Myles Fredric Burnyeat (; 1 January 1939 – 20 September 2019) was an English scholar of

ancient philosophy This page lists some links to ancient philosophy, namely philosophical thought extending as far as early post-classical history (). Overview Genuine philosophical thought, depending upon original individual insights, arose in many cultures ro ...

Early life and education

Myles Burnyeat was born on 1 January 1939 to Peter James Anthony Burnyeat and Cynthia Cherry Warburg. He received his secondary school education at

Bryanston School Bryanston School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) located next to the village of Bryanston, and near the ...

. He completed his

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

(1957–1959) in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, during which time he qualified as a Russian interpreter. The training for this he completed at the Joint Services School for Linguists at

Crail Crail (; ) is a former royal burgh, parish and Community council#Scotland, community council area (Royal Burgh of Crail and District) in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. The locality has an estimated population of 1,630 (2018). Etymology The ...

. From 1959 to 1963, Burnyeat undertook undergraduate studies in Classics and Philosophy at

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

, where he earned a

double first The British undergraduate degree classification system is a Grading in education, grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and Master's degree#Integrated Masters Degree, integrated master's degrees in the United Kingd ...

. Subsequently, between 1963 and 1964, he was a graduate student at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. There he was a student under the supervision of

Bernard Williams Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams (21 September 1929 – 10 June 2003) was an English Ethics, moral philosopher. His publications include ''Problems of the Self'' (1973), ''Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy'' (1985), ''Shame and Necessit ...

Career

He became an assistant lecturer in philosophy at University College London in 1964, and a lecturer in 1965. In 1978, he was appointed a lecturer in classics at the University of Cambridge, and became a fellow of the new Robinson College, Cambridge, where he remained until 1996. In 1984, he was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in t ...

British Academy Fellowship entry
and appointed as the fifth Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at Cambridge, a position he held until 1996. Burnyeat served as president of the Mind Association in 1987. In 1988 he became a member of the ''Institut International de Philosophie.'' In 1992 he was elected as an Honorary Foreign Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) 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, and other ...

. In 2000 he delivered the British Academy's Master-Mind Lecture. From 1996 until 2006 he was Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy at

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

. From 2006 he was an

Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

Fellow at All Souls. From 2006, he would also hold the titles of Emeritus Professor of Ancient Philosophy and of Honorary Fellow at Robinson College. He was president of the Aristotelian Society from 2005 to 2006. In 2007, he was made CBE for his services to scholarship. That same year saw the publication of a ''

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'' in his honour: ''Maieusis: Essays in Ancient Philosophy in Honour of Myles Burnyeat''. The same included contributions from, amongst others, Mary Margaret McCabe and David N. Sedley. In 2012 Burnyeat was awarded an

Honorary Degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

by the University of St. Andrews. His first marriage, from 1971 to 1982, was to lecturer in education and Jungian psychoanalyst Jane Elizabeth Buckley, with whom he had a son and daughter. From 1982 until 2000 he was married to the classicist and poet Ruth Padel, with whom he had a daughter Gwen in 1985. Both marriages ended in divorce. From the winter of 2002 until her death in the spring of 2003 he was married to the scholar of ancient philosophy Heda Segvic, whose essays he prepared for posthumous publication. His partner in later life was the musicologist Margaret Bent. Myles Burnyeat died on 20 September 2019 at the age of 80. Concluding her 2012 laureation address, Professor Sarah Broadie noted of Burnyeat that:

''"Above all, he is a
paradigm In science and philosophy, a paradigm ( ) is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitute legitimate contributions to a field. The word ''paradigm'' is Ancient ...
to philosophers and
classicist Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
s for combining formidable learning with first hand engagement in philosophy’s own concerns: principally its concerns with
ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...
and
epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...
. His writings on the ancients take issue with such moderns as Russell, Moore,
Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...
, Descartes, Berkeley, and for that matter
Ronald Dworkin Ronald Myles Dworkin (; December 11, 1931 – February 14, 2013) was an American legal philosopher, jurist, and scholar of United States constitutional law. At the time of his death, he was Frank Henry Sommer Professor of Law and Philosophy at ...
. The aim – in which he has set and achieved the highest standards – isn’t simply to compare different specimens of the genus ‘philosopher’, but to open us up to the transformative toing and froing of philosophy as an on-going enterprise."''

