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7A parliament of soulsOxford University Press. 1990.This second volume in the Limits and Renewals trilogy is an attempt to restate a traditional philosophy of mind, drawing on philosophical and poetical resources that are often neglected in modern and postmodern thought, and emphasizing the moral and political implications of differing philosophies of mind and value. Clark argues that without the traditional concept of the soul, we have little reason to believe that rational thought and individual autonomy are either possible or desirable. The pa…Read more
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394Folly to the Greeks: Good Reasons to Give up ReasonEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Religion 4 (1): 93-113. 2012.A discussion of why a strong doctrine of 'reason' may not be worth sustaining in the face of modern scientific speculation, and the difficulties this poses for scientific rationality, together with comments on the social understanding of religion, and why we might wish to transcend common sense.
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95How to Live Forever: Science Fiction and PhilosophyRoutledge. 1995.Immortality is a subject which has long been explored and imagined by science fiction writers. In his intriguing new study, Stephen R.L.Clark argues that the genre of science fiction writing allows investigation of philosophical questions about immortality without the constraints of academic philosophy. He reveals how fantasy accounts of issues such as resurrection, disembodied survival, reincarnation and devices or drugs for preserving life can be used as an important resource for philosophical…Read more
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What has Plotinus' one to do with God?In John Cornwell & Michael McGhee (eds.), Philosophers and God: at the frontiers of faith and reason, Continuum. 2009.
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1Philosophical FuturesPeter Lang. 2011.A collection of papers, revised for the volume, on likely and unlikely futures for humanity.
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36Utility, Rights and the Domestic Virtues: Or What's Wrong With RaymondBetween the Species 4 (4): 3. 1988.
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2A Parliament of Souls: Limits and Renewals 2Oxford University Press UK. 1990.Limits and Renewals is a trilogy based on the Stanton Lectures in the Philosophy of Religion delivered at the University of Cambridge in 1986-8. In this, the second volume, Professor Clark attempts to restate a traditional philosophy of mind, drawing upon philosophical and poetic resources that are often neglected in modern and post-modern thought, and emphasizing the moral and political implications of differing `philosophies of mind and value'. He presents a study of the soul as it has traditi…Read more
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7Civil peace and sacred orderOxford University Press. 1989.This book is an ambitious and challenging restatement of traditional political philosophy. The first of a three-volume series, Limits and Renewals, the book is concerned with the nature of political society, particularly with the errors and faulty arguments that have been used to support a "liberal modernist" view of the state and our political system. Clark argues that political modernism, which is determinedly secular and untraditional, has been a destructive influence on religion and our unde…Read more
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35Animals and Their Moral StandingRoutledge. 1997.Twenty years ago, people thought only cranks or sentimentalists could be seriously concerned about the treatment of non-human animals. However, since then philosophers, scientists and welfarists have raised public awareness of the issue; and they have begun to lay the foundations for an enormous change in human practice. This book is a record of the development of 'animal rights' through the eyes of one highly-respected and well-known thinker. This book brings together for the first time Stephen…Read more
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1Animals in Classical and Late Antique PhilosophyIn Tom Beauchamp & Raymond Frey (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics, Oxford University Press. 2011.A description and analysis of attitudes to non-human animals in classical and late antique Mediterranean thought.
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8Late antique epistemology: other ways to truth (edited book)Palgrave-Macmillan. 2009.Late Antique Epistemology explores the techniques used by late antique philosophers to discuss truth. Non-rational ways to discover truth, or to reform the soul, have usually been thought inferior to the philosophically approved techniques of rational argument, suitable for the less philosophically inclined, for children, savages or the uneducated. Religious rituals, oracles, erotic passion, madness may all have served to waken courage or remind us of realities obscured by everyday concerns. Wha…Read more
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95The Political Animal: Biology, Ethics, and PoliticsRoutledge. 1999.People, as Aristotle said, are political animals. Mainstream political philosophy, however, has largely neglected humankind's animal nature as beings who are naturally equipped, and inclined, to reason and work together, create social bonds and care for their young. Stephen Clark, grounded in biological analysis and traditional ethics, probes into areas ignored in mainstream political theory and argues for the significance of social bonds which bypass or transcend state authority. Understanding …Read more
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4God's world and the great awakeningOxford University Press. 1991.In this book, Stephen R.L. Clark defends the primary faith of humankind, that there is a real world which is more than a shadow of our desires and fancies, and which can be discovered through right reason. Focusing on the way in which we can "turn aside" to the Truth from the normal delusions of self-concern, Clark offers a properly worked, Platonic metaphysics as the key to identifying that reality. This book is the final volume of Limits and Renewals, a trilogy based on the author's Stanton le…Read more
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1A response to Michael Moxter's account of the need for 'religious feeling' for social order, suggesting that togetherness is currently promoted in overtly non-religious ways, and that true piety may often be at odds with social - and especially with state - order.
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Reason as daimōnIn Christopher Gill (ed.), The Person and the Human Mind: Issues in Ancient and Modern Philosophy, Oxford University Press. 1990.
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University of BristolHonorary Research Fellow
Liverpool, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |
Philosophical Traditions |