharest, 2005, Ethics Herakleion (Crete) 2006.

Recreations

Mountaineering (declining with age), sailing (sprightly), black-and-white photography (becoming overtaken by digital), reading (constant), conversation (improving).

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