Trigg, Roger 1941- (Roger Hugh Trigg)

PERSONAL:

Born August 14, 1941, in Pontypridd, Wales; son of Ivor (a Methodist minister) and Grace Trigg; married Julia Gibbs (a music teacher), July 12, 1972; children: Nicholas Mark (deceased), Alison Jane. Education: New College, Oxford, B.A., 1964, M.A., 1967, D.Phil., 1968.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. Office—Ian Ramsey Centre, Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford, 11 Bevington Rd., Oxford 0X2 6NB, England. E-mail—roger.trigg@ theology.ox.ac.uk.

CAREER:

University of Warwick, Coventry, England, lecturer, 1966-74, senior lecturer, reader in philosophy, 1974-2007, professor emeritus, 2007—. St. Cross College, Oxford, England, Ian Ramsey Centre and Oxford Centre for Anthropology and the Mind, researcher, 2007—. Visiting professor, Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton University, 2002.

MEMBER:

International Society for Science and Religion, British Society for the Philosophy of Religion (founding president), British Philosophical Association (chair, 2003-04), National Committee for Philosophy (chair, 1997-2003), European Society for the Study of Science and Theology (member of council, 2006—), American Academy of Religion, Mind Association (past president).

WRITINGS:

Pain and Emotion, Oxford University Press (London, England), 1970.

Reason and Commitment, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, England), 1973.

Reality at Risk: A Defence of Realism in Philosophy and the Sciences, Barnes & Noble (Totowa, NJ), 1980.

The Shaping of Man: Philosophical Aspects of Sociobiology, Schocken (New York, NY), 1983.

Understanding Social Science: A Philosophical Introduction to the Social Sciences, Blackwell (New York, NY), 1985.

Ideas of Human Nature: An Historical Introduction, Blackwell (New York, NY), 1988.

Rationality and Science: Can Science Explain Everything?, Blackwell (New York, NY), 1993.

Rationality and Religion: Does Faith Need Reason?, Blackwell (New York, NY), 1998.

Philosophy Matters: An Introduction to Philosophy, Blackwell (New York, NY), 2001.

Morality Matters, Blackwell (New York, NY), 2005.

Religion in Public Life: Must Faith Be Privatized?, Oxford University Press (London, England), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Roger Trigg is a retired professor of philosophy who has written many books on various topics in philosophy, from human nature to religion to realism. In Rationality and Science: Can Science Explain Everything?, for example, Trigg shows that it cannot, unless it incorporates some degree of metaphysics. The book "traverses much ground," and "Trigg writes in an illuminating manner," wrote Brian R. Clack in a review of the book for the journal Religious Studies.

In Rationality and Religion: Does Faith Need Reason?, Trigg attempts to reconcile the essentially irrational beliefs of religion with a belief in rationality. "Theistic religious belief is committed to a robust metaphysics, realistically construed," is how Nicholas Everitt of the journal Religious Studies put it. Trigg argues that because religions make conflicting claims, not all of them can be considered true; however, some religions can legitimately claim to be as rational as science. "The problem with Trigg's argument," Everitt wrote, "is that there is no neutral position from which it can be decided what theism really is."

In Philosophy Matters: An Introduction to Philosophy, Trigg explains why average people should be interested in philosophy. In a world that relies so heavily on scientific fact, Trigg believes, it is necessary to temper that with the study of thought and reason. "His bold tone will engage many readers in the challenges he discusses," wrote Michael Lacewing in a review on the Royal Institute of Philosophy Web site.

Trigg has been involved in a number of professional organizations, including the British Society for the Philosophy of Religion, of which he was a founding officer, and the Mind Association. Even in retirement he continues to be active, working at the Ian Ramsey Centre and the Oxford Centre for Anthropology and the Mind at Oxford University in England on a long-term research project related to cognitive science and religion. He is also writing a book on "religious freedom" as a sequel to his recent book, Religion in Public Life: Must Faith Be Privatized?

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Anthropologist, March, 1984, review of The Shaping of Man: Philosophical Aspects of Sociobiology, p. 179.

American Journal of Sociology, January, 1985, review of The Shaping of Man, p. 918.

