English philosopher Simon Critchley was born on February 27, 1960. He earned his BA (1985) and PhD (1988) from the University of Essex in England. Critchley received his M.Phil. from France's University of Nice in 1987. Critchley has held university fellow, lecturer, reader, and professor positions and was the Director of the Centre for Theoretical Studies at the University of Essex. Additionally, Critchley was President of the British Society for Phenomenology from 1994-1999, he held a Humboldt Research Fellowship in Philosophy at the University of Frankfurt, and was Programme Director of the Collège International de Philosophie. Since 2004 Critchley has taught philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York. Critchley's publications include "The Ethics of Deconstruction: Derrida and Levinas," the collection of essays "Ethics-Politics-Subjectivity,""Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction,""On Humour,""Things Merely Are,""Infinitely Demanding," and the New York Times bestseller "The Book of Dead Philosophers".