Denis Dutton was an academic, web entrepreneur and libertarian media commentator/activist. He was a professor of philosophy at the University of Canterbury

University of Canterbury

The University of Canterbury , New Zealand's second-oldest university, operates its main campus in the suburb of Ilam in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand...

 in Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. He was also a co-founder and co-editor of the websites Arts & Letters Daily

Arts & Letters Daily

Arts & Letters Daily is a web portal owned by The Chronicle of Higher Education. It features links to a diverse array of news stories, features and reviews from throughout the online Anglosphere, each introduced with a short blurb or teaser...

, ClimateDebateDaily.com and cybereditions.com.

Dutton was from Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, specifically the San Fernando Valley

San Fernando Valley

The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...

, where his parents owned a bookstore; he was educated at the University of California, Santa Barbara

University of California, Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...

. He taught at several American universities, including the University of California, Santa Barbara

University of California, Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...

 and the University of Michigan–Dearborn, before emigrating to New Zealand.
From 2008 to 2010 he was the Head of the Philosophy school in an unofficial capacity at Canterbury and, when Professor Copeland

Jack Copeland

Brian Jack Copeland is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.Copeland received a BPhil and DPhil from the University of Oxford in philosophy, where he undertook research on modal and non-classical logic.He is the Director of the Turing Archive for the...

, Head of the School, was quarantined because of influenza in 2009, Dutton acted briefly as Head of Humanities.

He was one of the founding members and first chair of New Zealand Skeptics

New Zealand Skeptics

The New Zealand Skeptics comprises a network of New Zealanders including magicians, teachers, scientists, health professionals and many others from all walks of life...

.
Dutton observed that authenticity in art

Authenticity in art

Authenticity in art has a variety of meanings related to different ways in which a work of art or an artistic performance may be considered authentic.Denis Dutton distinguishes between nominal authenticity and expressive authenticity....

 may be used in the sense of nominal authenticity, in the sense of a work of art being correctly attributed to its author rather than being a forgery, or expressive authenticity, where a work is a true expression of an individual’s or a society’s values and beliefs.