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In Memoriam: Ted Honderich (1933-2024)

Brian Leiter

MOVING TO FRONT FROM SATURDAY (10/19/24)

Emeritus Grote Professor of Philosophy of Mind and Logic at University College London, where he spent most of his career, Professor Honderich wrote widely on consciousness, free will and determinism, punishment, and other topics, and achieved particular notoriety late in life with his work on the justification of terrorism.   Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Honderich or for those who would like to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to Miroslav Imbrisevic for the information about his death.)

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7 responses to “In Memoriam: Ted Honderich (1933-2024)”

  1. Robert Allen

    Professor Honderich's stance on terrorism is certainly incongruous with my fond memory of him. At dinner, before a free will conference, I tried to get on his good, British side by praising Churchill's leadership during WW2. Big mistake: he and his lovely wife proceeded to school me on the horrors of the Allies' fire-bombing of Dresden. I still say his free will website is second to none. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctytho/dfwIntroIndex.htm

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  2. Cora Diamond

    There is an interesting piece in The Guardian, 9 October 2002, about Oxfam declining a donation of £5000 from Ted Honderich because of his defence of Palestinian terrorism.

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  3. Miroslav Imbrisevic

    Obituary by The Times: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/professor-ted-honderich-obituary-philosopher-who-attempted-to-justify-terrorism-njhxvxq8q

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  4. Barry Allen

    About "his good, British side." Honderich was an "escaped Canadian," born in Baden, Ontario ("a filthy peasant village") in 1933. He left Canada in 1959 for graduate school at the University of London.This from his autobiography, PHILOSOPHER: A KIND OF LIFE.

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  5. V. Alan White

    I deeply respected–and was influenced by–his stalwart defense of determinism. It helped me in part to see that pragmatism–not metaphysics–should guide our views about free will. He left his philosophical mark however flawed by other considerations.

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  6. Miroslav Imbrisevic

    This might be of interest, because both philosophers (Ted Honderich and Colin McGinn) have featured recently on Leiter Reports: https://archive.is/IK0ir

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  7. Tim Crane

    Here is the obituary I wrote for the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/nov/19/ted-honderich-obituary

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