Faculty staff profile

Associate Professor John Armstrong was born in Glasgow and educated at Oxford, Birkbeck and UCL. In 1997, after completing a Ph.D. in Philosophy, he established and directed a research centre in philosophy of art at the School of Advanced Study in London. He also started a business dealing in 18th and 19th Century European paintings and classic Italian cars – although as his writing career has developed this business has taken a back seat.

John moved to Australia in 2001 with his wife, Helen, and two young children. Since 2003 he has been an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. He writes frequently for The Age and The Australian on art and culture. He has given many public lectures, including five series of talks at the National Gallery of Victoria. John is currently the Inaugural Knowledge Transfer Fellow at the University of Melbourne.

He is the author of several internationally acclaimed books: The Intimate Philosophy of Art (2000) Conditions of Love (2002), The Secret Power of Beauty (2004) and Love Life Goethe: how to be happy in an imperfect world (2006) - all published by Penguin UK. His next book, The Promise of Civilisation, will be published early in 2009. The books have been translated in to Italian, Dutch, Chinese, Korean and Thai. His writing is noted for its elegance, warmth and clarity.

John has been appointed Philosopher-in-Residence at the Melbourne Business School.