Colin Radford

{{Short description|English philosopher (1935–2001)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}

{{Infobox philosopher

| region = Western philosophy

| era = Contemporary philosophy

| name = Colin Radford

| birth_name = Colin John Radford

| birth_date = {{birth date|1935|02|27|df=yes}}

| birth_place = England

| death_date = {{death date and age|2001|04|09|1935|02|27|df=yes}}

| death_place =

| school_tradition = Analytic philosophy

| institutions = University of Kent

| main_interests = Aesthetics

| notable_works = "How Can We Be Moved by the Fate of Anna Karenina?" (1975)

| notable_ideas = Paradox of fiction

| influenced = D. M. Armstrong

| influences =

| alma_mater = {{ubl | London School of Economics | University of Bristol | University of Oxford}}

| thesis_title = The Synthetic A Priori

| thesis_url =

| thesis_year = 1964

| doctoral_advisor = Gilbert Ryle

| academic_advisors =

| doctoral_students =

| notable_students =

}}

Colin John Radford (27 February 1935 – 9 April 2001) was an English philosopher who worked primarily in aesthetics but had interests in a wide variety of philosophical topics. He is best known for describing the paradox of fiction in the 1975 essay "How Can We Be Moved by the Fate of Anna Karenina?" and developing the paradox in a number of subsequent essays.[http://www.iep.utm.edu/fict-par/ The Paradox of Fiction], Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy[http://www.aesthetics-online.org/memorials/index.php?memorials_id=11 Colin Radford Remembered] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201094530/http://www.aesthetics-online.org/memorials/index.php?memorials_id=11 |date=1 February 2014}}, Bob Sharpe, Aesthetics Online

Radford was a pupil at Thornbury Grammar School, then studied at London School of Economics and the University of Bristol. He studied for a doctorate under Gilbert Ryle at the University of Oxford before taking a position at the University of Kent, where he taught until his retirement in 1992. He was a visiting lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Illinois, and Queensland University.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/may/22/guardianobituaries.humanities|title=Colin Radford|author=Tony Skillen|work=The Guardian|date=22 May 2001|access-date=18 January 2014}}