John Nicholas Gray (born 17 April 1948) is an English political philosopher and author with interests in

analytic philosophy Analytic philosophy is a branch and tradition of philosophy using analysis, popular in the Western world and particularly the Anglosphere, which began around the turn of the 20th century in the contemporary era in the United Kingdom, United ...

, the history of ideas, and philosophical pessimism. He retired in 2008 as School Professor of European Thought at the

London School of Economics and Political Science The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

. Gray contributes regularly to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' and the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members o ...

'', where he is the lead book reviewer. He is an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. Gray has written several influential books, including '' False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism'' (1998), which argues that free market globalization is an unstable

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

project currently in the process of disintegration; '' Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals'' (2002), which attacks philosophical

humanism Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

, a worldview which Gray sees as originating in religions; and '' Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia'' (2007), a critique of

utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island socie ...

thinking in the modern world. Gray sees volition, and hence

morality Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of cond ...

, as an illusion, and portrays humanity as a ravenous species engaged in wiping out other forms of life. Gray has written that "humans ... cannot destroy the Earth, but they can easily wreck the environment that sustains them."

Academic career

Gray was born into a working-class family, with a docker-turned-carpenter father, in

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the ...

, County Durham. He attended South Shields Grammar-Technical School for Boys from 1959 until 1967, then studied at Exeter College, Oxford, reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE), completing his B.A., M.Phil. and D.Phil. He formerly held posts as lecturer in political theory at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Es ...

, fellow and tutor in politics at

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship S ...

, and lecturer and then professor of politics at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

. He has served as a visiting professor at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

(1985–86) and Stranahan Fellow at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center,

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a Public university, public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research ...

(1990–1994), and has also held visiting professorships at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pu ...

's Murphy Institute (1991) and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

(1994). He was Professor of European Thought at the

until his retirement from academic life in early 2008.

Political and philosophical thought

Among philosophers, he is known for a thoroughgoing rejection of Rawlsianism and for exploration of the uneasy relationship between

value pluralism In ethics, value pluralism (also known as ethical pluralism or moral pluralism) is the idea that there are several values which may be equally correct and fundamental, and yet in conflict with each other. In addition, value-pluralism postulates t ...

and liberalism in the work of Isaiah Berlin. Gray's political thought is noted for its mobility across the political spectrum over the years. As a student, Gray was on the left and continued to vote Labour into the mid-1970s. By 1976 he had shifted towards a right-liberal New Right position, on the basis that the world was changing irrevocably through technological inventions, realigned financial markets and new economic power blocs and that the left failed to comprehend the magnitude and nature of this change. In the 1990s Gray became an advocate for environmentalism and New Labour. Gray considers the conventional (left-wing/right-wing) political spectrum of conservatism and

social democracy Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to prom ...

as no longer viable. On

liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for ...

, Gray identified the common strands in liberal thought as being ''individualist'', ''egalitarian'', '' meliorist'', and ''universalist''. The individualist element avers the ethical primacy of the human being against the pressures of social collectivism, the egalitarian element assigns the same moral worth and status to all individuals, the meliorist element asserts that successive generations can improve their sociopolitical arrangements, and the universalist element affirms the moral unity of the human species and marginalises local cultural differences.Gray, John. ''Liberalism''. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995. , p. xii. More recently, he has criticised

neoliberalism Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent ...

, the global

free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any o ...

and some of the central currents in Western thinking, such as

, while moving towards aspects of green thought, drawing on the Gaia theory of James Lovelock. It is perhaps for this critique of humanism that Gray is best known.''Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals'' Central to the doctrine of humanism, in Gray's view, is the inherently

belief in meliorism; that is, that humans are not limited by their biological natures and that advances in ethics and politics are cumulative and that they can alter or improve the

human condition The human condition is all of the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered and analyzed f ...

, in the same way that advances in science and technology have altered or improved living standards. Gray contends, in opposition to this view, that history is not progressive, but cyclical.

Human nature Human nature is a concept that denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or ...

