Onora Sylvia O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve (born 23 August 1941) is a British philosopher and a

crossbench A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...

member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

Early life and education

Onora Sylvia O'Neill was born on 23 August 1941 in Aughafatten. The daughter of Sir Con O'Neill, she was educated partly in Germany and at

St Paul's Girls' School St Paul's Girls' School is an independent day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England. History St Paul's Girls' School was founded by the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1904, using part o ...

, London, before studying philosophy, psychology and physiology at Somerville College, Oxford. She went on to complete a doctorate 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 ...

, with

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 in ...

as supervisor.

Career

During the 1970s, she taught at

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

, the women's college in

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, New York City. In 1977, she returned to Britain and took up a post 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 ...

; she was Professor of Philosophy there when she became Principal of

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millice ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

in 1992. She is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

, a former President of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

(2005–2009) and chaired the Nuffield Foundation (1998–2010). From 2004 to 2006, she was President of the

British Philosophical Association The British Philosophical Association (BPA) is a British organisation set up in October 2002 to promote the study of philosophy. Early history During the early 1980s the merging of educational establishments and financial cut-backs meant that so ...

. In 2013, she held the Spinoza Chair of Philosophy at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

. Until October 2006, she was the Principal of

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

, and she was chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission until April 2016. O'Neill's work has earned her numerous honours and awards, including the million-dollar Berggruen Prize.

Philosophy

O'Neill has written widely on political philosophy and ethics, international justice, bioethics and the philosophy of

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...

. Across various works, O'Neill has defended and applied a constructivist interpretation of

Kantian ethics Kantian ethics refers to a deontological ethical theory developed by German philosopher Immanuel Kant that is based on the notion that: "It is impossible to think of anything at all in the world, or indeed even beyond it, that could be conside ...

heavily influenced by, and yet critical of, the work of

, emphasising the importance of trust, consent and respect for autonomy in a just society. She has written extensively about trust, noting "that people often choose to rely on the very people whom they claimed not to trust" and suggesting that we "need to free professionals and the public service to serve the public...to work towards more intelligent forms of accountability... ndto rethink a media culture in which spreading suspicion has become a routine activity".

Honours and distinctions

O'Neill has been President of the Aristotelian Society (1988 to 1989), a member of the Animal Procedures Committee (1990 to 1994), chair of

Nuffield Council on Bioethics The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is a UK-based independent charitable body, which examines and reports on bioethical issues raised by new advances in biological and medical research. Established in 1991, the Council is funded by the Nuffield Fo ...

(1996 to 1998), a member and then acting chair of the Human Genetics Advisory Commission (1996 to 1999) and a member of the select committee on BBC Charter Review. She is presently chair of the Nuffield Foundation (since 1997), a trustee of Sense About Science (since 2002), a trustee of the

Ditchley Foundation The Ditchley Foundation is a foundation that holds conferences, with a primary focus on British-American relations. It is based at Ditchley Park near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. It was established as a privately funded charity in 1958 by phil ...

, and a trustee of the Gates Cambridge Trust. She also served as President of the

between 2005 and 2009. She is on the Advisory Board of Incentives for Global Health, the NGO formed to develop the Health Impact Fund proposal. In 1999, she was created a life peer as Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve, of The Braid in the

County of Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, and in 2007 was elected an Honorary FRS. She is also a Foreign Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

(1993) and the Austrian Academy of Sciences (2002), a Foreign Member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

(2003), and Hon. Member Royal Irish Academy (2003), a Foreign Member of the Leopoldina (2004) and the Norwegian Academy of Sciences (2006) and a Fellow of the

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its mission is to adv ...

. She is an elected fellow of the

Hastings Center The Hastings Center is an independent, nonpartisan bioethics research institute and think tank based in Garrison, New York. It was instrumental in establishing the field of bioethics and is among the most prestigious bioethics and health policy i ...

