Kate Soper (born 1943) 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 ...

. She is currently Visiting Professor at the University of Brighton."Prof Kate Soper"

Background

Soper was educated at 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 ...

(BA) and worked as a translator and journalist. Her PhD was from Sussex University titled ''Marxism and the Theory of Needs''. She taught at Sussex University, before moving in 1987 to the

University of North London The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the No ...

(which became part of

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public university, public research university in London, England. The University of North London and London Guildhall University merged in 2002 to create the university. The Un ...

in 2002). She taught a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in European Studies and Literature and Modernity. She retired c.2009, becoming Emeritus Professor.

Contributions

Soper is the author of and contributor to over a dozen books on

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and

Continental Philosophy Continental philosophy is a group of philosophies prominent in 20th-century continental Europe that derive from a broadly Kantianism, Kantian tradition.Continental philosophers usually identify such conditions with the transcendental subject or ...

, addressing the works of

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

and

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

, among others. Her other contributions have been to consumption theory and environmental philosophy. She is a critic of post-structuralist feminism. She has also translated several texts into English, including includes Chiodi's ''Sartre And Marxism'', Sebastiano Timpanaro's ''The Freudian Slip'',

Bobbio Bobbio (Emilian language#Dialects, Bobbiese: ; ; ) is a small town and ''comune'' in the province of Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is located in the Trebbia River valley southwest of the town Piacenza. There is also an abbey and a ...

's '' Liberalism and Democracy'' (with Martin Ryle), and (with Martin Ryle) Ginzburg's ''Wooden Eyes''. She has been involved in several

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

and peace movements in both the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the rest of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and her writing addresses radical

ecological Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

issues. Her contributions have appeared in the journals ''

Radical Philosophy ''Radical Philosophy'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal of critical theory and philosophy. It was established in 1972 with the purpose of providing a forum for the theoretical work which was emerging in the wake of the radical movemen ...

'', ''

New Left Review The ''New Left Review'' is a British bimonthly journal, established in 1960, which analyses international politics, the global economy, social theory, and cultural topics from a leftist perspective. History Background As part of the emergin ...

'' and '' Capitalism, Nature, Socialism''. In 1998, Soper interviewed

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

. Her study of the role that new thinking about pleasure and the "good life" can play in promoting sustainable consumption (''Alternative hedonism and the theory and politics of consumption'') was funded in the ESRC/AHRC "Cultures of Consumption" Programme in the mid-2000s. Her other work includes radio and television appearances (''Dinner with Portillo'', Channel Five, December 2005: Radio 3, '' Nightwaves'', April 2004), and a number of exhibitions.

Selected works

* Soper K. 2020. ''Post-Growth Living: For an Alternative Hedonism.'' Verso. *Soper K., L. Thomas and M. Ryle (eds.). 2009. ''The Politics and Pleasures of Consuming Differently''. Palgrave. * Soper K. and F Trentmann (eds.). 2008. ''Citizenship and Consumption''. Palgrave. * Soper K., and M. Ryle. 2001. ''To Relish the Sublime: Culture and Self-realisation in Postmodern Times''. Verso. * Soper K. 1995. ''What Is Nature?: Culture, Politics and the Non-Human.'' Blackwell. * Soper K. 1990. ''Troubled Pleasures: Writings on Politics, Gender and Hedonism''. Verso. * Soper K. 1986. ''Humanism and Anti-Humanism'' (Problems of Modern European Thought). Hutchinson. * Soper K. 1981. ''On Human Needs''. Harvester.

References

External links

A list of contributions to ''Radical Philosophy''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soper, Kate 1943 births Living people 20th-century British philosophers 21st-century British philosophers Academics of London Metropolitan University Alumni of the University of Sussex Alumni of the University of York British feminists British women philosophers Continental philosophers Feminist studies scholars Postmodern feminists Scholars of feminist philosophy