Este profesor la Departamentul de filozofie de la Duke University (SUA). Nascut in 1929 la Glasgow (Scotia), si-a facut studiile la Londra si Manchester. A predat filozofia, filozofia religiilor, apoi sociologia la Manchester, Leeds, Oxford si Essex. In 1969 a emigrat in Statele Unite, unde a fost profesor la Boston University, Vanderbilt University si Notre Dame University. Considerat una dintre cele mai originale voci ale filozofiei anglo-saxone contemporane, lucrarile lui (a publicat peste treizeci) au devenit clasice si in teoria politica.
Scrieri:
Marxism: An Interpretation (1953), revazuta si retiparita ca Marxism and Christianity (1968)
The Unconscious: A Conceptual Analysis (1958)
Difficulties in Christian Belief (1959)
A Short History of Ethics (1967)
Marcuse (1970)
Against the Self-Images of the Age: Essays on Ideology and Philosophy (1971)
After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (1981)
Whose Justice? Which Rationality? (1988)
Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry: Encyclopaedia, Genealogy, Tradition (1990)
Dependent Rational Animals (1999)