, an independent bioethics research institution. In 2007, O'Neill became a Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. In 2004 she was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Letters) from the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

. She is a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the School of Advanced Study, University of London, an honour awarded in 2009. O'Neill also received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2007, and from Harvard in 2010. In October 2012, she was nominated as the next Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and confirmed as such in January 2013. O'Neill was appointed a

Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. Founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire, it is sometimes ...

(CH) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to philosophy and public policy. In 2014, O'Neill was elected to the German order

Pour le mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste Pour may refer to these people: * Kour Pour (born 1987), British artist of part-Iranian descent * Mehdi Niyayesh Pour (born 1992), Iranian footballer * Mojtaba Mobini Pour (born 1991), Iranian footballer * Pouya Jalili Pour (born 1976), Iranian si ...

. In September 2015, during the XII. quinquennial international Kant-conference in Vienna, she received the ''Kant-Preis'' of the ''Fritz Thyssen Stiftung'' for her scholarly work on the practical and political philosophy of Immanuel Kant. (se
12th International Kant Congress 2015 » Social Program
In February 2016, she was awarded the Knight Commander's Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

for her outstanding contribution to moral and ethical questions of trust, accountability in civic life, justice and virtue. Currently, she is the president of the

Society for Applied Philosophy The Society for Applied Philosophy is a philosophical organization founded in 1982 by Brenda Almond. The purpose of the organization is promoting study and research in philosophy in areas with real-world applications, and work that is intended to ...

, a society founded in 1982 with the aim of promoting philosophical study and research that has a direct bearing on areas of practical concern. In 2017, she was awarded the Norwegian Holberg Prize for outstanding contributions to research in the arts and humanities "for her influential role in ethical and political philosophy". The same year she was awarded the Berggruen Prize. O'Neill is an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College. In 2021, O'Neill received an honorary doctorate from the University of Antwerp.

Bibliography

Books

* * * * * * * * * (with Neil Manson) * * * *

Selected articles

* * * ::''See also'': *

References

External links

"On the Side of the Angels"
Video of Onora O'Neill debating Ken Livingstone and Peter Lilley at HowTheLightGetsIn Festival, 2 June 2013
What Should Press Regulation Regulate?
Podcast of Baroness O'Neill speaking at a conference by the Foundation for Law, Justice & Society, Oxford, 2012
Media Freedoms and Media Standards
Centre for Ethics & Law Annual Lecture,

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, 28 November 201
Pdf.Reith Lectures 2002 on ''A Question of Trust'' by O'Neill
House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 3 March 1999
List of O'Neill's published books and papers in academic journals
*
Amy Gutmann on Onora O'Neill

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

president and Berggruen Prize juror

Amy Gutmann Amy Gutmann (born November 19, 1949) is an American academic and diplomat who is the United States Ambassador to Germany. She was the eighth president of the University of Pennsylvania. In November 2016, the school announced that her contract ...

on Onora O'Neill *
IV—The Most Extensive Liberty
' Onora O'Neill, ''

Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society The Aristotelian Society for the Systematic Study of Philosophy, more generally known as the Aristotelian Society, is a philosophical society in London. History Aristotelian Society was founded at a meeting on 19 April 1880, at 17 Bloomsbury Squa ...

'', Volume 80, Issue 1, 1 June 1980, Pages 45–60, https://doi.org/10.1093/aristotelian/80.1.45 pen Access {{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, Onora 1941 births Living people 20th-century British philosophers 21st-century British philosophers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Fellows of Newnham College, Cambridge Harvard University alumni British women philosophers Crossbench life peers People educated at St Paul's Girls' School Principals of Newnham College, Cambridge People from County Antrim Hastings Center Fellows Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Presidents of the British Academy Political philosophers Bioethicists Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Presidents of the Aristotelian Society Fellows of the British Academy Members of the American Philosophical Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society Female Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Royal Irish Academy Holberg Prize laureates