Jonathan Barnes

Jonathan Barnes, FBA is an English scholar of Aristotelian and ancient philosophy.

Education and career

Barnes, born on 26 December 1942, was educated at the City of London School and Balliol College, Oxford. He taught at Oxford University for 25 years before moving to the University of Geneva, where he served as Professor of Ancient Philosophy from 1994 to 2002. A Fellow of the British Academy since 1987, Barnes is recognized for his expertise in ancient Greek philosophy and has edited significant works on Aristotle and pre-Socratic thinkers. He received an honorary doctorate from Humboldt University in 2012 and took his éméritat in 2006 after teaching at the University of Paris-Sorbonne.

Philosophical views

Barnes holds that our modern notion of the scientific method is "thoroughly Aristotelian." He emphasizes the point in order to refute empiricists Francis Bacon and John Locke, who thought they were breaking with the Aristotelian tradition. He claims that the "outrageous" charges against Aristotle were brought by men who did not read Aristotle's own works with sufficient attention and who criticized him for the faults of his successors.

Personal life

He married in 1965 and has two daughters. He is the brother of the novelist Julian Barnes, and he and his family feature in the latter's memoir Nothing to be Frightened Of.

Writings

The Complete Works of Aristotle, 2 vols, 1984; reprinted with corrections, 1995
Posterior Analytics,
The Ontological Argument
Presocratic Philosophers 2 Vols., 1979; 1 vol. revised edition, 1982
Aristotle
The Modes of Scepticism, with Julia Annas
Early Greek Philosophy
The Toils of Scepticism
The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle
Logic and the Imperial Stoa
Truth, etc.
Coffee with Aristotle
Methods and Metaphysics: Essays in Ancient Philosophy I
Logical Matters: Essays in Ancient Philosophy II
Proof, Knowledge, and Scepticism: Essays in Ancient Philosophy III
''Mantissa: Essays in Ancient Philosophy IV''