David Neil Sedley FBA (nascido em 30 de maio de 1947) é um filósofo e historiador da filosofia britânico. Ele foi professor de Filosofia Antiga na Universidade de Cambridge.

Início da vida Sedley foi educado no Trinity College, Oxford , onde recebeu um diploma com honras de primeira classe em Literae Humaniores em 1969. Ele recebeu um PhD em 1974 pela University College London por um texto, tradução e comentário sobre o Livro XXVIII de Epicuro On Nature.

Carreira acadêmica Desde 1976, Sedley é membro do Christ's College, Cambridge; a partir de 1996, ele foi professor de filosofia antiga na Universidade de Cambridge antes de, em julho de 2000, ser elevado à cátedra Laurence de filosofia antiga. Ele se aposentou do cargo no final de setembro de 2014.

Homenagens Ele foi eleito membro da Academia Britânica em julho de 1994.

Publicações

Livro

The Hellenistic Philosophers (with A. A. Long), Cambridge 1987 Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom, Cambridge 1998 The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Philosophy, Cambridge 2003 Plato's Cratylus, Cambridge 2003 The Midwife of Platonism. Text and Subtext in Plato's Theaetetus, Oxford 2004 Creationism and its Critics in Antiquity, Berkeley e Los Angeles 2007 Pyrrhonists, Patricians, Platonizers. Hellenistic Philosophy in the Period 155–86 BC (ed. com A. M. Ioppolo), Nápoles, 2007

