Ray Monk (born 15 February 1957) is a British biographer who is renowned for his biographies of

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is con ...

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

, and

J. Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist. A professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is oft ...

. He is emeritus professor of philosophy at the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

, where he taught in various capacities from 1992 to 2018.

Biography

Monk graduated with an MA in philosophy from

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

in 1979. Later he obtained an

MLitt The Master of Letters degree (MLitt or LittM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. Ireland Trinity College Dublin and Maynooth University offer MLitt degrees. Trinity has offered them the longest, owing largely to its tradition as Ireland ...

from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. He won the 1990

John Llewellyn Rhys Prize The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama) by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom ...

and the 1991

Duff Cooper Prize The Duff Cooper Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of history, biography, political science or occasionally poetry, published in English or French. The prize was established in honour of Duff Cooper, a British diplomat, Ca ...

for his acclaimed biography of

, ''Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius''. His two-volume biography of

appeared in 1996 and 2001. His biography of

was published in 2012. Since 2012 he has occasionally written for the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, 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 Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...

'', contributing articles on philosophers and on

veganism Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet (nutrition), diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is kn ...

. In 2015 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Works

* ''Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius''. London: Vintage, 1991. *''Bertrand Russell: The Spirit of Solitude 1872–1921''. London: Vintage, 1996. *''Russell''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997. *'' Bertrand Russell: The Ghost of Madness 1921–1970''. London: Vintage, 2001. *''How to Read Wittgenstein''. London: Granta, 2005. *'' Inside the Centre: The Life of J. Robert Oppenheimer''. London: Jonathan Cape, 2012; ''Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center''. New York: Doubleday, 2013. *"Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Sketch of His Life" (chapter in ''A Companion to Wittgenstein'', edited by

Hans-Johann Glock Hans-Johann Glock (born 12 February 1960, Freudenstadt) is a German philosopher and professor of philosophy at the University of Zurich. Biography Glock studied philosophy, German studies, and mathematics at University of Tübingen, University ...

and John Hyman. Wiley-Blackwell, 2017)

References

External links

Home page

''Philosophy Bites'' podcast interview with Ray Monk on Philosophy and Biography

WGBY audio recording of lecture "Philosophy Circa 1905"
* Leading, contemporary biographers

Hermione Lee Dame Hermione Lee, (born 29 February 1948) is a British biographer, literary critic and academic. She is a former President of Wolfson College, Oxford, and a former Goldsmiths' Professor of English Literature in the University of Oxford and Pr ...

& Ray Monk and director

Stephen Frears Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is an English director and producer of film and television often depicting real life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply drawn characters. He's received numerous accola ...

debate whethe
all biographies are fiction
* 1957 births Living people Academics of the University of Southampton British biographers British philosophers British veganism activists English biographers Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature John Llewellyn Rhys Prize winners {{UK-philosopher-stub