Jonathan Wolff (born 25 June 1959) is a British philosopher and academic. He was Professor of Philosophy and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at

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

in 2012–16.

Life and career

Wolff was born on 25 June 1959 to Herbert Wolff and Doris Wolff (née Polakoff). He earned his

MPhil The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

from UCL under the direction of G.A. Cohen in 1985. Apart from one year as a Harkness Fellow at Harvard University, he has taught at UCL ever since. As of 1 September 2016, he holds the Blavatnik Chair in Public Policy in the Blavatnik School of Government at

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 the ...

. He was formerly the secretary of the British Philosophical Association and has been Editor and then honorary secretary of the Aristotelian Society, which publishes ''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society''. Recently, Wolff's work has specialised in disadvantage and equality and

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...

decision making. As a scholar on the topic of

Marxism Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialec ...

, Wolff published "Marx and Exploitation", an article about Marxist thinking, in ''The Journal of Ethics''. He also co-edited (with Michael Rosen) ''Political Thought'' (), an introductionary reader on political philosophy. He has also published a critique of

Robert Nozick Robert Nozick (; November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002) was an American philosopher. He held the Joseph Pellegrino University Professorship at Harvard University,

's '' Anarchy, State, and Utopia'' called ''Robert Nozick: Property, Justice and the Minimal State'', a short book on

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 ...

, ''Why Read Marx Today?'', and ''An Introduction to Political Philosophy''. He currently writes a monthly column for ''

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 ...

'' and occasionally blogs at Brian Leiter's " Leiter Reports" blog. Jonathan Wolff presented a four-part series about the UK's National Health Service for the BBC's Radio 3 programme 'The Essay' during the week of 27 July 2009. The series, entitled "Doctoring Philosophy", marked the 60th anniversary of the NHS and commenced by studying the philosophical background which led to the foundation of the service and the changing definitions of sickness and health. It went on to explore entitlement, issues of equality of service, and issues of priorities in a world of universal access. He was a member of the

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 F ...

from 2008 to 2014 and served on two of the council's working parties; on ''the ethics of animal research'', and ''the ethics of personalised healthcare''Nuffield Council on Bioethics official website-personalised healthcare
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Bibliography

;Books * * * * * * * ;Journal articles * ::''See also'':

References

External links

Wolff's website at UCL

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolff, Jonathan 1959 births Living people Academics of University College London English political philosophers Marxist theorists Alumni of University College London 20th-century British philosophers 21st-century British philosophers British ethicists English male non-fiction writers Harkness Fellows