Stephen Richard Lyster Clark (born 30 October 1945) is an English philosopher and professor emeritus of philosophy at the
University of Liverpool.[3] Clark specialises in the
philosophy of religion and
animal rights, writing from a philosophical position that might broadly be described as Christian
Platonist. He is the author of twenty books, including The Moral Status of Animals (1977), The Nature of the Beast (1982), Animals and Their Moral Standing (1997), G.K. Chesterton (2006), Philosophical Futures (2011), and Ancient Mediterranean Philosophy (2012), as well as 77 scholarly articles, and chapters in another 109 books.[4][5] He is a former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Applied Philosophy (1990–2001).[4]
Education and career
Clark was born on 30 October 1945 in
Luton,
Bedfordshire. His family originally came from Shropshire and Staffordshire. His father, D. A. R. Clark, was an apprentice railway engineer who became a technology teacher, and was later appointed principal of Middlesbrough Technical College, now
Teesside University, then principal of Nottingham Technical College, now
Nottingham Trent University. His mother, M. K. Clark, was a teacher and the daughter of
Samuel Finney. Clark was raised in the
Anglican tradition.[6]
After attending Nottingham High School (1956–1964), Clark won a scholarship to
Balliol College, Oxford (1964–1968), graduating with a first-class honours degree in
greats (classics) in 1968, followed by a fellowship at
All Souls (1968–1975). He was awarded his
Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1973. Brannon Hancock writes that the philosophers
Arthur Prior and
Sir Anthony Kenny had a great intellectual influence on Clark at Balliol, while
Robin Zaehner was one of his greatest influences at All Souls.[6]
After Oxford, Clark lectured in
moral philosophy at the
University of Glasgow for nine years, until he was appointed professor of philosophy at Liverpool in 1984. He retired from this post at the end of 2009. Clark has also been a visiting professor at
Vanderbilt University and held an Alan Richardson Fellowship at
Durham University.[6]
Work on animal rights
Much of the early part of Clark's work was distinguished by writing and service related to animal ethics. Clark served on the British government's
Animal Procedures Committee, a group that advises the Home Secretary on
animal testing, from 1998 until 2006. He has also been involved with the
Boyd Group, a think tank set up by researchers involved in animal testing, and others who oppose it.[4]
In 1977, Clark authored The Moral Status of Animals. According to a description of the book, "he argues that logical extension of the liberal tradition of sparing animals "unnecessary pain" is sufficient to impose a moral obligation of vegetarianism".[7] Clark's 1982 book The Nature of the Beast: Are Animals Moral? argues that whilst animals may show certain behaviours that appear to be ethical by human standards, animals are not moral because they cannot moralize about themselves or create moral theories.[8][9]
Work on Plotinus
Clark's most recent work has focused on Plotinus with Plotinus: Myth, Metaphor and Philosophical Practice (University of Chicago Press, 2016), Plotinus Ennead VI.9: On the Good or the One: Translation with an Introduction and Commentary (Parmenides Press, 2020), and Cities and Thrones and Powers: Towards a Plotinian Politics (Angelico Press: New Hampshire 2022).
Lectures
Clark has delivered a number of well-renowned lectures, including the 1981–1982
Gifford Lectures at the
University of Glasgow, entitled "From Athens to Jerusalem", the Stanton Lectures in Philosophy of Religion at the
University of Cambridge (1987–1989), and the Wilde Lectures at the
University of Oxford (1990). He has also delivered the Scott Holland Lecture at the
University of Liverpool (1992), the Aquinas Lecture at the University of Oxford (1994), the Read Tuckwell Lecture at the
University of Bristol (1994), the Royal Institute of Philosophy Lecture at Durham University (1995), and the Aquinas Lecture at
KU Leuven (2000).[6]
"Species-essentialism," in Marc Bekoff (ed.) Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare (Greenwood Press, 1998)
"Impersonal Minds," in Anthony O'Hear (eds.). Minds and Persons (Cambridge University Press, 2003)
"Vegetarianism and the Ethics of Virtue," in
Steve F. Sapontzis (ed.). Food for Thought: The Debate Over Eating Meat (
Prometheus Books, 2004)
"Ethical Thought in India," in
John Skorupski (ed.). Routledge Companion to Ethics (Routledge, 2010)
"Animals in Classical and Late Antique Philosophy," in
Raymond Frey &
Tom Beauchamp (eds.). Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2011)
^Clark, Stephen R. L. (1973). Speculations upon Aristotelian Anthropology (DPhil dissertation). Oxford: University of Oxford.
OCLC43231196.
^Chartier, Gary (2013). Anarchy and Legal Order: Law and Politics for a Stateless Society. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. xiii–xiv.
ISBN978-1-107-03228-6.
^"Stephen Clark". University of Liverpool. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
^Halpin, Zuleyma Tang (1986). "Reviewed Work: The Nature of the Beast. Are Animals Moral? Oxford Paperbacks. by Stephen R. L. Clark". The Quarterly Review of Biology. 61 (1): 147–148.
JSTOR2827286.
^Geach, Mary-Catherine (1984). "Reviewed Work: The Nature of the Beast: Are Animals Moral? by Stephen R. L. Clark". Philosophy. 59 (228): 275–276.
JSTOR3750466.
^Devine, Philip E. (1978). "The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism". Philosophy. 53 (206): 481–505.
JSTOR3749877.