British Book News, December, 1980, review of Reality at Risk: A Defence of Realism in Philosophy and the Sciences, p. 718; November, 1982, review of Reality at Risk, p. 663; December, 1982, review of The Shaping of Man, p. 734; November, 1985, review of Understanding Social Science: A Philosophical Introduction to the Social Sciences, p. 652.

Choice, November, 1973, review of Reason and Commitment, p. 1402; December, 1980, review of Reality at Risk, p. 542; July, 1983, review of The Shaping of Man, p. 1610; January, 1986, review of Understanding Social Science, p. 771; July-August, 1994, F. Potter, review of Rationality and Science: Can Science Explain Everything?, p. 1745; November, 1998, W.F. Desmond, review of Rationality and Religion: Does Faith Need Reason?, p. 28.

Christian Century, May 19, 1976, review of Reason and Commitment, p. 490.

Contemporary Psychology, June, 1987, review of Understanding Social Science, p. 514.

Contemporary Sociology, January, 1987, Ted Benton, review of Understanding Social Science, p. 95.

Ethics, October, 1981, Stephen P. Stich, review of Reality at Risk, p. 196; July, 1988, Jean E. Saindon, review of Understanding Social Science, p. 882.

Humanist, January, 1982, review of Reason and Commitment, p. 29.

Humanist in Canada, autumn, 1991, review of Ideas of Human Nature: An Historical Introduction, p. 39.

International Philosophical Quarterly, March, 1982, review of Reality at Risk, p. 98; December, 2002, John Churchill, review of Philosophy Matters: An Introduction to Philosophy, p. 537.

Isis, June, 1988, Stephen Turner, review of Understanding Social Science, p. 313.

Journal of Religion, October, 1999, Joseph Pettit, review of Rationality and Religion, p. 684.

Journal of Theological Studies, October, 1999, Paul Helm, review of Rationality and Religion, p. 836.

Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 1983, review of The Shaping of Man, p. 109.

Library Journal, November 15, 1973, review of Reason and Commitment, p. 3380; March 15, 1983, review of The Shaping of Man, p. 587.

Mind, July, 1995, Stathis Psillos, review of Rationality and Science, p. 674; January, 2002, Robin Le Poidevin, review of Rationality and Religion, p. 185.

Nature, November 11, 1982, review of The Shaping of Man, p. 135.

Philosophical Review, July, 1971, review of Pain and Emotion, p. 388.

Philosophy, July, 1989, review of Ideas of Human Nature, p. 426.

Political Studies, September, 1989, Rodney Barker, review of Ideas of Human Nature, p. 517.

Reference & Research Book News, February, 2005, review of Morality Matters, p. 9.

Religious Studies, December, 1983, review of The Shaping of Man, p. 523; September, 1994, Brian R. Clack, review of Rationality and Science, p. 377; March, 1999, Nicholas Everitt, review of Rationality and Religion, p. 109.

Religious Studies Review, April, 1985, review of The Shaping of Man, p. 177.

Review of Metaphysics, September, 1971, review of Pain and Emotion, p. 137; March, 1982, review of Reality at Risk, p. 634; December, 1987, review of Understanding Social Science, p. 410.

Reviews in Religion and Theology, January, 2008, Esther D. Reed, review of Religion in Public Life: Must Faith Be Privatized?, p. 41.

Social Science Quarterly, September, 1986, review of Understanding Social Science, p. 654.

Sociology, November, 1994, A.J. Soyland, review of Rationality and Science, p. 1032.

Times Education Supplement, May 27, 2005, Patrick Mooney, review of Morality Matters, p. XI.

Times Literary Supplement, July 16, 1970, review of Pain and Emotion, p. 771; October 12, 1973, review of Reason and Commitment, p. 1402; April 11, 1986, review of Understanding Social Science, p. 399; October 16, 1998, Charles Taliaferro, review of Rationality and Religion, p. 28.

ONLINE

Royal Institute of Philosophy Web site,http://www.royalinstitutephilosophy.org/ (February 12, 2008), Michael Lacewing, review of Philosophy Matters.