Larry Siedentop

Sir Larry Alan Siedentop CBE (born 24 May 1936, died 13 June 2024) was an American-born British political philosopher. He specialized in 19th-century French liberalism. Siedentop authored significant works such as "Democracy in Europe" (2000) and "Inventing the Individual: The Origins of Western Liberalism" (2014). He was also an occasional contributor to prominent British newspapers like the "Financial Times" and "The Times". Siedentop received a Master of Arts from Harvard University and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford, where his doctoral supervisor was Isaiah Berlin. He held academic positions at Nuffield College, Oxford, and Keble College, Oxford, serving as a University Lecturer for most of his career. After retiring from Oxford, he was a visiting fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, Queen Victoria Eugenia Professor at the Complutense University of Madrid, and a visiting fellow at the University of St Andrews. For his contributions to political thought and higher education, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2004 and was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for his services to political science. His book "Inventing the Individual" received praise for tracing the origins of Western liberalism and its connection to Christianity.