Stephen Richard Lyster Clark (born 30 October 1945) is an English philosopher and professor emeritus of philosophy at theUniversity of Liverpool.[2] An "anarcho-conservative",[3][4] Clark specialises in thephilosophy of religion andanimal rights, writing from a philosophical position that might broadly be described as ChristianPlatonist. He is the author of twenty books, includingThe Moral Status of Animals (1977),The Nature of the Beast (1982),Animals and Their Moral Standing (1997),G.K. Chesterton (2006),Philosophical Futures (2011), andAncient Mediterranean Philosophy (2012), as well as 77 scholarly articles, and chapters in another 109 books.[5][6] He is a former editor-in-chief of theJournal of Applied Philosophy (1990–2001).[5]
Clark was born on 30 October 1945 inLuton,Bedfordshire. His family originally came from Shropshire and Staffordshire. His father, D. A. R. Clark, was an apprentice railway engineer who became a technology teacher, and was later appointed principal of Middlesbrough Technical College, nowTeesside University, then principal of Nottingham Technical College, nowNottingham Trent University. His mother, M. K. Clark, was a teacher and the daughter ofSamuel Finney. Clark was raised in theAnglican tradition.[7]
After attending Nottingham High School (1956–1964), Clark won a scholarship toBalliol College, Oxford (1964–1968), graduating with a first-class honours degree ingreats (classics) in 1968, followed by a fellowship atAll Souls (1968–1975). He was awarded hisDoctor of Philosophy degree in 1973. Brannon Hancock writes that the philosophersArthur Prior andSir Anthony Kenny had a great intellectual influence on Clark at Balliol, whileRobin Zaehner was one of his greatest influences at All Souls.[7]
After Oxford, Clark lectured inmoral philosophy at theUniversity of Glasgow for nine years, until he was appointed professor of philosophy at Liverpool in 1984. He retired from this post at the end of 2009. Clark has also been a visiting professor atVanderbilt University and held an Alan Richardson Fellowship atDurham University.[7]
Much of the early part of Clark's work was distinguished by writing and service related to animal ethics. Clark served on the British government'sAnimal Procedures Committee, a group that advises the Home Secretary onanimal testing, from 1998 until 2006. He has also been involved with theBoyd Group, a think tank set up by researchers involved in animal testing, and others who oppose it.[5]
In 1977, Clark authoredThe Moral Status of Animals. According to a description of the book, "he argues that logical extension of the liberal tradition of sparing animals "unnecessary pain" is sufficient to impose a moral obligation of vegetarianism".[8] Clark's 1982 bookThe Nature of the Beast: Are Animals Moral? argues that whilst animals may show certain behaviours that appear to be ethical by human standards, animals are not moral because they cannot moralize about themselves or create moral theories.[9][10]
Clark's most recent work has focused on Plotinus withPlotinus: Myth, Metaphor and Philosophical Practice (University of Chicago Press, 2016),Plotinus Ennead VI.9: On the Good or the One: Translation with an Introduction and Commentary (Parmenides Press, 2020), andCities and Thrones and Powers: Towards a Plotinian Politics (Angelico Press: New Hampshire 2022).
Clark has delivered a number of well-renowned lectures, including the 1981–1982Gifford Lectures at theUniversity of Glasgow, entitled "From Athens to Jerusalem", the Stanton Lectures in Philosophy of Religion at theUniversity of Cambridge (1987–1989), and the Wilde Lectures at theUniversity of Oxford (1990). He has also delivered the Scott Holland Lecture at theUniversity of Liverpool (1992), the Aquinas Lecture at the University of Oxford (1994), the Read Tuckwell Lecture at theUniversity of Bristol (1994), the Royal Institute of Philosophy Lecture at Durham University (1995), and the Aquinas Lecture atKU Leuven (2000).[7]
"Species-essentialism," in Marc Bekoff (ed.)Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare (Greenwood Press, 1998)
"Impersonal Minds," in Anthony O'Hear (eds.).Minds and Persons (Cambridge University Press, 2003)
"Vegetarianism and the Ethics of Virtue," inSteve F. Sapontzis (ed.).Food for Thought: The Debate Over Eating Meat (Prometheus Books, 2004)
"Ethical Thought in India," inJohn Skorupski (ed.).Routledge Companion to Ethics (Routledge, 2010)
"Animals in Classical and Late Antique Philosophy," inRaymond Frey &Tom Beauchamp (eds.).Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2011)
^Halpin, Zuleyma Tang (1986). "Reviewed Work: The Nature of the Beast. Are Animals Moral? Oxford Paperbacks. by Stephen R. L. Clark".The Quarterly Review of Biology.61 (1):147–148.doi:10.1086/414861.JSTOR2827286.
^Geach, Mary-Catherine (1984). "Reviewed Work: The Nature of the Beast: Are Animals Moral? by Stephen R. L. Clark".Philosophy.59 (228):275–276.doi:10.1017/S0031819100067796.JSTOR3750466.
