Simon Thornton

Simon Thornton 1024 731 Tom Carlson

Postdoctoral Scholar, Santa Barbara

2018-2020

Email: simonalexanderthornton@gmail.com

Simon Thornton

Simon Thornton received his BA in Politics and Eastern European Studies at University College, London, where he specialized in Russian and post-Soviet culture and politics. After spending two years working for an NGO in the Republic of Armenia his interests became decidedly more theoretical, and he returned to his hometown to complete an M.A. in political theory at the University of Sheffield. Simon then completed his Ph.D. research at the University of Essex, where he focused on the moral phenomenology of the Danish thinker K.E. Løgstrup. At the Humanities and Social Change Center, Simon is currently working on a project which brings together the insights concerning human powerlessness and finitude found in the work of Løgstrup, Kierkegaard and others with a view to understanding and addressing contemporary social change. So far, he has produced draft papers on Løgstrup’s theory of expressions of life and on Kierkegaard’s theories of tragedy and guilt. Currently, he is working on a paper comparing Løgstrup and Kierkegaard tentatively entitled ‘Receiving Life as a Gift: On Løgstrup’s Dispute with Kierkegaard.’