Meeting a friend in a corridor, Wittgenstein said: 'Tell me, why do people always say it was natural for men to assume that the sun went round the earth rather than that the earth was rotating?' His friend said, 'Well, obviously, because it just looks as if the sun is going round the earth.' To which the philosopher replied, 'Well, what would it have looked like if it had looked as if the earth was rotating?'
- Tom Stoppard, Jumpers, Act II
David Heyd
Ethics • Political Philosophy • Bioethics
Personal Details
Born in Jerusalem - 1945
Married to Prof. Milly Heyd, Department of the History of Art, The Hebrew University
One son, Uriel Heyd, and three grandchildren
Employment and Prizes
Teaching in the department of philosophy at the Hebrew University since 1976
The Hebrew University Rector Prize for Excellence in teaching and research (Milken Prize), 2000
Emeritus, 2013
Winner of the EMET Prize (Philosophy) - 2017
Membership in Bioethical and Ethics Committees
Helsinki Committee of the Hadassah Medical School (IRB)
Israeli Government Commission for Assisted Reproduction
Israeli Government Commission on issues related to the dying patient
Ethics Advisory Committee of the Israel Academy of Science
National Bioethics Council of Israel
Chair of the Hebrew University Committee for Ethics in Research
The Ethics Committee of the Israel Fertility Association (IFA)
Israeli Government Commission for the advancement of organ donations
Committee for Museum Ethics of the Israeli Ministry of Culture
Membership in Journal Editorial Boards
European Journal of Philosophy
Philosophia
Diametros
Moral Philosophy and Politics
Education
B.A. in Philosophy and Russian Studies, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
M.A. in Philosophy, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
D. Phil. in Philosophy, Oxford University (Wadham College), 1976
External Academic Positions
Visiting Scholar in the department of philosophy, Harvard University (1984/5)
Visiting Scholar in the department of philosophy, University of California, Berkeley (1989/90)
Laurence D. Rockefeller Fellow in the Center for Human Values, Princeton University (1996/7)
Visiting Fellow in the Center for Law and Philosophy, Columbia University (2001/2)
Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University (Spring 2004)
Senior Visiting Fellow in the Department of Bioethics, NIH, Washington DC (2006/7)
Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University (Spring 2008)
Senior Fellow in Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Tel Aviv University (2012-2016)
Academic Administration
Editor of Iyyun, the Hebrew Philosophical Quarterly (1983-87)
Chairman of the Department of Philosophy (1987-89)
Director of the S. H. Bergman Center for Philosophical Studies at the Hebrew University (1990-98, 2007-10)
Director of Amirim: The University Program for Outstanding Students (1997-2000)