Biography

Bryan Greetham was born in Faversham, Kent, in England. He was educated at the University of Kent, where he gained a BA Hons in History, and at the University of Sussex, where he completed his MA in Intellectual History. He was awarded his PhD at the University of Newcastle in Australia for his work in moral thinking. After gaining a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at the University of London he taught at colleges and universities in Britain, Portugal and at the University of Maryland before moving to Australia in 1999 to undertake research and to teach philosophy at the University of Newcastle . He has held a research fellowship at the North East London Polytechnic (now the University of East London), which he used to examine the learning problems of the 16-19 age group, in particular their thinking and study skills. He is now an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Durham.

His main academic interests lie in moral and social philosophy. Much of his work has been in moral thinking, applied and professional ethics and in complex adaptive systems. He has published a number of articles, papers and reviews in academic and popular journals in Europe, Australia and America on these and other topics, including education and nineteenth century German philosophy.

He is the author of How to Write Better Essays, on writing and thinking skills, and Philosophy, an introduction to philosophy for undergraduates – both published by Palgrave Macmillan. For twenty years he has been a passionate advocate of the importance of developing thinking skills and of introducing more philosophical approaches to teaching into the school and college curriculum.