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Philippa Ruth Foot (1920-2010)
1920
(3 October) Born to Esther Cleveland and Captain William Sidney Bence Bosanquet.
1939
Studied PPE at Somerville College, Oxford. She graduated in 1942, with first-class honours
1945
Married the historian, Michael Richard Daniel Foot
1947
Became a lecturer at Somerville College. She remained there until 1950
1949
Became Somerville College’s first philosophy Tutorial Fellow
1952
Publication: ‘The Philosopher’s Defence of Morality,’ Philosophy, 27(103), pp. 311-28
1954
Publication: ‘Symposium: When Is a Principle a Moral Principle?’ (with Jonathan Harrison), Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volumes, 28, pp. 95-134
Publication: Review of N. R. Murphy, The Interpretation of Plato’s Republic, Mind 63(250), pp. 270-4
1957
Publication: Review of D. H. Monro, Godwin’s Moral Philosophy, Mind 66(262), pp. 279-80
Publication: ‘Free Will As Involving Determinism’, The Philosophical Review, 66(4), pp. 439-50
1958
Publication: ‘Moral Beliefs’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 59, pp. 83-104
Publication: ‘Moral Arguments’, Mind, 67(268), pp. 502-13
1960
Divorced
1961
Publication: ‘Symposium: Goodness and Choice’ (with Alan Montefiore), Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume, 35, pp. 45-80
1963
Publication: ‘Hart and Honoré Causation in the Law’. Review of H. L. A. Hart and A. M. Honore, Causation in the Law. In Philosophical Review, 72(4), pp. 505-15
Publication: ‘Hume on Moral Judgement’ in David Pears (ed.), David Hume: A Symposium (London: MacMillan)
1965
Publication: Review of Georg Henrik von Wright, The Varieties of Goodness. In The Philosophical Review, 74(2), pp. 240-4
1966
Publication: ‘Immoralist’. Review of R.J. Hollingdale, Nietzsche: The Man and His Philosophy and Arthur Danto, Nietzsche as Philosopher. In New York Review of Books, 6(2)
1967
Became Somerville College’s Vice-Principle (until 1969)
Publication: Theories of Ethics (edited, with intro). (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
Publication: ‘The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of the Double Effect’. Oxford Review, 5
Publication: ‘Self-Reliance’. Review of Hazel E. Barnes, An Existentialist Ethics. In New York Review of Books, 9(8)
1970
Becomes Somerville College’s Senior Resident Fellow (until 1988)
Publication: ‘Abortion’ in Archibald Clow (ed.), Morals and Medicine: Five Discussions from the BBC Third Programme (London: BBC)
Publication: ‘Morality and Art’ in Proceedings of the British Academy, 56, pp. 131-44
1971
Publication: ‘In Defence of the Hypothetical Imperative’, Philosophic Exchange, 2(1)
1972
Publication: ‘Reasons for Action and Desires’ (with Michael Woods). Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume, 46
Publication: ‘Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives’, The Philosophical Review, 81(3), pp. 305-16
1973
Publication: ‘Nietzsche: The Revaluation of Values’. In Robert C. Solomon (ed.), Nietzsche: A Collection of Critical Essays(New York)
Publication: ‘Sincerely Yours’. Review of Lionel Trilling, Sincerity and Authenticity. New York Review of Books, 20(3)
1974
Publication: ‘Is Morality a System of Hypothetical Imperatives?: A Reply to Mr. Holmes’. Analysis, 35(2), pp. 53-6
1975
Publication: ‘How Good is our Morality?’ Encyclopaedia Moderna 10 (Zagreb: Yugoslav Academy of Sciences)
Publication: ‘A Reply to Professor Frankena’, Philosophy, 50(194), pp. 455-9
1976
Elected a Fellow of the British Academy
Joined the philosophy department of the University of California. She remained there until her retirement in 1991
1977
Publication: ‘Approval and Disapproval’ in P.M.S. Hacker and J.J. Raz (eds), Law, Morality, and Society: Essays in Honour of H.L.A. Hart (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 229-46
Publication: ‘Euthanasia’, in Philosophy and Public Affairs, 6(2), pp. 85-112
1978
Publication: ‘Ethics XI: Moral Reasoning’ in Warren T. Reich (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Bioethics, Volume One (New York: The Free Press)
Publication: Virtues and Vices and Other Essays in Moral Philosophy (Oxford: Blackwell)
Publication: ‘The Problem of Abortion and Negative and Positive Duty: A Reply to James LeRoy Smith’, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 3(3), pp. 253-5
1979
Publication: ‘Case Studies in Bioethics: Active Euthanasia with Parental Consent’ (with Hunter C. Leake and James Rachels). The Hastings Center Report, 9(5), pp. 19-21
1980
Publication: ‘The Brave Immoralist’. Review of Martin Heidegger, Nietzsche Volume One: The Will to Power as Art; Harold Alderman, Nietzsche’s Gift; and J. P. Stern, Friedrich Nietzsche. In New York Review of Books, 27(7)
1981
