Richard Sorabji

Last updated

Sir Richard Rustom Kharsedji Sorabji, CBE , FBA (born 8 November 1934) is a British historian of ancient Western philosophy, and Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at King's College London. He is the nephew of Cornelia Sorabji. [1] [2]

Contents

Life

Richard Sorabji was born in Oxford on 8 November, the son of Richard 'Dick' Kaikushru Sorabji (1872–1950) and Mary Katherine (née Monkhouse). [3] [4] [5] He was educated at the Dragon School and Charterhouse. After two years National Service, he attended Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1955 to 1959 on the Boulter and Radcliffe Scholarship. He took second-class degrees (see Oxford University Calendar, 1958 p. 312 and 1960, p. 323) in 'Greek and Latin Literature' in 1957 and in 'Literae Humaniores' in 1959. Sorabji subsequently spent some time teaching at his old prep school before completing a B.Phil. at Oxford under Gwil Owen and John Ackrill.

Sorabji's first academic post was at Cornell University in 1962, where he became associate professor in 1968, while working also as an editor of the Philosophical Review. In 1970, he returned to England and joined the faculty of King's College London, where he was appointed Professor of Ancient Philosophy in 1981. His main interest has been Aristotle [6] on whom he published his first books - Aristotle on Memory in 1972 (an annotated translation with introductory essays) and (as co-editor) four volumes of Articles on Aristotle from 1975 to 1979. He went on to write three books on the ancient philosophy of physics: Necessity, Cause and Blame (1980), Time, Creation, and the Continuum (1983), and Matter, Space, and Motion (1988).

Sorabji was President of the Aristotelian Society from 1985 to 1986 and founded the international Ancient Commentators on Aristotle project in 1987. The aim of this project has been to publish the first translations into English of mostly Greek philosophical texts from the period 200–600 A.D, mainly commentaries on Aristotelian works. 100 volumes have been published up the end of 2012, many of them translating the commentaries on Aristotle into English for the first time. Sorabji has himself contributed introductions to some of the volumes, as well as a general introduction to the commentators reprinted in many of the volumes. He lists the translations on his official website.

Sorabji has written essays and a book on M. K. Gandhi. He compares Gandhi to Stoic philosophy so that both Gandhian philosophy of life and Stoicism are illuminated. [7]

Sorabji became a fellow of the British Academy in 1989. He founded the King's College Centre for Philosophical Studies between 1989 and 1991, with the aim of promoting philosophy to the wider public. He was Director of the Institute of Classical Studies from 1991 to 1996 and British Academy Research Professor at Oxford from 1996 to 1999. He gave Gifford Lectures in 1996 and 1997, which were later published in 2000 as Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation. He was made a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999. Sorabji retired from King's College in 2000 and subsequently held teaching positions as Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College, London from 2000 to 2003, adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin from 2000, distinguished visiting scholar at New York University from 2000 to 2003, and visiting professor at City University of New York from 2004. In 2008, he became Cyprus Global Distinguished Professor at New York University. Sorabji is an Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, a Fellow of King's College and a Research Fellow of the Institute of Classical Studies. [8]

Sorabji was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1999 for his services to ancient philosophy, and knighted in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to philosophical scholarship. [9]

Publications

Plus 73 articles and two poems.

Related Research Articles

Simplicius of Cilicia was a disciple of Ammonius Hermiae and Damascius, and was one of the last of the Neoplatonists. He was among the pagan philosophers persecuted by Justinian in the early 6th century, and was forced for a time to seek refuge in the Persian court, before being allowed back into the empire. He wrote extensively on the works of Aristotle. Although his writings are all commentaries on Aristotle and other authors, rather than original compositions, his intelligent and prodigious learning makes him the last great philosopher of pagan antiquity. His works have preserved much information about earlier philosophers which would have otherwise been lost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aristotelianism</span> Philosophical tradition inspired by the work of Aristotle

Aristotelianism is a philosophical tradition inspired by the work of Aristotle, usually characterized by deductive logic and an analytic inductive method in the study of natural philosophy and metaphysics. It covers the treatment of the social sciences under a system of natural law. It answers why-questions by a scheme of four causes, including purpose or teleology, and emphasizes virtue ethics. Aristotle and his school wrote tractates on physics, biology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theatre, music, rhetoric, psychology, linguistics, economics, politics, and government. Any school of thought that takes one of Aristotle's distinctive positions as its starting point can be considered "Aristotelian" in the widest sense. This means that different Aristotelian theories may not have much in common as far as their actual content is concerned besides their shared reference to Aristotle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alasdair MacIntyre</span> Scottish philosopher (born 1929)

Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre is a Scottish-American philosopher who has contributed to moral and political philosophy as well as history of philosophy and theology. MacIntyre's After Virtue (1981) is one of the most important works of Anglophone moral and political philosophy in the 20th century. He is senior research fellow at the Centre for Contemporary Aristotelian Studies in Ethics and Politics (CASEP) at London Metropolitan University, emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, and permanent senior distinguished research fellow at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture. During his lengthy academic career, he also taught at Brandeis University, Duke University, Vanderbilt University, and Boston University.

Gisela Striker is a German classical scholar. She is Professor Emerita of Philosophy and Classics at Harvard University and a specialist in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingram Bywater</span> English classical scholar (1840–1914)

Ingram Bywater, FBA was an English classical scholar.

David Wiggins is an English moral philosopher, metaphysician, and philosophical logician working especially on identity and issues in meta-ethics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angie Hobbs</span> British philosopher and academic (born 1961)

Angela Hunter "Angie" Hobbs is a British philosopher and academic, who specialises in Ancient Greek philosophy and ethics. She is Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield.

