About David H. M. Brooks
Lived 1950 – 1996 (aged 46). David H. M. Brooks was a South African philosopher and 20th-century philosophy.
David Havard Macleod Brooks (6 February 1950 – 27 October 1996) was a South African philosopher and professor of philosophy at the University of Cape Town.
He went to Cordwalles Preparatory School in Pietermaritzburg (1957–1963) where his father, Ronald Charles Brooks, was headmaster. He then went to Michaelhouse (1964-1967) and on to university in Pietermaritzburg. His second degree was his MA at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and his doctorate was from the University of Cape Town.
Brooks was born in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. He is the author of The Unity of Mind, published by Macmillan in 1994 and also the author of papers on philosophical aspects of biology and on the special wrongness which characterises racial discrimination, On living in an Unjust Society published in the Journal of Applied Philosophy, and subsequently anthologized in a collection entitled Social Ethics; and on human rights in South Africa. He died in Cape Town on 27 October 1996.
Publications Posthumous publication on research into the Enneagram of Personality. (Brooks, David, "Are personality traits inherited?" South African Journal of Science, Jan 1998, Vol. 94, p9.) Brooks, D. H. M. (1981). Memories and the world. Analysis 41 (June):141-145. Brooks, D. H. M. (1985). Strawson, Hume, and the unity of consciousness. Mind 94 (October):583-86. Brooks, D. H. M. (1986). Group minds. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 64 (December):456-70. Brooks, D. H. M. (1992). Secondary qualities and representation. Analysis 52 (3):174-179. Brooks, D. H. M. (1994). How to perform a reduction. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 54 (4):803-14. Reduction comes to supervenience plus explicability. Thus biconditionals, multiple realizability, etc., are irrelevant. Biology is already reduced (mostly via functional explanation), and psychology looks promising. Nice. Brooks, D. H. M. (1995). The Unity of the Mind. St Martin's Press. Brooks, David (1980). The impossibility of psycho-physical laws. Philosophical Papers 9 (October):21-45. Brooks, David (1995). Cartesian inner space. South African Journal of Philosophy 14 (4):135-144. Brooks, David (2000). How to solve the hard problem: A predictable inexplicability. Psyche 6 (4):5-20.
Don’t just read it —
keep it.
Full-length biographies made to live with: read them, listen on the way to work, watch them tonight.
- E-book
- Audio
- Video
Instant download · yours to keep · every purchase keeps this site free
Important facts
People in David H. M. Brooks's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped David H. M. Brooks's
Frequently asked questions
Who was David H. M. Brooks?
South African philosopher
When was David H. M. Brooks born?
David H. M. Brooks was born on 6 February 1950 in Pietermaritzburg.
When did David H. M. Brooks die?
David H. M. Brooks died on 27 October 1996 in Cape Town.
What was David H. M. Brooks's occupation?
David H. M. Brooks was a philosopher and 20th-century philosophy.
What nationality was David H. M. Brooks?
David H. M. Brooks was South African.
Sources & further reading
· Wikipedia: David H. M. Brooks
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). David H. M. Brooks. https://biography.guide/david-h-m-brooks/
MLA: "David H. M. Brooks." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/david-h-m-brooks/.
Chicago: "David H. M. Brooks." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/david-h-m-brooks/.
Data last updated: 2026-09-22 · Spot an error? Report a correction.
Page generated 2026-09-27 05:20 UTC