Gabriele Taylor is a philosopher and university teacher. She was Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at St Anne's College, Oxford until her retirement in 1996. Since then she has continued work as a Senior Research Fellow of the College, pursuing her own particular interests in ethics

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...

.

Early life and education

Taylor was born on 11 October 1927 and grew up in Berlin. Her early education was disturbed by the war and at the conclusion of hostilities she and her family found themselves in the British sector of the occupied city. She worked for a while with the Red Cross but ultimately was able to travel to England in 1947 to join a relative already in the country. She then worked part-time whilst also studying and then was successful in gaining a place at St Anne’s in 1952 to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). She went on to study for the BPhil in Philosophy, which she completed in 1957.

Academic career

On completing her BPhil, Taylor started her teaching career as a lecturer in Philosophy at St Anne’s, working alongside Iris Murdoch

Iris Murdoch

Dame Iris Murdoch DBE was an Irish-born British author and philosopher, best known for her novels about political and social questions of good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious...

, who had been a Fellow of the College since 1948. Following a spell in Australia teaching at Canberra University College

Canberra University College

Canberra University College was a tertiary education institution established in Canberra by the Australian government and the University of Melbourne in 1930...

, on her return to England she rejoined the College as a lecturer in 1962 and became a Fellow of the College in 1964. During her career as Fellow and Tutor she taught undergraduates reading most of the Honour Schools involving philosophy as well as supervising graduate students. In the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford

Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford

The Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, was founded in 2001. Previously it was a sub-faculty of the Faculty of Literae Humaniores . Despite this, the teaching of philosophy at Oxford dates back to mediaeval times, while the faculty can boast 150 fulltime philosophers, building on the...

, Taylor also examined and lectured on moral philosophy, Kant

KANT

KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...

 and the British Empiricists and gave revision classes on the history of philosophy.

Academic interests

In her role as tutor for the PPE school, Taylor taught the general and moral philosophy courses and special papers for PPE final examinations, and also taught elementary formal logic

Formal logic

Classical or traditional system of determining the validity or invalidity of a conclusion deduced from two or more statements...

 to first year undergraduates.

Her own research has focused on moral psychology

Moral psychology

Moral psychology is a field of study in both philosophy and psychology. Some use the term "moral psychology" relatively narrowly to refer to the study of moral development. However, others tend to use the term more broadly to include any topics at the intersection of ethics and psychology and...

, with a particular interest in the ‘ordinary’ vices traditionally seen as death to the soul
. Her best-known works are probably Pride, Shame and Guilt (Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

 1985) and Deadly Vices (Clarendon Press 2006), which examine the beliefs involved in the experience of these emotions. Tom Hurka described Deadly Vices as 'deeply illuminating ... she takes the neo-Aristotelian view of virtue further than any other writer I know'.