Ray Monk

{{Infobox philosopher

| region = Western philosophy

| era = Contemporary philosophy

| image =

| caption =

| name = Ray Monk

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1957|2|df=yes|15}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

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| institutions = University of Southampton

| school_tradition = Analytic philosophy, postanalytic philosophy

| main_interests = Philosophical biography, history of analytic philosophy, philosophy of mathematics, veganism

| influences = Ludwig Wittgenstein

| influenced =

| notable_ideas =

}}

Ray Monk {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRSL}} (born 15 February 1957) is a British biographer who is renowned for his biographies of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Bertrand Russell, and J. Robert Oppenheimer. He is emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Southampton, where he taught in various capacities from 1992 to 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.southampton.ac.uk/philosophy/about/staff/rm.page|title=Professor Ray Monk | Philosophy | University of Southampton|website=www.southampton.ac.uk}}{{Cite journal|url=https://www.pdcnet.org/pdc/bvdb.nsf/purchase?openform&fp=cogito&id=cogito_1992_0006_0002_0057_0060|title=An Interview with Ray Monk|date=July 1, 1992|journal=Cogito|volume=6|issue=2|pages=57–61|via=www.pdcnet.org|doi=10.5840/cogito19926228}}{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Raymodraco/status/1024230159556206592|title=x.com}}

Biography

Monk graduated with an MA in Philosophy from the University of York in 1979. Later he obtained an MLitt from the University of Oxford.

He won the 1990 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the 1991 Duff Cooper Prize for his acclaimed biography of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius. His two-volume biography of Bertrand Russell appeared in 1996 and 2001. His biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer was published in 2012.

Since 2012 he has occasionally written for the New Statesman, contributing articles on philosophers and on veganism.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/writers/318837|title=Writers|website=www.newstatesman.com|language=en|access-date=2018-05-01}}[https://www.southampton.ac.uk/philosophy/news/2017/11/08-ray-monk-on-veganism-in-the-new-statesman.page "Ray Monk on veganism in the New Statesman"]. University of Southampton.

In 2015 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.{{Cite web|url=https://rsliterature.org/fellow/ray-monk/|title=Ray Monk|website=Royal Society of Literature|date=September 2023 }}

Works

{{cite book | title=Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius | publisher=Penguin Books | publication-place=New York, NY | date=1991 | isbn=978-0-14-015995-0}}{{Cite web|url=https://mostlyaboutstories.com/wittgenstein-duty-of-genius-monk-review/|title=Ray Monk's Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius|date=2 August 2021}}
Bertrand Russell: The Spirit of Solitude 1872–1921. London: Vintage, 1996.
Russell. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997.
Bertrand Russell: The Ghost of Madness 1921–1970. London: Vintage, 2001.
How to Read Wittgenstein. London: Granta, 2005.
"Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Sketch of His Life" (chapter in A Companion to Wittgenstein, edited by Hans-Johann Glock and John Hyman. Wiley-Blackwell, 2017)
{{cite book | last = Monk | first = Ray | author-link = Ray Monk | title = Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center | year = 2012 | publisher = Doubleday | location = New York; Toronto | isbn = 978-0-385-50407-2 | url = https://archive.org/details/robertoppenheime0000monk | url-access = registration }}
{{cite book |last= Monk |first= Ray |title= Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center |accessdate= |edition= |orig-date= |year= 2012 |publisher= Jonathan Cape/Random House |location= London |isbn= 978-0224-062626 |oclc= |page= |pages= }}
Inside the Centre: The Life of J. Robert Oppenheimer. London: Jonathan Cape, 2012; Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center. New York: Doubleday, 2013.
{{cite book |last1=Monk |first1=Ray |author1-link=Ray Monk |title=Robert Oppenheimer: a life inside the center |date=2014 |publisher=Anchor Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0385722049 |edition=First Anchor books |url=https://archive.org/details/robertoppenheime0000monk}}{{cite web |last1=Maslin |first1=Janet |title=Rough-Edged Atomic Pioneer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/28/books/robert-oppenheimer-a-life-inside-the-center-by-ray-monk.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=July 23, 2023 |date=May 27, 2013}}

References

External links

[http://www.southampton.ac.uk/philosophy/about/staff/rm.page?#background Home page]
[http://traffic.libsyn.com/philosophybites/Ray_Monk_on_Philosophy_and_Biography.mp3 Philosophy Bites podcast interview with Ray Monk on Philosophy and Biography]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110716204731/http://forum-network.org/speaker/ray-monk WGBY audio recording of lecture "Philosophy Circa 1905"]
Leading, contemporary biographers Hermione Lee & Ray Monk and director Stephen Frears debate whether [http://iai.tv/video/the-art-of-life all biographies are fiction]
{{C-SPAN|71302}}

Category:1957 births

Category:Living people

Category:Academics of the University of Southampton

Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford

Category:Alumni of the University of York

Category:British biographers

Category:British philosophers

Category:British veganism activists

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature

Category:John Llewellyn Rhys Prize winners

Category:21st-century British writers

Category:21st-century British educators