Howard Robinson (born 2 October 1945) is a British

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, specialising in various areas of

philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of the mind and its relation to the Body (biology), body and the Reality, external world. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a ...

and

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

, best known for his work in the

philosophy of perception The philosophy of perception is concerned with the nature of Perception, perceptual experience and the status of sense data, perceptual data, in particular how they relate to beliefs about, or knowledge of, the world.cf. http://plato.stanford.ed ...

. His contributions to philosophy include a defense of sense-datum theories of perception and a variety of arguments against physicalism about the mind. He published an alternative version of the popular

Knowledge Argument The knowledge argument (also known as Mary's Room, Mary the Colour Scientist, or Mary the super-scientist) is a philosophical thought experiment proposed by Frank Jackson in his article "Epiphenomenal Qualia" (1982), and extended in "What Mary Di ...

in his book ''Matter and Sense'' independently and in the same year as Frank Jackson, but Robinson's thought experiment involves sounds rather than colors. He is Professor of Philosophy at

Central European University Central European University (CEU; , ) is a private research university in Vienna. The university offers graduate and undergraduate programs in the social sciences and humanities, which are accredited in Austria and the United States. The univ ...

and recurring visiting professor at

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

Education and qualifications

Robinson received his early education at the

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) is a highly Selective school, selective Private_schools_in_the_United_Kingdom, private day school for boys aged 7-18 in Manchester, England, which was founded in 1515 by Hugh Oldham (then Bishop of Exeter). ...

(1957–1964), going up to the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, 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 List of oldest un ...

to read P.P.E. at Corpus Christi College (where he earned an

Exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

), graduating in 1967. He read for a research M.Phil. at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

(1968–1968), and continued postgraduate research at Corpus Christi College (1968–1970). In 2000, he was awarded a Ph.D. by the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

for his published work (a "Staff Doctorate").

Positions held

After four years at

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is Colleges of the University of Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title for ...

as full-time stipendiary lecturer in philosophy (1970–1974), he took up a lectureship at the University of Liverpool. He stayed at Liverpool for twenty-six years, becoming first Senior Lecturer then reader, apart from a period as Soros Professor of Philosophy at

Eötvös Loránd University Eötvös Loránd University (, ELTE, also known as ''University of Budapest'') is a Hungarian public research university based in Budapest. Founded in 1635, ELTE is one of the largest and most prestigious public higher education institutions in ...

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

(1994–1996). In 2000, he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the

in Hungary. In autumn 2012, he was Professor of Philosophy a
Rutgers University, New Brunswick
He is currently Professor of Philosophy at

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and

and recurring visiting professor at

. He teaches graduate seminars on

and

at both institutions. Since 1996, he has been a member of the East European committee of the European Society for Analytic Philosophy (ESAP), since 1999 a member of the Steering Committee of ESAP, and since 2002 a member of the Senate of the Central European University.

Philosophy of mind

Robinson advocated philosophical

dualism Dualism most commonly refers to: * Mind–body dualism, a philosophical view which holds that mental phenomena are, at least in certain respects, not physical phenomena, or that the mind and the body are distinct and separable from one another * P ...

in his book ''From the Knowledge Argument to Mental Substance: Resurrecting the Mind'', published in 2016. He is the editor of ''Contemporary Dualism: A Defense''. In 2022, he defended a type of

idealism Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysics, metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, Spirit (vital essence), spirit, or ...

in his book ''Perception and Idealism''.

Bibliography

Books

*1982: ''Matter and Sense: a Critique of Contemporary Materialism'', Cambridge Studies in Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) *1994: ''Perception'' (London: Routledge) aperback 2001*2016: ''From the Knowledge Argument to Mental Substance: Resurrecting the Mind'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) *2022: ''Perception and Idealism'', (Oxford: Oxford University Press) ;Edited collections *1985: ''Essays on Berkeley: a Tercentennial Celebration'', co-edited with John Foster (Oxford: Clarendon Press) aperback 1988*1991: ''The Pursuit of Mind'', co-edited with Raymond Tallis (Manchester: Carcanet Press) *1991: ''Aristotle and the Later Tradition'' (Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Supp. Vol. 2), co-edited with Henry Blumenthal (Oxford: Clarendon Press) *1993: ''Objections to Physicalism'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press) aperback 1996*1996: Berkeley's ''Principles and Three Dialogues'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press)

Articles

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Howard 1945 births Academics of the University of Liverpool Academic staff of Central European University Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Nottingham British philosophers of mind Dualists 20th-century English philosophers 21st-century English philosophers Fellows of Oriel College, Oxford Idealists Living people New Blackfriars people People educated at Manchester Grammar School