Myles Burnyeat

Myles Fredric Burnyeat CBE FBA (1 January 1939 – 20 September 2019) was an English scholar of ancient philosophy. He was born in London and received his secondary education at Bryanston School. After completing his National Service in the Royal Navy, during which he qualified as a Russian interpreter, he pursued undergraduate studies in Classics and Philosophy at King's College, Cambridge, earning a double first. He then undertook graduate studies at University College London under Bernard Williams. Burnyeat began his academic career as an assistant lecturer in philosophy at University College London in 1964, becoming a lecturer in 1965. In 1978, he was appointed a lecturer in classics at the University of Cambridge and became a fellow of Robinson College, Cambridge. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1984 and appointed as the Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at Cambridge, a position he held until 1996. He served as president of the Mind Association and became a member of the Institut International de Philosophie and an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. From 1996 to 2006, he was Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy at All Souls College, Oxford, subsequently becoming an Emeritus Fellow. He was president of the Aristotelian Society and was made CBE for his services to scholarship. He received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of St. Andrews. Burnyeat was married three times and had a son and two daughters. He died on 20 September 2019 at the age of 80.