Allan H Coxon Author

Allan H. Coxon (22 November 1909 — 27 October 2001) Born in Derby, England, Allan Hartley Coxon was educated first at Derby Grammar School and then at Oriel College Oxford under Sir David Ross. He went on to study in Germany with Julius Stenzel and then Austria with Heinrich Gomperz before being appointed to Edinburgh University in 1933. A keen mountain photographer as a boy, Coxon had taken a lively interest in world politics, joining the new League of Nations at the age of 14. Except for a wartime break in Naval Intelligence he taught at Edinburgh, first as Senior Lecturer in Greek and then in Ancient Philosophy, where he took over the then one-man department from D. J. Allen in 1958. Coxon was a much respected teacher, and in 1964 was promoted to Reader. In 1980 he retired at the age of 70 and within five years completed the present work, a definitive study of perhaps the most challenging of Presocratic thinkers, Parmenides of Elea. His second book, The Philosophy of Forms: an analytical and historical commentary on Plato's Parmenides, was published in 1999, and stands as an eloquent testimony that his mental vigour remained undiminished to the end of his life. In addition to his scholarly achievements, Coxon was an enthusiastic and knowledgeable art collector. He is survived by his wife, Carolyn, three children, John, Edmund, and Alice, and four grandchildren.