Julia Elizabeth Annas is a British philosopher who has taught in the United States for the last quarter-century. She is Regents Professor of Philosophy Emerita at the University of Arizona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myles Burnyeat</span> British scholar of ancient philosophy (1939–2019)

Myles Fredric Burnyeat was an English scholar of ancient philosophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. O. Urmson</span> British philosopher (1915–2012)

James Opie Urmson was a philosopher and classicist who spent most of his professional career at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was a prolific author and expert on a number of topics including British analytic/linguistic philosophy, George Berkeley, ethics, and Greek philosophy.

David Neil Sedley FBA is a British philosopher and historian of philosophy. He was the seventh Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at Cambridge University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stoicism</span> Virtue-focused philosophical system

Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The Stoics believed that the practice of virtue is enough to achieve eudaimonia: a well-lived life. The Stoics identified the path to achieving it with a life spent practicing the four virtues in everyday life—wisdom, courage, temperance or moderation, and justice—as well as living in accordance with nature. It was founded in the ancient Agora of Athens by Zeno of Citium around 300 BCE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commentaries on Aristotle</span> Literature produced to explain and clarify the works of Aristotle

Commentaries on Aristotle refers to the great mass of literature produced, especially in the ancient and medieval world, to explain and clarify the works of Aristotle. The pupils of Aristotle were the first to comment on his writings, a tradition which was continued by the Peripatetic school throughout the Hellenistic period and the Roman era. The Neoplatonists of the Late Roman Empire wrote many commentaries on Aristotle, attempting to incorporate him into their philosophy. Although Ancient Greek commentaries are considered the most useful, commentaries continued to be written by the Christian scholars of the Byzantine Empire and by the many Islamic philosophers and Western scholastics who had inherited his texts.

Michael of Ephesus or Michael Ephesius wrote important commentaries on Aristotle, including the first full commentary on the Sophistical Refutations, which established the regular study of that text.

Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca [edita consilio et auctoritate academiae litterarum Regiae Borussicae] (CAG) is the standard collection of extant ancient Greek commentaries on Aristotle. The 23 volumes in the series were released between the years 1882 and 1909 by the publisher Reimer. Many of these commentaries have since been translated into English by the Ancient commentators project.

The Ancient Commentators on Aristotle project based at King's College London and under the direction of Richard Sorabji has undertaken to translate into English the ancient commentaries on Aristotle. The project began in 1987 and in 2012 published its 100th volume. A further 30 or so volumes are planned. The project is now co-edited by Michael Griffin (UBC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susanne Bobzien</span> German-born British philosopher (born 1960)

Susanne Bobzien is a German-born philosopher whose research interests focus on philosophy of logic and language, determinism and freedom, and ancient philosophy. She currently is senior research fellow at All Souls College, Oxford and professor of philosophy at the University of Oxford.

Mary Margaret Anne McCabe, known as M. M. McCabe, is emerita professor of ancient philosophy at King's College London. She has written books on Plato and other ancient philosophers, including the pre-Socratics, Socrates and Aristotle.

Sarah Jean Broadie was a British philosopher, a Professor of Moral Philosophy and Wardlaw Professor at the University of St Andrews. Broadie specialised in ancient philosophy, with a particular emphasis on Aristotle and Plato. Her work engages with metaphysics and both ancient and contemporary ethics. She achieved numerous honours throughout her career as an academic philosopher. Broadie studied Greats at Somerville College, Oxford, graduating in 1960. Previously she worked at the University of Edinburgh, University of Texas at Austin, Yale, Rutgers, and Princeton.

Ursula Charlotte Macgillivray Coope FBA is a British classical scholar, who is an expert in the study of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle's physics, metaphysics, and ethics, as well as on Neoplatonism. She is Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Oxford.

References

  1. ↑ "UK honours Cornelia Sorabji - Hindustan Times". Archived from the original on 28 May 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  2. ↑ Sorabji, Richard (2005). "Intellectual Autobiography" (Preprint). Published version in: Salles, Ricardo (ed.). Metaphysics, Soul, and Ethics in Ancient Thought:Themes from the Work of Richard Sorabji . Clarendon Press. pp. 1–36. ISBN   978-0-19-155561-9.
  3. ↑ Sorabji, Richard (15 June 2010). "Family Tree". Opening Doors: The Untold Story of Cornelia Sorabji, Reformer, Lawyer and Champion of Women's Rights in India. Penguin Books India. pp. xxi. ISBN   978-1-84885-375-1.
  4. ↑ "Sorabji, Sir Richard (Rustom Kharsedji), (born 8 Nov. 1934), Professor of Ancient Philosophy, King's College London, 1981–2000, now Emeritus; Supernumerary Fellow, Wolfson College, Oxford, 1996–2002, now Hon. Fellow". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U35651 . Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  5. ↑ Dybikowski, J. (2006), "Sorabji, Richard Ruston Kharsedji", in Grayling, A.C.; Goulder, Naomi; Pyle, Andrew (eds.), The Continuum Encyclopedia of British Philosophy, Continuum, doi:10.1093/acref/9780199754694.001.0001, ISBN   978-0-19-975469-4 , retrieved 21 September 2024 [previously printed in the Dictionary of Twentieth-Century British Philosophers (2005), vol. 2, 980–983.]
  6. ↑ BBC Radio 4 Greatest Philosopher Aristotle
  7. ↑ "Gandhi was a subtle, surprising philosopher in the Stoic style – Richard Sorabji | Aeon Essays".
  8. ↑ Ahn, Shin. "Richard Sorabji". Gifford Lectures . Archived from the original on 23 July 2014.
  9. ↑ "No. 60895". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 2014. p. b2.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.