Robert Maximilian de Gaynesford (born 2 January 1968) is an English

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 ...

. He is a professor of philosophy at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

Education and career

De Gaynesford was educated at

Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding and day school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition. It opened in 1803 as a boys' school. It is near the villa ...

and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

(1986–1989; First in Modern History), after which he spent several years studying theology before studying philosophy in 1993. Shortly before receiving his doctorate, he was elected fellow and tutor in philosophy at

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Flemin ...

(1997). He was subsequently Humboldt Research Fellow at the

Freie Universität Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

(2003) and a tenured professor at

The College of William and Mary ''The'' is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the ...

in Virginia (2002–2006) before becoming professor of philosophy (2008) and head of department (2016) at the

. He is the author of four books: ''The Rift in the Lute: Attuning Poetry and Philosophy'' (Oxford, 2017), ''I: The Meaning of the First Person Term'' (Oxford, 2006), ''Hilary Putnam'' (Routledge, 2006; the book's goal was "to make Putnam’s contributions to modern philosophy accessible to those without expertise in such matters"), and ''John McDowell'' (Polity, 2004). In 2011, he edited a collection of articles on the Philosophy of Action, ''Agents And Their Actions'' (Blackwell), including recent work by

John McDowell John Henry McDowell (born 7 March 1942) is a South African philosopher, formerly a fellow of University College, Oxford, and now university professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Although he has written on metaphysics, epistemology, anci ...

and

Joseph Raz Joseph Raz (; ; born Joseph Zaltsman; 21 March 19392 May 2022) was an Israeli legal, moral and political philosopher. He was an advocate of legal positivism and is known for his conception of perfectionist liberalism. Raz spent most of his ca ...

. He spoke at the Harvard Conference in celebration of

Hilary Putnam Hilary Whitehall Putnam (; July 31, 1926 – March 13, 2016) was an American philosopher, mathematician, computer scientist, and figure in analytic philosophy in the second half of the 20th century. He contributed to the studies of philosophy of ...

in 2011. He gives papers on attuning poetry and philosophy for general audiences; in 2015, he gave a public talk at the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...

in Oxford on 'Why Philosophy and Poetry Matter.' In 2017, he took part in a short filmed conversation about Philosophy and Film with

Lenny Abrahamson Leonard Ian Abrahamson (born 30 November 1966) is an Irish film and television director. He is best known for directing independent films ''Adam & Paul'' (2004), ''Garage (film), Garage'' (2007), ''What Richard Did'' (2012), ''Frank (film), Fra ...

and Francine Stock. Their subsequent extended public discussion was recorded as a podcast. He is also interested in

moral psychology Moral psychology is the study of human thought and behavior in ethical contexts. Historically, the term "moral psychology" was used relatively narrowly to refer to the study of moral development. This field of study is interdisciplinary between th ...

and the interface with the philosophy of law, where he unearths a particular type of defence that he calls 'justifexcuses.'

Selected bibliography

Books

*''The Rift in the Lute: Attuning Poetry and Philosophy'' *''I: The Meaning of the First Person Term'' *''Hilary Putnam'' *''John McDowell''

Chapters in books

*''The Sonnets and Attunement'' in ''The Routledge Companion to Shakespeare and Philosophy'' (Routledge, 2018) eds Craig Bourne and Emily Caddick Bourne. *''Attuning philosophy and literary criticism: a response to In the Heart of the Country'' in ''Beyond the Ancient Quarrel: Literature, Philosophy, and J.M. Coetzee'' (Oxford, 2017) eds P. Hayes and J. Wilm. *''Uptake In Action'' in ''Interpreting J.L. Austin: Critical Essays'' (Cambridge, 2017) ed. Savas Tsohatzidis.

References

External links

Academia

OCLC

''British Journal of Aesthetics'' review of ''The Rift In The Lute: Attuning Poetry and Philosophy'' (by Richard Eldridge; Volume 59, Issue 2, April 2019, Pages 236–239)

Commentary on recent books including ''The Rift In The Lute: Attuning Poetry and Philosophy'' (by Lowell Gallagher; "Recent Studies in the English Renaissance" SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900, vol. 58 no. 1, 2018, pp. 219-277)

* ttp://www.rdg.ac.uk/AcaDepts/ld/Philos/mdg/I_chapter1.pdf ''I: The Meaning of the First Person Term'' Chapter 1
''The Seriousness of Poetry''

''Illocutionary Acts, Subordination and Silencing''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaynesford, Robert Maximilian De Living people English philosophers of language British philosophers of mind Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford People educated at Ampleforth College 1968 births Academics of the University of Reading Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford