Alastair Hannay

Alastair Hannay (born 1932) is Professor emeritus at the University of Oslo. Educated in Edinburgh, where his early interest in philosophy was roused by John Macmurray, and London, where he studied under A. J. Ayer and Bernard Williams. In his published doctoral dissertation "Mental Images - A Defence" (1971) Hannay argues that visual images, like physical portraits, resemble visible objects. As a kind of sensation a mental image has material properties of its own which allow it to picture. He thus contradicts Gilbert Ryle and Daniel Dennett. Hannay has translated Søren Kierkegaard, and written an intellectual biography and a monograph about his philosophy. Under Hannay's direction (managing editor 1962-71, editor 1971-2002), Inquiry grew into a widely read philosophical journal. In Human Consciousness (1990), Hannay reviews contemporary theories of human consciousness while maintaining a characteristic conservatism. Hannay argues that consciousness and the first-person point of view cannot be analysed or displaced by scientific materialism, nor can they be explained functionally, a view close to that of Thomas Reid, William Hamilton, and Ferrier. Hannay's book "The Public" (2004) brings several Kierkegaardian insights to bear on contemporary political life and examines the roles of the 'public' as audience as well as political participant. Hannay is also a member of a team translating Kierkegaard's complete journals and notebooks.