Publication: ‘Killing, Letting Die and Euthanasia: A Reply to Holly Smith Goldman’, Analysis, 41(3), pp. 159-60
Publication: ‘William Frankena’s Carus Lectures’, The Monist, 64(3), pp. 305-12
Publication: ‘Goods and Practices’. Review of Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. In Times Literary Supplement
1982
Becomes President of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association
– Publication: ‘Think Tank’. Review of Robert Nozick’s Philosophical Explanations, Partisan Review, 49(4), pp. 609-12
– Publication: ‘For Lack of a Rationale’. Review of Samuel Scheffler, The Rejection of Consequentialism: A Philosophical Investigation of the Considerations Underlying Rival Moral Conceptions. In Times Literary Supplement
1983
Becomes a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science
Publication: ‘Peacocke on Wittgenstein and Experience’ in The Philosophical Quarterly, 33(131), pp. 187-91
Publication: ‘Moral Realism and Moral Dilemma’, The Journal of Philosophy, 80(7), pp. 379-98
Publication: ‘Utilitarianism and the Virtues’, Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 57(2), pp. 273-83
1984
Publication: ‘Killing and Letting Die’. In Jay L. Garfield and Patricia Hennessey (eds), Abortion: Moral and Legal Perspectives (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press)
1985
Publication: ‘Morality, Action and Outcome’ in Ted Honderich (ed.), Morality and Objectivity: A Tribute to J. L. Mackie (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul), pp. 23-38
Publication: ‘Utilitarianism and the Virtues’ [an expanded version of the 1983 publication, of the same name], Mind, 94(374), pp. 196-209
Publication: ‘Knowing What to Do’. Review of Bernard Williams, Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy. In Times Literary Supplement
1986
Publication: ‘Life and Death’. Review of James Rachel, The End of Life; A. B. Downing and Barbara Smoker, Voluntary Euthanasia; and Michael Lockwood, Moral Dilemmas in Moral Medicine. In London Review of Books, 8(14), pp. 3-5
1988
Appointed the first holder of the Paul and Gloria Griffin Chair in philosophy
Becomes an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College
1989
Publication: ‘von Wright on Virtue’ in Lewis Edwin Kahn and Paul Arthur Schilpp (eds), The Philosophy of Georg Henrik von Wright: The Library of Living Philosophers Volume XIX (Open Court)
1990
Publication: ‘Ethics and the Death Penalty: Participation by Forensic Psychiatrists in Capital Trials’ in Richard Rosner and Robert Weinstock (eds), Ethical Practice in Psychiatry and the Law (New York: Plenum Press), pp. 207-17
Publication: ‘Locke, Hume, and Modern Moral Theory: A Legacy of Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Philosophies of Mind’. In G. S. Rousseau (ed.), The Languages of Psyche: Mind and Body in Enlightenment Thought: Clark Library Lectures 1985-1986 (Berkeley: University of California Press), pp. 81-104
1991
Retired from teaching
Publication: ‘Nietzsche’s Immoralism’, New York Review of Books, 38(11)
1992
Invited to give the Gilbert Murray Memorial Lecture to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Her topic was ‘Justice and Charity’
1993
Publication: Morality and Action: Collected Papers of Warren Quinn, edited, with intro (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
1994
Publication: ‘Rationality and Virtue’ in Herlinde Pauer-Studer (ed.), Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook, 2, pp. 205-16
1995
Publication: ‘Conscience’ and ‘Fact-Value Distinction’. In Ted Honderich (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (New York: Oxford University Press)
Publication: ‘Moral Dilemmas Revisited’. In Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Diana Raffman and Nicholas Asher (eds), Modality, Morality and Belief: Essays in Honor of Ruth Barcan Marcus (New York: Cambridge University Press), pp. 117-28
Publication: ‘Does Moral Subjectivism Rest on a Mistake’, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 15(1), pp. 1-14
2001
Publication: ‘Nietzsche: The Revaluation of Values’ in John Richardson & Brian Leiter (eds), Nietzsche (New York: Oxford University Press), pp. 210-20
Publication: Natural Goodness (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
2002
Publication: Moral Dilemmas: and Other Topics in Moral Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
2003
Publication: ‘The Natural’, The Philosophers’ Magazine, 21, pp. 40-3
Publication: ‘The Grammar of Goodness: an Interview with Philippa Foot’ (by Alex Voorhoeve). Harvard Review of Philosophy, 11, pp. 32-44
2004
Publication: ‘Rationality and Goodness’, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement, 54, pp. 1-13
2010
(3 October) Death
Sarah Lewin (26/10/16)