David Pears

For the rugby union player, see David Pears (rugby union).

David Francis Pears, FBA (8 August 1921 – 1 July 2009) was a British philosopher renowned for his work on Ludwig Wittgenstein.[1][2]

An Old Boy of Westminster School,[3] he was in the Royal Artillery during World War II, and was seriously injured in a practice gas attack. After leaving the army he studied classics at Balliol College, Oxford, and was then for many years a Student (Fellow) of Christ Church, Oxford.

Bibliography

• Ludwig Wittgenstein. Viking Press 1970.
• Motivated Irrationality. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1984.
• The False Prison: A Study of the Development of Wittgenstein's Philosophy. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1987/1988.
• Hume's System: An Examination of the First Book of His Treatise. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1991.
• Paradox and Platitude in Wittgenstein's Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006.

References

1. O'Grady, Jane (2 July 2009). "Obituary: David Pears". The Guardian.
2. "David Pears: Philosopher renowned for his work on Wittgenstein". The Independent. 9 July 2009.
3. David Pears: philosopher, (obituary) The Times, 3 July 2009, Archived from the original by Wayback Machine

Further reading

• David Charles and William Child (Eds.). Wittgensteinian Themes: Essays in Honour of David Pears. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2002.

External links

• "Pears, David Francis (1921–2009), philosopher". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Archived by Wayback Machine).
• "David Francis Pears 1921–2009" - British Academy Memoir of Pears by Christopher Peacocke, FBA.
• "The Idea of Freedom" (1972) A philosophical conversation between Iris Murdoch and David Pears on ethics, freedom, determinism, and Freud, from the Logic Lane series of educational films by Michael Chanan.