Charity No

313712

Patricia Shipley (Honorary Fellow of the Society)

Patricia Shipley is Emeritus Reader in Occupational Psychology at Birkbeck College at the University of London where she taught for several years, a visiting scholar at Kings College, London, a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and for eight years a Trustee of the Society. She has also studied Philosophy. She collaborated for many years with Paul Branton* on ergonomics projects in industry, and is working on the promotion of the Critical Philosophy through the development and updating of its main philosophical ideas in a post-modern and post- traditional world. She is currently Honorary Professional Adviser to the Society and General Editor of the Society's publications.

Fernando Leal (Honorary Fellow of the Society)

Fernando Leal studied philosophy, linguistics and classical scholarship in Heidelberg, Bonn and Cologne and is Professor of Social Science in the University of Guadalajara in Mexico, where he also has a special interest in linguistics, founding a Centre for the study of Mexican Indian Languages there. Whilst studying for his doctorate in Germany he acquired a knowledge of Leonard Nelson's work in depth. He has collaborated with the Society for several years in the promotion and development of the Critical Philosophy, working closely with Paul Branton up to Paul's death.

Rene Saran

Rene Saran has worked in industry, commerce, voluntary societies and in adult and higher education. She studied politics and history as a mature student at Ruskin College, Oxford, and then at Manchester University, before going on to get her Doctorate in education policy at London University .In her retirement she has remained active as a researcher, resulting in articles and books on education policy and management, as a school governor, and in various voluntary societies, in particular as a Trustee and Secretary of the Society for the Furtherance of the Critical Philosophy.  She is a member of the Philosophical Political Academy (PPA) in Germany and is also fluent in German. She has participated in many Socratic Dialogue groups since 1940, mainly in Germany, and became a Socratic Facilitator (group leader) in 1996. Her mother, Mary Saran was a student of Nelson's, and a writer and activist. Rene is the widow of Paul Branton.

Peter Rickman 

Peter Rickman is Visiting Professor at City University in London. He has been a university teacher for 50 years, lecturing on various branches of philosophy including on Ethics and particularly on Kant. He has published extensively in the social sciences as well as in philosophy, and is often to be seen at meetings in London (in 'Kant's Cave' especially) of the popular 'Philosophy for All' which aims to make philosophy more widely available to ordinary people. Peter is the Chair of Trustees of the M. E. Rickman Trust which gives grants for medical research equipment. He does all that charity's administrative work. He also works with 'Cruse', the bereavement charity.  

Nermina Kurspahic 

Nermina Kurspahic was born in Sarajevo in 1956, where she graduated in Comparative Literature and Theatre Studies. While still a student, she began to publish throughout former Yugoslavia articles and reviews of literature, theatre and particularly art. Her essays on the art of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been collected in book form, to be published soon. She has also published essays on sociological, general cultural and political themes. Her novel, The Disappearance of the Blue Riders {Iscezavanje plavih jahaca), was published by the International Centre for Peace in Sarajevo in 1994. The novel was translated and published in Turkey in 1997 (Ciglik [The Shriek]). Her collection of essays Sarajevo War Sketches (Sarajevski ratni pogledi) was awarded the Soros Essay Prize and published by Oko, Sarajevo, 1999. She has also published a volume of poems, Soon Your End Will Come As Well (Skoro ce i tebi kraj), Ljiljan/Zid, Sarajevo, 1999. She works as the editor-in-chief of the cultural and art periodical, ODJEK (Echo ).  

Celia Hawkesworth 

Celia Hawkesworth was Senior Lecturer in Serbian and Croatian at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College, London until her recent retirement. She has published numerous articles and several books on Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian literature, including a study Ivo Andric: Bridge between East and West, Athlone Press, London, 1984 and Voices in the Shadows: Women and Verbal Art in Serbia and Bosnia, CEU Press, Budapest, 2000. She has also published numerous translations, including several works by Ivo Andric. Her most recent translations include two works by Dubravka Ugresic, published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1998: The Museum of Unconditional Surrender, short-listed for the Weidenfeld Prize for Literary Translation and The Culture of Lies, winner of the Heldt Prize for Translation, 1999. She translated Nermina  Kurspahic  Hijatus for the SFCP, published in 2000. To request a copy click here.

Michael Chase 

Michael Chase is a classical scholar. After receiving his M.A. and B.A. in Classics and Philosophy from the University of Victoria, Canada, Michael went on to study Greek Neoplatonism at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne, Paris) under the direction of Pierre Hadot and Philippe Hoffmann, partly financed by a grant from the SFCP. He completed his Doctorate in the History of Greek Philosophy in 2000, and shortly thereafter entered the French National Center for Scientific Research in (Paris/Villejuif). He now works as Assistant Editor at the journal L'Année Philologique, and continues to conduct research on Greek Neoplatonism (primarily Porphyry and Plotinus). Michael is the author of books and articles on Greek Neoplatonism, including On Aristotle’s « Categories » 1-4 / Simplicius; transl. by Michael Chase. London : Duckworth, 2003 (The  ancient commentators on Aristotle). He has published four translations of works on Greek philosophy by Pierre Hadot : Philosophy as a way of life : spiritual exercises from Socrates to Foucault , Oxford ; New York : Blackwell, 1995 ; Plotinus or The simplicity of vision, Chicago (Ill.) : University of Chicago Pr., 1993 ; The inner citadel : the « Meditations » of Marcus Aurelius, Cambridge (Mass.) : Harvard University Pr., 1998 ; What is ancient philosophy ?, London : Belknap Pr. of Harvard University Pr., 2002. Michael was Keynote speaker at a conference on Philosophy as a way of life at the University of Liverpool In November 2004.