Professor Anthony O'Hear

Visiting Professor of Philosophy

Anthony O'Hear is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Buckingham. From 1994-2019 he was Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, and Editor of 'Philosophy'.

He has written many books and articles on philosophy and culture more generally. His books include 'Karl Popper' (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980), 'What Philosophy Is' (Penguin 1984), 'Beyond Evolution: Human Nature and the Limits of Evolutionary Explanation' (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1997), 'Transcendence, Creation and Incarnation, (Routledge, 2019), 'The Prism of Truth: Reflection on Myth' (Wipf and Stock, 2024) and 'Popper, Philosphy and Faith' (Cambridge Element, 2025). With Natasha O'Hear he wrote 'Picturing the Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation in the Arts over Two Millennia', (Oxford University Press, 2015), which won the ACE/Mercers Prize for the best book internationally on religion and art for 2017. His 'The Great Books: From the Iliad to Goethe's Faust: A Journey through 2,500 years of the West's Classic Literature' was published by Icon books in 2007 and by ISI Books in 2009. He received an OBE for services to education in 2018.

Beyond the lecture hall, Professor O'Hear has contributed significantly to the wider philosophical community. As former Honorary Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy and editor of its journal, Philosophy, until 2019, he has been instrumental in shaping philosophical discourse in this country. His co-founding of the Journal of Applied Philosophy with Brenda Almond demonstrated his belief in making philosophy relevant to contemporary concerns, whilst his decade of service as a Government special adviser on education underscores how his educational philosophy has informed policy at the highest levels.

At The Classical Institute, Professor O’Hear will teach The Great Books: Part One, a six-week programme focused on close reading of foundational texts from Ancient Greece. The programme is designed to support sustained engagement with major works of Western literature and thought through direct encounter with primary sources.

Professor O’Hear’s appointment marks an important moment for TCI, as he will lead the Institute’s inaugural six-week programme on the Great Books. From Ancient Greece onwards, participants will explore epic, tragedy, and philosophical writing as part of a continuous intellectual inheritance. It is precisely this kind of sustained, careful engagement with the Western tradition that Professor O’Hear has championed throughout his career at the University of Buckingham and beyond.