Early Life and Education
McGinn was born in West Hartlepool, County Durham, England, the eldest of three sons, and was raised in Gillingham, Kent, and Blackpool, Lancashire. His father, Joseph, was a building manager, and several relatives, including both grandfathers, were miners. He attended secondary modern school in Blackpool, then a local grammar school for his A-levels. He went on to study psychology at Manchester University, obtaining a first-class honours degree in 1971 and his MA in 1972, also in psychology.
He was admitted in 1972 to Jesus College, Oxford, at first to study for a Bachelor of Letters postgraduate degree, but he switched to the Bachelor of Philosophy (B.Phil.) programme on the recommendation of his advisor, Michael R. Ayers. He won the John Locke Prize in 1973, a prestigious prize in philosophy. He received his B.Phil. in 1974, writing a thesis under the supervision of Ayers and P. F. Strawson on the semantics of Donald Davidson.
Read more about this topic: Colin McGinn
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or education:
“I looked at my daughters, and my boyhood picture, and appreciated the gift of parenthood, at that moment, more than any other gift I have ever been given. For what person, except one’s own children, would want so deeply and sincerely to have shared your childhood? Who else would think your insignificant and petty life so precious in the living, so rich in its expressiveness, that it would be worth partaking of what you were, to understand what you are?”
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“On wings of morning our prayers and devotions are soaring.
All of creation awakens, the Maker adoring.
Join in the song. Harmonies blending along,
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“We find that the child who does not yet have language at his command, the child under two and a half, will be able to cooperate with our education if we go easy on the “blocking” techniques, the outright prohibitions, the “no’s” and go heavy on “substitution” techniques, that is, the redirection or certain impulses and the offering of substitute satisfactions.”
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