Tom Sorell
Thomas Edward Sorell | |
---|---|
Born | Mexico, D.F. | October 24, 1951
Nationality | Canadian |
Academic work | |
Era | Contemporary philosophy |
Discipline | Western philosophy |
Sub-discipline | Analytic philosophy |
Main interests | Moral black holes in emergency; Sober Hobbesianism; Innocent Cartesianism; Anomalies for Ethical Theories |
Tom Sorell (born 24 October 1951) is a Canadian philosopher based in the UK. His interests range from the theory of knowledge and the philosophy of science to early modern philosophy, ethics (including applied ethics) and political philosophy. He is noted for his writings on
Early life and education
Sorell was born in Mexico City in 1951 to European migrants. The family moved to Vancouver, Canada in 1956 and to Montreal in 1961. He attended the High School of Montreal, entered McGill University in 1968, and graduated in 1972, when he won the Prince of Wales Gold Medal in philosophy. In 1973, he started the BPhil in Philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford. He was taught by John McDowell, Gareth Evans, John Mackie, and Simon Blackburn. Supervised by B.F. McGuinness, he wrote a thesis on the deep continuity between Wittgenstein's Tractatus and his very late work, On Certainty. After taking the BPhil, Sorell wrote a thesis under the supervision of David Pears expounding and defending a version of the causal theory of knowledge. He was awarded the Oxford DPhil in 1978.[1]
Teaching career
Sorell held temporary lectureships at
Work
Sorell has published extensively in early modern philosophy, especially on Hobbes His work in applied ethics is regularly pursued with practitioners: police, members of the intelligence services, technology developers, business people, medics, and policy makers.
Major publications
- with Dempsey, J and Cowton, C. eds. Business Ethics After the Financial Crisis (Routledge, 2019)
- with K. Kadjimatheou, J. Guelke eds. Security Ethics (Routledge, 2016)
- with L Cabera, eds. Microfinance, Rights and Global Justice (Cambridge University Press, 2015)
- Emergencies and Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2013)
- with Jill Kraye and John Rogers, eds. Scientia in Early Modern Philosophy (Springer, 2009).
- with Jill Kraye and John Rogers, eds. Insiders and Outsiders in Early Modern Philosophy (Routledge, 2009).
- Descartes Reinvented (Cambridge University Press, 2005).
- with John Rogers, eds. Analytic Philosophy and History of Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2005).
- with L. Foisneau and J-C Merle, eds. Leviathan Between the Wars: Hobbes’s Impact on Early Twentieth Century Political Philosophy (Peter Lang, 2005).
- with L. Foisneau, eds. Leviathan After 350 Years (Oxford University Press, 2004).
- With John Rogers, eds. Hobbes and History (Routledge, 2000).
- ed. Descartes. Dartmouth Readings in the History of Philosophy (Ashgate, 1999).
- Moral Theory and Anomaly. Aristotelian Society Monograph Series (Blackwell, 1999).
- ed. Health Care, Ethics, and Insurance (Routledge, 1998).
- with R. Ariew, J. Cottingham, eds. and trans. Descartes: Background Source Materials (Cambridge University Press, 1998).
- ed. The Cambridge Companion to Hobbes, 3rd edn (Cambridge University Press, 1996).
- ed. The Rise of Modern Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 1993).
- Descartes (Oxford University Press, 1987) [repr. in the Oxford Past Masters and Very Short Introductions series, and widely translated].
References
- ^ a b c Richard Marshall, 'Innocent Descartes and Sober Hobbes' (interview with Tom Sorell), 3:16: Richard Marshall's Philosophy Interviews after 3:AM ([August 2019]).
- ^ 'Professor Tom Sorell'.
- ^ E.g. Hobbes (Routledge, 1986).
- ^ E.g. Descartes (Oxford University Press, 1987); ‘Bodies and the Subjects of Metaphysics and Ethics in Descartes’, Revistia di Storia della Filosofia 3 (2000) pp. 369-379; and ‘Descartes, the Divine Will and the Ideal of Psychological Stability’, History of Philosophy Quarterly 17 (2000) pp. 361-379.
- ^ Tom Sorell and John Rogers, ed. Analytic Philosophy and History of Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2005).
- ^ The Rise of Modern Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 1993).
- ^ Tom Sorell, John Rogers and Jill Kraye, Insiders and Outsiders in Early Modern Philosophy (Routledge, 2009).
- ^ (Routledge, 1991).
- ^ Moral Theory and Anomaly (Blackwell, 1999).
- ^ Moral Theory and Capital Punishment (Backwell, 1988).
- ^ Tom Sorell and Heather Draper, 'Robot carers, ethics, and older people', Ethics and Information Technology (2014).
- ^ Tom Sorell et al. 'Responsible AI – Key Themes, Concerns & Recommendations for European Research and Innovation -- Summary of Consultation with Multidisciplinary Experts' (2018).
- ^ 'Preventive Policing, Surveillance and European Counter-Terrorism', Criminal Justice Ethics 30 (2011), pp. 1-22.
- ^ Contribution on surveillance to the Philosophy Bites podcast.
- ^ 'Organized Crime and Peventive Justice', Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (2018).
- ^ 'Morality and Emergency', Proceedings of Aristotelian Society 103 (2002), pp. 21-37.
- ^ Tom Sorell et al., Will the NHS continue to function in an influenza pandemic? A survey of healthcare workers in the West Midlands, UK BMC Public Health (2009), 9:142.
- ^ Tom Sorell and James Dempsey, eds. Midwest Studies in Philosophy (2018).
- ^ E.g. 'Online Grooming and Preventive Justice’, Criminal Law and Philosophy (2016) and ‘Scambaiting on the Spectrum of Digilantism’, Criminal Justice Ethics (2019).