Colin McGinn

Colin McGinn (born 10 March 1950) is a British philosopher.

He has held teaching posts and professorships at University College London, the University of Oxford, Rutgers University, and the University of Miami.

McGinn is best known for his work in philosophy of mind, and in particular for what is known as new mysterianism, the idea that the human mind is not equipped to solve the problem of consciousness.

In 1968, he began a degree in psychology at the University of Manchester, obtaining a first-class honours degree in 1971 and an MA in 1972, also in psychology.

He was admitted in 1972 to Jesus College, Oxford, at first to study for a Bachelor of Letters postgraduate degree, but switched to the Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil) postgraduate programme on the recommendation of his advisor, Michael R. Ayers.

It alleged that the university had violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (which requires that women have equal access to education) by failing to investigate the student's complaint adequately or protect her from retaliation, including from McGinn on his blog before his resignation came into effect.

McGinn's lawyer, Andrew Berman, said that McGinn denied the claim.

In 1973, he was awarded the university's prestigious John Locke Prize in Mental Philosophy; one of the examiners was A.J. Ayer.

He received his BPhil in 1974, writing a thesis under the supervision of Ayers and P. F. Strawson on the semantics of Donald Davidson.

McGinn taught at University College London for 11 years, first as a lecturer in philosophy (1974–84), then as reader (1984–85).

He held visiting professorships at the University of California, Los Angeles (1979), University of Bielefeld (1982), University of Southern California (1983), Rutgers University (1984), University of Helsinki (1986), City University of New York (1988) and Princeton University (1992).

He has written over 20 books on this and other areas of philosophy, including The Character of Mind (1982), The Problem of Consciousness (1991), Consciousness and Its Objects (2004), and The Meaning of Disgust (2011).

In 1985, he succeeded Gareth Evans as Wilde Reader in Mental Philosophy at the University of Oxford, a position he held until 1990.

In 1990, he joined the philosophy department at Rutgers as a full professor, working alongside Jerry Fodor.

In 2006, he joined the University of Miami as Professor of Philosophy and Cooper Fellow.

In 2013, McGinn resigned from his tenured position at the University of Miami after a graduate student accused him of sexual harassment.

His resignation touched off a debate about the prevalence of sexism and sexual harassment within academic philosophy.

McGinn was born in West Hartlepool, a town in County Durham, England.

Several of his relatives, including both grandfathers, were miners.

His father, Joseph, left school to become a miner but put himself through night school and became a building manager instead.

McGinn was the eldest of three children, all boys.

When he was three, the family moved to Gillingham, Kent, and eight years later to Blackpool, Lancashire.

Having failed his 11-plus, he attended a technical school in Kent, then a secondary modern in Blackpool, but did well enough in his O-levels to transfer to the local grammar school for his A-levels.

McGinn resigned his position at the University of Miami in January 2013, effective at the end of the calendar year, after a graduate student complained that he had been sexually harassing her, including by text and email.

These documents have since been released and include explicit references to McGinn's desire to have sex with the student.

He denied any wrongdoing.

Seth Zweifler, "Prominent Philosopher to Leave U. of Miami in Wake of Misconduct Allegations", Chronicle of Higher Education, 4 June 2013 (full text).

Luke Brunning, "Unfortunately, academic sexism is alive and well", The Independent, 25 June 2013.

Seth Zweifler, "Philosopher's Downfall, From Star to 'Ruin,' Divides a Discipline", Chronicle of Higher Education, 5 July 2013.

Jennifer Schuessler, "A Star Philosopher Falls, and a Debate Over Sexism Is Set Off", The New York Times, 2 August 2013.

Tony Allen-Mills, "I think, therefore I spark a sex row", The Sunday Times, 4 August 2013.

Amanda Hess, "At the NYT, All the News That's Fit to Print Does Not Include Sexually Harassing Emails", Slate, 5 August 2013.

Kathie Roiphe, "The Philosopher and the Student", Slate, 8 October 2013.

Represented by Ann Olivarius, the student complained in April 2014 to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the university had mishandled the case.

She filed a lawsuit in October 2015 against the university, McGinn, and Edward Erwin, another philosophy professor at the University of Miami.

The complaint accused McGinn of sexual harassment, civil assault, and defamation, and Erwin of defamation.

Rob Montz, "There's 'Just Lip Service to Free Speech' on College Campuses", reason.com, 16 April 2015.

The lawsuit was settled in October 2016.

All parties are prohibited from disclosing the terms of the settlement.

The incident triggered a debate about the extent to which sexism remains prevalent in academia, particularly in academic philosophy, and the effect on students and teachers of harassment and harassment-related complaints.