John Montfort Dunn, FBA (born 9 September 1940) is

emeritus Professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of Political Theory at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

, and Visiting Professor in the Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities at

Chiba University is a national university in the city of Chiba, Japan. It offers Doctoral degrees in education as part of a coalition with Tokyo Gakugei University, Saitama University, and Yokohama National University. The university was formed in 1949 from e ...

, Japan.

Biography

The son of Colonel Henry George Montfort Dunn and Catherine Mary ( née Kinloch), Dunn was educated at Winchester and Millfield. He read history at

, and was briefly (1965–1966) a fellow of

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

. He was also

Harkness Fellow The Harkness Fellowship (previously known as the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship) is a program run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. This fellowship was established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several coun ...

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 ...

, and since 1966 of King's College, Cambridge. A lecturer in political science at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

1972–77, Dunn became reader in politics 1977–87, and has been professor of political theory since 1987. Dunn has been married four times: to Susan Deborah Fyvel (1965; marriage dissolved 1971); to

Judy Pace Judy Lenteen Pace (born June 15, 1942) is an American actress known for her roles in films and television shows, particularly blaxploitation films. Pace portrayed Vickie Fletcher on the TV series '' Peyton Place'' (1968–1969) and Pat Walters on ...

(1973; marriage dissolved 1987); to

Ruth Scurr Ruth Scurr, Lady Stothard FRSL is a British writer, historian and literary critic. She is a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. She was educated at St Bernard's Convent, Slough; Oxford University, Cambridge University and the Eco ...

(1997; marriage dissolved 2013); and to Anastasia Piliavsky (2014—).

Achievements

Dunn's work focuses on applying a historical perspective to modern political theory. His early reputation was based upon the careful reconstruction of the political thought of John Locke: this benefited from

Peter Laslett Thomas Peter Ruffell Laslett (18 December 1915 – 8 November 2001) was an English historian. Biography Laslett was the son of a Baptist minister and was born in Bedford on 18 December 1915. Although he spent much of his childhood in Oxford, ...

's critical edition of Locke's ''

Two Treatises of Government ''Two Treatises of Government'' (or ''Two Treatises of Government: In the Former, The False Principles, and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, and His Followers, Are Detected and Overthrown. The Latter Is an Essay Concerning The True Original, ...

''. Together with his contemporary, the historian Quentin Skinner, and their mentor/colleague J. G. A. Pocock, he offered methodological prescriptions in the late 1960s which aimed at correcting the historical insensitivity of political science by reconstructing what past political thinkers intended to do in writing. Much of his subsequent work – reflective essays, edited collections, and several books – has tackled substantive issues in political theory, although his historical sense continues to inform a certain skepticism about the degree to which politics is ultimately amenable to reason. He is the author of '' The Cunning of Unreason'' (2001), a work that discusses how the limits of human knowledge and rationality prevent democratic

republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology centered on citizenship in a state organized as a republic. Historically, it emphasises the idea of self-rule and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or oligarchy to popular sovereignty. It ...

from achieving all that it promises. His reflections upon the vicissitudes of democracy as a political ideal have continued with ''Setting the People Free: the Story of Democracy'' (2005).

Works

* ''The Political Thought of John Locke'' (1969) * ''Modern Revolutions'' (1972) * ''Dependence and Opportunity'' (with A F Robertson, 1973) * ''West African States: Failure and Promise'' (ed, 1978) * ''Western Political Theory in the Face of the Future'' (1979) * ''Political Obligation in its Historical Context'' (1980) * ''The Politics of Socialism'' (1984) * ''Rethinking Modern Political Theory'' (1985) * ''Interpreting Political Responsibility'' (1990) * ''The Economic Limits to Modern Politics'' (ed, 1990) * ''Democracy: the unfinished journey 508 BC – 1993 AD'' (ed, 1992) * ''Contemporary Crisis of the Nation State?'' (ed, 1995) * ''The History of Political Theory and Other Essays'' (1996) * ''Great Political Thinkers'' (ed. with Ian Harris, 1997) * ''The Cunning of Unreason'' (2000) *''Pensare la politica'' (2002) * ''Locke: A Very Short Introduction'' (2003) * ''Setting the People Free: The Story of Democracy'' (2005). * ''Breaking Democracy's Spell'' (July 2014)

References

External links

Faculty page – Prof. John Dunn
Retrieved 26.02.2016
Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 5 March 2008 (video)
* by RT's Laura Emmet
"Democracy: Clarifying the muddle – A conversation with John Dunn"
''Ideas Roadshow'', 2013
John Dunn on "Why we need a global history of political thought", Freiburg 2013Brief biographical sketch of John Dunn, commentary on his style
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, John 1940 births British historians Harkness Fellows Harvard Fellows Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Living people People educated at Millfield British political philosophers Place of birth missing (living people) Historians of political thought British expatriates in Japan Fellows of the British Academy