Renford Bambrough

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John Renford Bambrough , nickname Renford (born April 29, 1926 in Silksworth , County Durham , † January 17, 1999 in Cambridge ) was a British philosopher and historian of philosophy .

Life

Bambrough came from a coal mining region. His father was an electrician at Silksworth Colliery when the general strike began on May 3, 1926 . He had a twin brother, Richard, who had congenital learning difficulties. Both his origins and his responsibility for his brother shaped him for his life. His philosophical interest was shown early on in his participation in a discussion group of students in Sunderland , including his future wife Moira Mahoney, and in discussions with miners during his national labor service in 1944 as Bevin Boy in the Wearmouth Colliery.

After studying at St John's College , Cambridge , Bambrough was a fellow of this college (1950-1999), its Dean (1964-1979) and President (1979-1983) and at the same time University Lecturer in Classics (1957-1966) and University Lecturer in Morals Sciences (1966-1991). From 1973 to 1994 he was also editor of the philosophical journal Philosophy .

Bambrough suffered from a degenerative neurological disease called Lewy body dementia in the latter part of his life .

He was married to Moira Mahoney since 1952 and had a son and three daughters with her.

Research priorities

Bambrough first dealt with Plato and Aristotle and Karl Popper's attack on Plato's social theory. In Cambridge, George Edward Moore , Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Wisdom exerted a particularly strong influence on him. His preoccupation with Wittgenstein led to the powerful and controversial essay Universals and Family Resemblance (1961). Bambrough also worked on moral philosophy , the meaning and logic of religious beliefs, and the nature of philosophy and philosophical problems.

Fonts (selection)

Monographs and editorships

  • New essays on Plato and Aristotle . Edited by Renford Bambrough. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1965.
  • Plato, Popper and politics. Some contributions to a modern controversy . Heffer, Cambridge; Barnes & Noble, New York 1967.
  • Reason, truth and God . Methuen, London 1969, reprinted 1979.
  • Wisdom. Twelve essays. Edited by Renford Bambrough. Blackwell, Oxford 1974. - (Festschrift for John Wisdom). - Review by Godfrey Vesey, in: Mind New Series, Vol. 85, No. 337 (Jan. 1976), pp. 124-126, online .
  • Moral skepticism and moral knowledge . Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, NJ 1979. - Review by Douglas J. Den Uyl, in: Reason Papers No. 7 (Spring 1981) 109-114, online (PDF; 298 kB).

Text editions

  • The philosophy of Aristotle. A new selection. With an introduction and commentary by Renford Bambrough. New translations by AE Wardman and JL Creed. New American Library, New York 1963.
  • Plato, The Republic . Translated by AD Lindsay. Introduction and notes by Renford Bambrough. Dent, London 1976.

items

  • Universals and Family Resemblances , in: Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series, Vol. 61, 1960-1961, pp. 207-222, online .

literature