Sarah (Waterlow) Broadie was a scholar of Ancient Greek Philosophy. She wrote three monographs on Aristotle, the first two discussing his philosophy of nature and his account of modality, and the third focusing on his Nicomachean Ethics. In later years, she turned to Plato, writing two further monographs, one on the Timaeus, and the other on the role of the form of the Good in the Republic. Her aim was not only to cast light on the thought of these philosophers, but also to help us to think for ourselves about some of the questions they discussed. Throughout her life, there are certain central philosophical themes to which she kept returning: puzzles about agency, time, modality and freewill; questions about divinity, the ultimate origins of the universe, ethical virtue, and the nature of practical reasoning. Her interest in these topics is reflected in her style of doing ancient philosophy. Her work shows how it is possible to acknowledge our distance from Plato and Aristotle, while at the same time engaging with them as interlocutors in a common philosophical project.
Posted to Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy, 22