Artigos e capítulos

‘The structure of Epicurus’ On nature’ Cronache Ercolanesi 4 (1974), 89–92 ‘Epicurus, On nature, Book XI: an argument against Eudoxan astronomy’ in Proceedings of the XIV International Congress of Papyrology (Oxford 1974), 269–275 ‘Epicurus and his professional rivals’ in J. Bollack, A. Laks (ed.), Études sur l’épicurisme antique (Cahiers de Philologie I, 1976), 119–159 ‘Epicurus and the mathematicians of Cyzicus’ Cronache Ercolanesi 6 (1976), 23–54 ‘Diodorus Cronus and Hellenistic philosophy’ Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society 203 (1977), 74–120 ‘The protagonists’ chap. 1 of M. Schofield et al. (ed.), Doubt and Dogmatism: Studies in Hellenistic Epistemology (Oxford, 1980), 1–19 ‘The end of the Academy’ Phronesis 26 (1981), 67–75 ‘Two conceptions of vacuum’ Phronesis 27 (1982), 175–193 ‘On signs’ in J. Barnes et al. (ed.), Science and Speculation: Studies in Hellenistic Theory and Practice (Cambridge 1982), 239–272 ‘The Stoic criterion of identity’ Phronesis 27 (1982), 255–275; Versão francesa, tr. J. Brunschwig, ‘Le Critère d’identité chez les Stoïciens’, Revue de métaphysique et de morale 4 (1989), 513–533 ‘Epicurus’ refutation of determinism’ in ΣΥΖΗΤΗΣΙΣ_: studi sull’ epicureismo greco e romano offerti a Marcello Gigante_ (Nápoles 1983), 11–51 ‘The motivation of Greek skepticism’ in M.F. Burnyeat (ed.), The Skeptical Tradition (Berkeley/Los Angeles 1983), 9–29 ‘On the Stoic goods in Stobaeus, Eclogae 2’ in W.W. Fortenbaugh (ed.), On Stoic and Peripatetic ethics: the work of Arius Didymus (Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities, 1; New Brunswick 1983), 85–86 ‘The character of Epicurus’ On nature in Atti del XVII congresso internazionale di papirologia (Nápoles 1984), 381–387 ‘The negated conjunction in Stoicism’ Elenchos 5 (1984), 311–316 ‘The Stoic theory of universals’ in Southern Journal of Philosophy 23, suppl., ‘Spindel Conference 1984: Recovering the Stoics’, 87–92; tradução chinesa em Tsinghua Studies in Western Philosophy 4.2 (2018), 86–92 ‘Three notes on Theophrastus’ treatment of tastes and smells’ in W.W.Fortenbaugh (ed.), Theophrastus of Eresus, on his Life and Work (Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities, 2; New Brunswick 1985), 205–207 ‘Philoponus’ conception of space’ in R. Sorabji (ed.), Philoponus and the Rejection of Aristotelian Science (London/Ithaca NY 1987), 140–153 ‘Epicurean anti-reductionism’ in J. Barnes, M. Mignucci (ed.), Matter and Metaphysics (Nápoles 1988), 295–327; versão francesa em Les Cahiers Philosophiques de Strasbourg 15 (2003), 321–359 ‘Epicurus on the common sensibles’ in P.M. Huby, G.C. Neale (ed.), The Criterion of Truth: Studies in Honour of George Kerferd on his 70th birthday (Liverpool 1989), 123–136 ‘Philosophical allegiance in the Greco-Roman world’ in M. Griffin, J. Barnes (ed.), Philosophia Togata (Oxford 1989), 97–119 ‘Is the Lysis a dialogue of definition?’ Phronesis 34 (1989), 107–108 ‘The proems of Empedocles and Lucretius’ Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 30 (1989), 269–296 ‘Teleology and myth in the Phaedo’ Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy 5 (1990), 359–383 ‘Is Aristotle’s teleology anthropocentric?’ Phronesis 36 (1991), 179–196 ‘Empedocles’ theory of vision and Theophrastus De sensibus’ in W.W. Fortenbaugh, D. Gutas (eds.), Theophrastus: his Psychological, Doxographical and Scientific Writings, Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities, 5; New Brunswick 1992), 20–31 ‘Sextus Empiricus and the atomist criteria of truth’ Elenchos 13 (1992), 19–56 ‘Chrysippus on psychophysical causality’ in J. Brunschwig, M. Nussbaum (ed.), Passions & Perceptions (Cambridge 1993), 313–331 ‘Commentary on Mansfeld’ (on J. Mansfeld, ‘The idea of will in Chrysippus, Posidonius and Galen’) Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy 7 (1993), 146–152 ‘A Platonist reading of Theaetetus 145–147’ Aristotelian Society suppl. vol. 67 (1993), 125–149 ‘La causalità psicologica nel Fedone’ in A. Alberti (ed.), Realtà e Ragione (Florence 1994), 107–122 ‘The dramatis personae of Plato’s Phaedo’ in T.J. Smiley (ed.), Philosophical Dialogues: Plato, Hume and Wittgenstein (Oxford 1995), 1–26 ‘Three Platonist interpretations of the Theaetetus’  in C. Gill, M.M. McCabe (ed.), Form and Argument in Late Plato (Oxford 1996), 79–103 ‘Aristotle’s De interpretatione and ancient semantics’ in G. Manetti (ed.), Knowledge through Signs: Ancient Semiotic Theories and Practices (Brussels 1996), 87–108; revised version, ‘Aristote et la signification’, Philosophie Antique 4 (2004), 5–25 ‘Plato’s Phaedo in the third century BC’ in M. Serena Funghi (ed.), ΟΔΟΙ ΔΙΖΗΣΙΟΣ_: Le vie della ricerca (Studi in onore di Francesco Adorno)_ (Florence 1996), 447–455 ‘The inferential foundations of Epicurean ethics’ in G. Giannantoni, M. Gigante (ed.), Epicureismo Greco e Romano (Nápoles 1996), 313–39; repr. in S. Everson (ed.), Ethics (Cambridge 1998), 129–150 ‘Alcinous’ epistemology’ in K.A. Algra, P.W. van der Horst, D.T. Runia (ed.), Polyhistor: Studies in the History and Historiography of Ancient Philosophy (Leiden 1996), 300–312 ‘Plato’s auctoritas and the rebirth of the commentary tradition’ in J. Barnes, M. Griffin (ed.), Philosophia Togata II, Plato and Aristotle at Rome, (Oxford 1997), 110–129 ‘A new reading in the anonymous Theaetetus commentary (PBerol. 