Philippa Foot
| Philippa Ruth Foot | |
|---|---|
| Born |
3 October 1920 Owston Ferry, Lincolnshire |
| Died | 3 October 2010 (aged 90) Madrid, Spain |
| Alma mater | Somerville College, Oxford |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School |
Analytic philosophy Aretaic turn |
|
Main interests
|
Ethics, Philosophy of mind |
|
Notable ideas
|
Trolley problem, Virtue ethics |
|
Influences
|
|
Philippa Ruth Foot (/ˈfɪlɪpə fʊt/; née Bosanquet; 3 October 1920 – 3 October 2010) was a British philosopher, most notable for her works in ethics. She was one of the founders of contemporary virtue ethics, inspired by the ethics of Aristotle. Her later career marked a significant change in view from her work in the 1950s and 1960s, and may be seen as an attempt to modernize Aristotelian ethical theory, to show that it is adaptable to a contemporary world view, and thus, that it could compete with such popular theories as modern deontological and utilitarian ethics. Some of her work was crucial in the re-emergence of normative ethics within analytic philosophy, especially her critique of consequentialism and of non-cognitivism. A familiar example is the continuing discussion of an example of hers referred to as the trolley problem. Foot's approach was influenced by the later work of Wittgenstein, although she rarely dealt explicitly with materials treated by him.
Foot was the daughter of Esther Cleveland (1893-1980) and Captain William Sidney Bence Bosanquet (1893-1966) of the Coldstream Guards of the British Army. Her paternal grandfather was the barrister and judge, Sir Frederick Albert Bosanquet, Common Serjeant of London from 1900 to 1917. Her maternal grandfather was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, Grover Cleveland.
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