, he argues, is an inherent obstacle to cumulative ethical or political progress. Seeming improvements, if there are any, can very easily be reversed: one example he has cited has been the use of

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...

by the United States against terrorist suspects. "What's interesting", Gray said in an interview in 032c magazine, "is that torture not only came back, but was embraced by liberals, and defended by liberals. Now there are a lot of people, both liberal and conservative, who say, 'Well, it's a very complicated issue.' But it wasn't complicated until recently. They didn't say that five or ten years ago." Furthermore, he argues that this belief in progress, commonly imagined to be secular and liberal, is in fact derived from an erroneous Christian notion of humans as morally autonomous beings categorically different from other animals. This belief, and the corresponding idea that history makes sense, or is progressing towards something, is in Gray's view merely a Christian prejudice. In '' Straw Dogs'' he argues that the idea that humans are self-determining agents does not pass the acid test of experience. Those

Darwinist Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations ...

thinkers who believe humans can take charge of their own destiny to prevent environmental degradation are, in this view, not naturalists, but apostles of humanism. He identifies the

as the point at which the Christian doctrine of salvation was taken over by secular idealism and became a political religion with universal emancipation as its aim. Communism, fascism and "global democratic capitalism" are characterised by Gray as Enlightenment "projects" which have led to needless suffering, in Gray's view, as a result of their ideological allegiance to this religion.

Agonistic liberalism

The term

agonistic An agonist is a chemical that activates a receptor to produce a biological response. Receptors are cellular proteins whose activation causes the cell to modify what it is currently doing. In contrast, an antagonist blocks the action of the agoni ...

liberalism appears in Gray's 1995 book ''Isaiah Berlin''. Gray uses this phrase to describe what he believes is Berlin's theory of politics, namely his support for both value pluralism and liberalism. More generally, agonistic liberalism could be used to describe any kind of liberalism that claims its own value commitments do not form a complete vision of politics and society, and that one instead needs to look for what Berlin calls an "uneasy equilibrium" between competing values. In Gray's view, many contemporary liberal theorists would fall into this category, for instance

John Rawls John Bordley Rawls (; February 21, 1921 – November 24, 2002) was an American moral, legal and political philosopher in the liberal tradition. Rawls received both the Schock Prize for Logic and Philosophy and the National Humanities Medal ...

and Karl Popper. Agonistic liberalism is an alternative to Berlin's theory of value pluralism and liberalism. While Berlin claimed equal validity for conflicting liberal views, agonistic liberalism holds that over time solutions may be found that determine which values are correct. Agonistic liberalism is the theory that conflict rather than discussion is the basis of social change.

Reception

Acclaim

Gray's work has been praised by, amongst others, the novelists

J. G. Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass me ...

, Will Self and John Banville, the theologian Don Cupitt, the journalist Bryan Appleyard, the political scientist David Runciman, investor and philanthropist

George Soros George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated m ...

, the environmental scientist James Lovelock and the author Nassim Nicholas Taleb.False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism

Friedrich Hayek Friedrich August von Hayek ( , ; 8 May 189923 March 1992), often referred to by his initials F. A. Hayek, was an Austrian–British economist, legal theorist and philosopher who is best known for his defense of classical liberalism. Hayek ...

described Gray's 1984 book ''Hayek on Liberty'' as "The first survey of my work which not only fully understands but is able to carry on my ideas beyond the point at which I left off." Gray has discussed James Lovelock's new ideas on evolution's next step: a species beyond humanity that will be better able to co-exist with other species on this planet in the distant future. His 1998 book '' False Dawn'' was praised by George Soros as "a powerful analysis of the deepening instability of global capitalism" which "should be read by all who are concerned about the future of the global economy". John Banville praised '' Black Mass'', saying that "Gray's assault on Enlightenment ideas of progress is timelier than ever". His 2002 book ''Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals'' has received particular praise. J. G. Ballard wrote that the book "challenges most of our assumptions about what it means to be human, and convincingly shows that most of them are delusions" and described it "a powerful and brilliant book", "an essential guide to the new millennium" and "the most exhilarating book I have read since

Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An at ...

