Brief Encounters: Notes from a Philosopher's Diary

by Anthony Kenny

Overview

Cardinals, directors, dissidents, dons, judges, novelists, philosophers, prime ministers, scientists, world statesmen. . . Throughout his long and distinguished career, Sir Anthony Kenny has encountered some of the most notable and influential leaders of the post-war world. In these brilliantly vivid vignettes Kenny offers telling and often unexpected insights into the achievements, flaws and foibles of sixty public figures - past and present - each of whom has contributed in decisive ways to our political, spiritual and cultural heritage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780281079209
Publisher:	SPCK (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge)
Publication date:	10/17/2019
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.08(w) x 7.80(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sir Anthony Kenny FBA was born in Liverpool in 1931, and was educated at Upholland College and the Pontifical Gregorian Universityin Rome. From 1963 to 1989 he was at Balliol College, Oxford, first as Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy, and then as Master. He later became Warden of Rhodes House, President of the British Academy and of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, and Chair of the Board of the British Library. In 2006 Kenny was awarded the American Catholic Philosophical Association's Aquinas Medal for his significant contributions to philosophy.

Table of Contents

1. Three Priests: Alexander Jones, Jack Kennedy, Herbert McCabe

2. Three Cardinals: W.T, Heard, J.C. Heenan, C. Murphy O'Connor

3. Three Anglicans: Austin Farrer, Henry Chadwick, Richard Harries

4. Three Oxford Dons: Christoppher Cox, Russell Meiggs, Richard Cobb

5. Three Heads of House: Christopher Hill, Isaiah Berlin, Daphne Park

6. Three Benefactors: Bill Coolidge, Irwin Miller, David Astor

7. Three Businessmen: Robert Maxwell, Warwick Fairfax, John Templeton

8. Three Oxford Philosophers: Gilbert Ryle, R.M. Hare, Philippa Foot

9. Three Wittgensteinians: Elizabeth Anscombe, Peter Geach, G.H. von Wright

10. Three Overseas Philosophers: W.V.Quine, Ernst Tugendhat, Jacques Derrida

11. Three Prime Ministers: Harold Macmillan, Ted Heath, Margaret Thatcher

12. Three British Statesmen: Denis Healey, Roy Jenkins, Chris Patten

13. Three Privy Councillors: Peter Brooke, Boris Johnson, Yvette Cooper

14. Three Heads of State: King Olav V, Francesco Cossiga, Bill Clinton

15. Three Judges: Jim Kilbrandon, Tom Bingham, Laurie Ackermann

16. Three Dissidents: Ivan Supek, Mihailo Marcovich, Julius Tomin

17. Three Irish Leaders: Charlie Haughey, Garret FitzGerald, Mary Robinson

18. Three South African Leaders: Desmond Tutu, Mampela Ramphele, Nelson Mandela

19. Three Novelists: Graham Greene, Iris Murdoch, David Lodge

20. Three Scientists: Noam Chomsky, Richard Dawkins, Denis Noble

Editorial Reviews

Brilliantly entertaining.

As a painter of biographical portraits Anthony Kenny excels as a brilliant miniaturist. This is a marvellously stimulating way to approach autobiography. The range of his friendships and acquaintances is immense.

Few academic philosophers have had successful careers in public life as well as in scholarship. Among those few Sir Anthony Kenny stands out for the wide range of his intellect and the lively style with which he addresses both the realm of exalted ideas and the world of ordinary facts. These vignettes offer an engaging record of people who have mattered, from a writer who has always wondered whether he really belongs to our public culture, even though sitting at the top of it.

From the Publisher