Publications

Monographs (co-)authored

*'' Notes on Book Zeta of Aristotle's Metaphysics'' being the record by Myles Burnyeat and others of a seminar held in London, 1975–1979, Oxford: Sub-faculty of Philosophy, 1979, *''Notes on Books Eta and Theta of Aristotle's Metaphysics'', being the record by Myles Burnyeat and others of a seminar held in London, 1979–1982, Oxford: Sub-faculty of Philosophy, 1984, *'' The Theaetetus of Plato'' Hackett 1990, *''A Map of Metaphysics Zeta,'' Mathesis Publications, 2001, *''Aristotle's Divine Intellect'', Marquette University Press 2008, *''The Pseudo-Platonic Seventh Letter (Uehiro Series in Practical Ethics)'', (co-author with Michael Frede) Oxford University Press 2015,

Essay collections

*''Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy'', Vol. 1, Cambridge University Press 2012, *''Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy'', Vol. 2, Cambridge University Press 2012,
''Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy'': Vol. 3
Cambridge University Press 2022
''Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy'': Vol. 4
Cambridge University Press 2022

Works (co-)edited

*'' Philosophy As It Is'' (with Ted Honderich) 1979, *'' Doubt and Dogmatism: Studies in Hellenistic Epistemology'' (with Malcolm Schofield; Jonathan Barnes), 1980 *''Science and Speculation: Studies in Hellenistic Theory and Practice'' (with J. Barnes; J. Brunschwig; M. Schofield) Cambridge University Press 1982, *''The Sceptical Tradition'' (ed.) University of California Press 1983, *''The Original Sceptics: A Controversy'' (with Michael Frede) 1997, Burnyeat also being the author of 2 of this works' 5 chapters: 2. "Can the Sceptic Live His Scepticism?" and 4. "The Sceptic in His Place and Time" Contents
each of which had been previously published [in, respectively
''Doubt and Dogmatism: Studies in Hellenistic Epistemology'' (1980)
an
''Philosophy in History: Essays in the Historiography of Philosophy'' (1984)
and can also be found i
''Explorations in Ancient and Modern Philosophy (''v. 1)
(2012) *Bernard Williams'', The Sense of the Past. Essays in the History of Philosophy,'' (ed. with introduction) Princeton University Press 2007, * Heda Segvic, ''From Protagoras to Aristotle: Essays in Ancient Moral Philosophy'' (ed.), Princeton University Press 2008,

Select articles/chapters

* iarchive:essaysonphilosop0000unse e8d1/page/53/mode/1up">"Socratic Midwifery, Platonic Inspiration," (1977) reprinted in ''Essays on the Philosophy of Socrates'' (1992)
"Conflicting Appearances"
1979 ''Dawes Hicks Lecture on Philosophy'' for the British Academy.
"The Inaugural Address: Wittgenstein and Augustine De Magistro"
'' Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volumes,'' Vol. 61 (1987)
"The Impiety of Socrates"
''

Ancient Philosophy This page lists some links to ancient philosophy, namely philosophical thought extending as far as early post-classical history (). Overview Genuine philosophical thought, depending upon original individual insights, arose in many cultures ro ...

'' 17 (1):1-12 (1997) *
Culture and Society in Plato’s Republic"
1997 Tanner Lecture
"Plato on why mathematics is good for the soul"
Lecture for the 1998 ''Dawes Hicks Symposia on Philosophy'' for the British Academy
"Plato"
2000 ''Master-Mind Lecture'' for the British Academy
"DE ANIMA II 5"
''

Phronesis In ancient Greek philosophy, () refers to the type of wisdom or intelligence concerned with practical action. It implies good judgment and excellence of character and habits. In Aristotelian ethics, the concept is distinguished from other words ...

,'' Vol. 47, No. 1 (2002) * "Platonism in the Bible: Numenius of Apamea on ''Exodus'' and Eternity" In: Salles, Ricardo (ed.) ''Metaphysics, Soul, and Ethics in Ancient Thought: Themes from the work of Richard Sorabji'' (2005)
"Kinesis vs. Energeia: A much-read passage in (but not of) Aristotle's Metaphysics"
', Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy'' 34 (2008) * "‘All the World’s a Stage-Painting’: Scenery, Optics, and Greek Epistemology" In: ''Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy'' 52 (2017)

References

External links

Myles Burnyeat on Plato

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

interview by

Bryan Magee Bryan Edgar Magee (; 12 April 1930 – 26 July 2019) was a British philosopher, broadcaster, politician and author, best known for bringing philosophy to a popular audience. Early life Born of working-class parents in Hoxton, London, in 1930, ...

for '' The Great Philosophers'' (1987)
Myles Burnyeat on Aristotle on Happiness
podcast interview for '' Philosophy Bites'' (2007)
Myles Burnyeat lectures
for UCTV (2012) *
Modes of philosophizing: A round table debate"
with Jonathan Barnes, Raymond Geuss and Barry Stroud for '' Cogito'' (2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Burnyeat, Myles 1939 births 2019 deaths Academics of University College London Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Alumni of University College London Analytic philosophers Aristotelian philosophers British scholars of ancient Greek philosophy Aristotle scholars Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English classical scholars 20th-century English philosophers 21st-century English philosophers Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Fellows of Robinson College, Cambridge Fellows of the British Academy Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of classics People educated at Bryanston School British philosophers of education Philosophers of history Presidents of the Aristotelian Society Laurence Professors of Ancient Philosophy