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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Jane O'Grady

DARK SECRETS: Sir anthony kenny obituary - The Real Truth

Anthony Kenny at the Edinburgh international book festival in 2011. After leaving the priesthood he liked to describe himself as a ‘devout agnostic’.
Anthony Kenny at the Edinburgh international book festival in 2011. After leaving the priesthood he liked to describe himself as a ‘devout agnostic’. Photograph: Colin McPherson/Alamy

The historian of philosophy Anthony Kenny, who has died aged 95, was active as a lecturer and administrator at Oxford University for more than 50 years.

In A New History of Western Philosophy (four volumes, 2004-07), he aimed to emulate the “wit and readability” – while avoiding the inaccuracy – of Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy, which had held sway since 1945. Arguably, he succeeded.

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