Renford Bambrough

John Renford Bambrough (29 April 1926 – 17 January 1999) was a British philosopher. He was fellow of St John's College, Cambridge from 1950-1999, where he held the positions of Dean (1964–1979) and President (1979–1983).

John Renford Bambrough was born in Silksworth, Sunderland, England on 29 April 1926.^[1][2] He was born into a mining background, his father having been an electrician at Silksworth Colliery.^[2] And he himself worked, as part of his national service, in a coalmine at Wearmouth Colliery from 1944 to 1945 as a Bevin Boy.^[1][3][2]

He was the editor of Philosophy (the journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy) from 1972 to 1994.^[3]

He died in Cambridge on 17 January 1999.^[1][2]

• Reason, Truth and God (1969)
• Moral Skepticism and Moral Knowledge (1979)

• The Philosophy of Aristotle (1963)
• New Essays on Plato and Aristotle (1965)
• Plato, Popper and Politics: Some Contributions to a Modern Controversy (1967).
• Wisdom: Twelve Essays (1974)^[4]

• 'Universals and Family Resemblances', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, vol. 61 (1960–61), pp. 207–22.
• 'A Proof of the Objectivity of Morals', American Journal of Jurisprudence, vol. 14 (1969), pp. 37–53.
• 'Objectivity and Objects', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, vol. 72 (1971-2), pp. 65–81.
• 'Plato's Political Analogies', in: Vlastos, Gregory (ed.) Plato: a collection of critical essays v. II (1971)
• Conflict and the Scope of Reason, the St. John's College, Cambridge, lecture, 1973-74, delivered at the University of Hull, 8 March 1973, (1974)
• '"Literature and philosophy" in: Wisdom: Twelve Essays (1974), pp. 274–292
• 'Essay on Man', in: R.S. Peters (ed.), Nature and Conduct, Royal Institute of Philosophy Lectures, vol. 8 (1975), pp. 1–13.
• 'The Shape of Ignorance', in: Lewis, Hywel David (ed.) Contemporary British Philosophy Personal Statements Fourth Series (1976)
• 'Intuition and the inexpressible', In Steven T. Katz (ed.), Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis. (1978)
• 'Thought, Word and Deed', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, suppl. vol. 54 (1980), pp.105–17.
• 'Aristotle and Agamemnon', in: Griffiths, A. Phillips (ed.), Philosophy and Literature, Royal Institute of Philosophy Lectures 16 (1983) pp. 29–40.
• 'Discipline and Discipleship', in: Ilham Dilman (ed.), Philosophy and Life: Essays on John Wisdom (The Hague, 1984), pp. 201–17.
• 'Articulation and Justification', The Monist, vol. 71 (July 1988), pp. 311–19.
• 'Ounces of Example: Henry James, Philosopher' in: Boyle, Nicholas (ed.) Realism in European Literature, Essays in Honour of J P Stern (1986)
• "Fools and Heretics" in: Griffiths, A. Phillips (ed.) ,Wittgenstein Centenary Essays, Royal Institute of Philosophy supplement 28 (1991)
• 'Ethics and the Limits of Consistency', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, vol. 90 (1989–90), pp. 1–15.
• 'Reason and Faith—I', in: Warner, Martin (ed.), Religion and Philosophy, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 31 (1992) pp. 23–32
• "Invincible Knowledge" in: Griffiths, A. Phillips .(ed.),, Ethics, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements, 35, 51-62. (1993)
• 'Question Time' in: Fellows, Roger (ed.) Philosophy and Technology, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 38 pp. 189–201 (1995)

For a more complete listing of publications see PhilPapers

• "The Roots of Reason" Jeffrey Scheuer on the philosophical legacy of J. Renford Bambrough for Philosophy Now (2009)
• "John Renford Bambrough, 1926-1999" obituaries by Jane Heal and Andrew Macintosh for The Eagle 1999 (pp. 90–96)
• "Wittgenstein and the problem of universals" (video) - Bambrough and Stephan Körner discuss 'the traditional problem of universals and Wittgenstein's contribution, in his later philosophy, towards solving the problem'. (Open University, 1972)