's '' The Selfish Gene''." Will Self called the book "a contemporary work of philosophy devoid of jargon, wholly accessible, and profoundly relevant to the rapidly evolving world we live in" and wrote "I read it once, I read it twice and took notes. I arranged to meet its author so I could publicise the book – I thought it that good." In 2002 ''Straw Dogs'' was named a book of the year by J. G. Ballard in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

''; by George Walden in '' The Sunday Telegraph''; by Will Self, Joan Bakewell,

Jason Cowley Jason Cowley is the name of: * Jason Cowley (footballer) *Jason Cowley (journalist) Jason Cowley (born 19 June 1965) is an English journalist, magazine editor and writer. After working at the ''New Statesman'', he became the editor of ''Granta' ...

and

David Marquand David Ian Marquand (born 20 September 1934) is a British academic and former Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP). Background and political career Marquand was born in Cardiff; his father was Hilary Marquand, also an academic and former ...

in the ''

''; by Andrew Marr in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper Sunday editions, published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group, Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. ...

''; by Jim Crace in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

''; by Hugh Lawson Tancred in ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

''; by Richard Holloway in the ''

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

''; and by Sue Cook in '' The Sunday Express''. Nassim Nicholas Taleb has written that John Gray is the modern thinker for whom he has the most respect, calling him "prophetic".

Criticism

Gray's '' Straw Dogs'' has been criticised by

Terry Eagleton Terence Francis Eagleton (born 22 February 1943) is an English literary theorist, critic, and public intellectual. He is currently Distinguished Professor of English Literature at Lancaster University. Eagleton has published over forty book ...

, who has written: "mixing

nihilism Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by I ...

and

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...

ism in equal measure, Gray scoffs at the notion of

progress Progress is the movement towards a refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. In the context of progressivism, it refers to the proposition that advancements in technology, science, and social organization have resulted, and by extension w ...

for 150 pages before conceding that there is something to be said for anaesthetics. The enemy in his sights is not so much a straw dog as a

straw man A straw man (sometimes written as strawman) is a form of argument and an informal fallacy of having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the real subject of the argument was not addressed or refuted, but instead replaced with a false ...

: the kind of starry-eyed rationalist who passed away with John Stuart Mill, but who he has to pretend still rules the world". The academic and author Danny Postel of the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

also took issue with ''Straw Dogs''. Postel stated that Gray's claim that environmental destruction was the result of humanity's flawed nature would be "welcome news to the captains of industry and the architects of the global economy; the ecological devastation they leave in their wake, according to Gray, has nothing to do with their exploits." Postel also claimed that too much of ''Straw Dogs'' rested on "blanket assertion", and criticised Gray's use of the term "plague of people" as an outdated " neo-Malthusian persiflage about overpopulation". Postel strongly condemned Gray for outlining "complete political passivity. There is no point whatsoever in our attempting to make the world a less cruel or more livable place." In his 2004 book, ''How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World'', the British journalist, writer and broadcaster,

Francis Wheen Francis James Baird Wheen (born 22 January 1957) is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster. Early life and education Wheen was born into an army familyNicholas Wro"A life in writing" ''The Guardian'', 29 August 2009 and educated at two ind ...

, wrote:

"Conservatives, Marxists, post-modernists and pre-modernists have queued up to take a kick at the bruised ideas of the eighteenth century. The most vicious of these boot-boys is John Gray, professor of European thought at the London School of Economics, who has published dozens of increasingly apocalyptic books and articles on the need to end the Enlightenment project forthwith. Whereas MacIntyre seeks sanctuary in twelfth-century monasteries, for Gray our only hope of salvation is to embrace Eastern mysticism ... Taoism seems to be his favoured creed but it is hard to interpret Gray's prescriptions with any certainty, partly because of his scattergun style but mostly because he changes his mind so often. A line on the dust-jacket of ''Enlightenment's Wake'' (1995), which says that the book 'stakes out the elements of John Gray's new position' could just as well be appended to everything he writes."