9782 fragment D)’ in Papiri Filosofici: Miscellanea di studi I (Florence 1997), 139–144 ‘“Becoming like god” in the Timaeus and Aristotle’ in T. Calvo, L. Brisson (ed.) Interpreting the Timaeus-Critias (Sankt Augustin 1997), 327–339; longer version, entitled ‘The ideal of godlikeness’, in G. Fine (ed.), Plato 2: Ethics, Politics, Religion, and the Soul (Oxford Readings in Philosophy; Oxford 1999), 309–328 Longer version: ‘The ethics of Brutus and Cassius’ Journal of Roman Studies 87 (1997), 41–53 ‘How Lucretius composed the De rerum natura’ in K.A. Algra, M.H. Koenen, P.H. Schrijvers (eds.), Lucretius and his Intellectual Background (Amsterdam 1997), 1–19 ‘Platonic causes’ Phronesis 43 (1998), 114–132 ‘Theophrastus and Epicurean physics’ in J.M. van Ophuijsen, M. van Raalte (ed.), Theophrastus: Reappraising the Sources (Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities, 8; New Brunswick 1998), 331–354 ‘The sequence of Argument in Lucretius I’ in C. Atherton (ed.), Form and Content in Didactic Poetry, Nottingham Classical Literature Studies 5 (Bari 1998), 37–55 ‘Le scuole filosofiche e le città’ in S. Settis (ed.), I greci vol. II.3 (Turin 1998), 467–482 ‘The etymologies in Plato’s Cratylus’ Journal of Hellenic Studies 118 (1998), 142–156 ‘Aristotelian relativities’ in M. Canto Sperber and P. Pellegrin (ed.), Le Style de la pensée. Receuil d’hommages à Jacques Brunschwig (Paris, 2002), 324–352; already published in Italian under the title ‘Relatività aristoteliche’, in Dianoia 2 (1997), 11–25, and 3 (1998), 11–23 ‘Pythagoras the grammar teacher and Didymon the adulterer’ in Hyperboreus 4/1 (1998), 122–138; shorter version, entitled ‘Pythagoras the grammar teacher (PbrLibr Add MS 37516, 1)’, in Papiri filosofici: Miscellanea di studi II (Florence 1998), 167–181 ‘The Stoic-Platonist debate on kathêkonta’ in K. Ierodiakonou (ed.), ΘΕΜΑΤΑ ΣΤΩΙΚΗΣ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΙΑΣ (special issue of Deukalion, 1997; in Greek translation), and in K. Ierodiakonou (ed.), Topics in Stoic Philosophy (Oxford 1999), 128–152 ‘Lucretius’ use and avoidance of Greek’ in J.N. Adams, R. Mayer (ed.), Aspects of the Language of Latin Poetry (Proceedings of the British Academy, Oxford 1999), 227–246 ‘Aspasius on akrasia’ in A. Alberti, R.W. Sharples (ed.), Aspasius: the Earliest Extant Commentary on Aristotle’s Ethics (Berlim 1999), 162–175 ‘Parmenides and Melissus’ in A.A. Long (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy (Cambridge 1999), 113–133 ‘Hellenistic physics and metaphysics’ in The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy (Cambridge 1999), 353–411 ‘Metaphysics Λ 10’ in M. Frede, D. Charles (ed.), Aristotle’s Metaphysics Book Lambda (Oxford 2000), 327–e50 ‘Socratic irony in the Platonist commentators’ in J. Annas and C.J. Rowe (ed.), New Perspectives on Plato: Modern and Ancient (Cambridge, Mass., 2002), 37–57; earlier version, ‘L’ironie dans le dialogue platonicien selon les commentateurs anciens’, in F. Cossuta, M. Narcy (ed.), La forme-dialogue chez Platon (Grenoble, 2001), 5–19 ‘Epistemologia e teorie della natura nell’età ellenistica’ in Storia della scienza I (Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana, Roma 2001), 678–690 ‘The origins of Stoic god’ in D. Frede, A. Laks (ed.), Traditions of Theology (Leiden 2002), 41–83 ‘Diogenes of Oenoanda on Cyrenaic ethics’ in Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society 228 (2002), 159–174 ‘The collapse of language? Theaetetus 179c–183c’ published on line in Plato 3 (2003) ‘The school: from Zeno to Arius Didymus’ in B. Inwood (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics (Cambridge 2003), 7–34 (com Jacques Brunschwig) ‘Hellenistic philosophy’ in D.N. Sedley (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Philosophy (Cambridge 2003), 151–183 ‘Zeno’s definition of phantasia kataleptike’ in T. Scaltsas and A.S. Mason (eds.), The Philosophy of Zeno. Zeno of Citium and his Legacy (Larnaca 2002), 133–154; also published as ‘La définition de phantasia kataleptike par Zénon’ in G. Romeyer Dherbey, J.-B. Gourinat (eds.), Les Stoïciens (Paris 2005), 75–92 ‘Lucretius and the new Empedocles’ published online in Leeds International Classical Studies 2 (2003) ‘A Socratic interpretation of Plato’s Theaetetus’ Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy 18 (2003), 277–313 ‘Etymology as a techne in Plato’s Cratylus’ in C. Nifadopoulos (ed.), ETYMOLOGIA: Studies in Ancient Etymology (Münster, 2003), 21–32; também ‘La tecnicità del metodo etimologico nel Cratilo’, in M. Migliori (ed.), Il problema del método in Platone e Aristotele(forthcoming) ‘The nomothetes in Plato’s Cratylus’ Studia Philonica Annual 15 (2003), 5–16 ‘Philodemus and the decentralisation of philosophy’ Cronache Ercolanesi 33 (2003), 31–41 ‘On Generation and Corruption I 2’ in F.A.J. de Haas, J. Mansfeld (eds.), Aristotle, On Generation and Corruption Book 1. Symposium Aristotelicum (Oxford 2004), 65–89 ‘Stoic metaphysics at Rome’ in R. Salles (ed.), Metaphysics, Soul and Ethics. Themes from the Work of Richard Sorabji (Oxford 2005), 117–142