Leonard Wayne Sumner FRSC (born 18 May 1941)[1] is a Canadian philosopher notable for his work on normative and applied ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of law. Sumner is University Professor Emeritus of Law and Philosophy at the University of Toronto.[2]

L. W. Sumner
Born
Leonard Wayne Sumner

(1941-05-18) May 18, 1941 (age 83)
NationalityCanadian
Alma materPrinceton University
AwardsMolson Prize
InstitutionsUniversity of Toronto
Main interests
Law and philosophy

Education and career

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Educated at the University of Toronto Schools, Sumner received his bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto in 1962 and his doctoral degree from Princeton University in 1965, with a thesis supervised by Stuart Hampshire and Joel Feinberg.[3]

Since 2002, he has been a University Professor, the highest academic honour that the university accords its faculty.[4] In 1990 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.[5] In 2009 he was awarded the Molson Prize by the Canada Council for the Arts.[6]

Philosophical work

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Sumner is the author of four books, including Welfare, Happiness and Ethics.[7]

Selected bibliography

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Books

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  • Sumner, L.W. (1981). Abortion and moral theory. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691072623.
  • Sumner, L.W. (1987). The moral foundations of rights. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198247517.
  • Sumner, L.W. (1996). Welfare, happiness and ethics. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198244400.
  • Sumner, L.W. (2004). The hateful and the obscene: studies in the limits of free expression. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9780802042392.

Chapters in books

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Journal articles

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References

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  1. ^ "Sumner, L. W." Library of Congress. Retrieved 5 March 2015. [Sumner, Leonard Wayne;] [b. May 18, 1941]
  2. ^ University of Toronto, Philosophy Department Archived 2007-03-10 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ 'Normative Ethics and Metaethics', Princeton University, 1965, 269 pages; available from ProQuest.
  4. ^ Complete index of University Professors Archived 2006-05-16 at the Wayback Machine, University of Toronto's website. See also List of University of Toronto people.
  5. ^ List of Fellows, Royal Society of Canada's website.
  6. ^ "Sumner Wins Molson Prize" (PDF). Philosophy News (Fall 2009). University of Toronto, Department of Philosophy: 1. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  7. ^ New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-19-824440-1.

Further reading

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  • William R. Carter. "Is There Life after Sumner-Death?" The Southern Journal of Philosophy 21 (1983), pp. 159–176.
  • James Woods. "Utilitarian Abortion: Sumner on Abortion", Dialogue 24 (Fall 1985), pp. 671–682.
  • David Sobel. "Sumner on Welfare", Dialogue 37 (Summer 1998), pp. 571–577.
  • Toni Rønnow-Rasmussen. "L.W. Sumner’s Account of Welfare" in (Eds.) Juan José Acero, Francesc Camós Abril, Neftalí Villanueva Fernández Actas del III Congreso de la Sociedad Española de Filosofía Analítica, Granada (2001), 281–285.
  • Krister Bykvist. "Sumner on Desires and Well-being", Canadian Journal of Philosophy 32 (2002), pp. 475–490.
  • John G. Slater. Minerva's Aviary: Philosophy at Toronto, 1843-2003, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005, ISBN 0-8020-3870-0, pp. 458–466.
  • Christopher Hugh Toner. "Aristotelian Well-Being: A Response to L. W. Sumner's Critique", Utilitas 18 (September 2006), pp. 218–231.
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