BBC Radio

John Gray has made several broadcasts for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

's programme ''A Point of View''. In August and September 2011, he made six broadcasts: * ''Greece and the Meaning of Folly'': Taking the myth of the Trojan Horse as his starting point, he explores what he sees as the modern-day folly unfolding in Europe. * ''Kim Philby'': Why Kim Philby and so many others failed to predict the future. * ''The Revolution of Capitalism'': Why an increasing number of people believe that

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

was right. * ''Cats, Birds and Humans'': Why the human animal needs contact with something other than itself. * ''Believing in Belief'': Argues that the scientific and rationalist attack on religion is misguided. * ''Churchill, Chance and the Black Dog'': The chance encounters that made Winston Churchill Britain's wartime Prime Minister. He presented a second sequence from November 2014, sharing his ''Point of View'' on: * ''Capitalism and the Myth of Social Evolution'' * ''Soylent and the Charm of the Fast Lane'' * ''Dostoevsky and Dangerous Ideas'' * ''Thinking the Unthinkable'' Other programmes include: * "The Dangers of a Higher Education" (23 February 2018) * "Teffi: Silver Shoes and the Dream of Revolution" (2 March 2018) * "Brexit and Illiberal Europe" (July 2018)

Honours

Asteroid 91199 Johngray, discovered by astronomer Eric Walter Elst at ESO's La Silla Observatory in 1998, was named in his honor. The official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

on 18 June 2008 (). Gray is a member of World Minds.

Bibliography

;1980s * * ''Conceptions of Liberty in Political Philosophy'' (ed. with

Zbigniew Pelczynski Zbigniew () is a Polish masculine given name, originally Zbygniew . This West Slavic name is derived from the Polish elements ''Zby-'' (from ''zbyć, zbyć się, or pozbyć się'', meaning "to dispel", "to get rid of") and ''gniew'', meaning "ange ...

) (1984) * ''Hayek on Liberty'' (1984) * ''Liberalism'' (1986). . * ''Liberalisms: Essays in Political Philosophy'' (1989). . ;1990s * ''J.S. Mill, "On Liberty": In Focus'' (ed. with G.W. Smith) (1991). . * ''Beyond the New Right: Markets, Government and the Common Environment'' (1993). . * ''Postliberalism: Studies in Political Thought'' (1993). . * ''Enlightenment's Wake: Politics and Culture at the Close of the Modern Age'' (1995). . * ''Isaiah Berlin: An Interpretation of His Thought'' ( Fontana Modern Masters, 1995). * ''Liberalism'' (2nd ed.) (1995). . * ''After Social Democracy: Politics, Capitalism and the Common Life'' (1996) * ''Mill on Liberty: A Defence'' (2nd ed.) (1996) * ''Endgames: Questions in Late Modern Political Thought'' (1997). . * ''Hayek on Liberty'' (3rd ed.) (1998) * '' False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism'' (1998, revised edition 2009). . * ''Voltaire'' (1998). . ;2000s * ''Two Faces of Liberalism'' (2000). . * ''Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals'' (2002). . * ''Al Qaeda and What it Means to be Modern'' (2003). . * ''Heresies: Against Progress and Other Illusions'' (2004). . * '' Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia'' (2007). . * ''Gray's Anatomy: Selected Writings'' (2009). ;2010s * ''The Immortalization Commission: Science and the Strange Quest to Cheat Death'' (2011). * ''The Silence of Animals: On Progress and Other Modern Myths'' (2013). * ''The Soul of the Marionette: A Short Inquiry into Human Freedom'' (2015). * ''Seven Types of Atheism'' (2018). ;2020s * ''Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life'' (2020). *

Film appearances

* ''

Marx Reloaded ''Marx Reloaded'' is a 2011 German documentary film written and directed by the British writer and theorist Jason Barker. Featuring interviews with several well-known philosophers, the film aims to examine the relevance of Karl Marx's ideas in rela ...

'',

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, pl ...

, April 2011.

References

External links

Interviews

* Two-part interview conducted by Henk de Berg (2019). *
part I: Atheism
*
part II: Political populism

''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

'' 10 June 2013
John Gray radio interview on the 'Philosopher's Zone'
28 June 2008

(

American Political Science Association The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, ...

)
Audio: John N. Gray in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion programme
''The Forum''