Frank Cioffi

Frank Cioffi ( born January 11, 1928 in New York City, United States, † January 1, 2012 in Canterbury, England ) was a British philosopher of U.S. origin.

Life

After the death of his parents born in New York City in 1928 Cioffi grew up with his grandmother. After graduation he was employed from 1946 as a soldier in the United States Army with the occupation forces in Japan. In the early 1950s he studied in Paris and Oxford philosophy and psychology. From 1956 to 1965 he was a lecturer in Singapore.

He returned to Britain and was philosophy professor at the newly founded University of Kent. From 1974 until his retirement in 1994 he taught as a professor of philosophy at the University of Essex. Thereafter he lived in Canterbury.

One focus of his work was the critical examination of the teachings of Sigmund Freud, which he regarded as pseudo-scientific.

Works

• ( as editor ): Freud. Modern Judgements, 1973
• Freud and the question of pseudoscience, 1998 ( ISBN 0-8126-9385- X)
• Wittgenstein on Freud and Frazer, 1998 ( ISBN 0-521-62624-2 )