Laurence Jonathan Cohen
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Laurence Jonathan Cohen, (7 May 1923 – 26 September 2006), was a
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
. He was Fellow and Praelector in Philosophy, 1957–90 and Senior Tutor, 1985–90 at
The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its pred ...
and British Academy Reader in Humanities,
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
, 1982–84. He was educated at St. Paul's School, London and
Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
.


Career

*
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
: in Naval Intelligence in UK and SEAC, 1942–45, and Lieut (Sp.)
RNVR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...
* Assistant in Logic and Metaphysics,
Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...
, 1947–50 * Lecturer in Philosophy, St. Andrews University, 1950–57 * Commonwealth Fund Fellow in Logic at
Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...
and
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, 1952–53 * Visiting Lecturer,
Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
,
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, 1952 * Visiting Professor:
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, 1967;
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, 1972;
Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...
, 1988 * Visiting Fellow,
Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
, 1980. * Fellow,
The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its pred ...
1957-1990 * Senior Tutor,
The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its pred ...
1985-1990


Work

The principal emphasis in his work was on the powers and use of reasoning and how reasoning should be used properly on professional assessment of evidence in legal and scientific trials. Initially a political philosopher, he published ''The Principles of World Citizenship'' in 1954. He then pursued the question "What do you mean by...?"", in ''The Diversity of Meaning'' (1962). This involved linguistic philosophy and sociology. His best-known book, ''The Probable and the Provable'' (1977), argued in favour of
inductive reasoning Inductive reasoning is a method of reasoning in which a general principle is derived from a body of observations. It consists of making broad generalizations based on specific observations. Inductive reasoning is distinct from ''deductive'' re ...
when making up your mind, for instance, when on a jury. The human ability to bring in all the relevant factors when arguing from known specifics to a general conclusion—the essence of inductive reasoning—was in his view far too complex to express in a logical equation. But their methods of reasoning could still be held up to inspection and, to some extent, classified. In clinical and scientific work, he was also concerned with the nature of proof. Another book, ''Belief and Acceptance'' (1992), examined the bases of people's assumptions.


Honours

* He was elected a Fellow of the
British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
in 1973 * President,
B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International (, from he, בְּנֵי בְּרִית, translit=b'né brit, lit=Children of the Covenant) is a Jewish service organization. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish peopl ...
Oxford Lodge, 1974 * British Academy Philosophical Lecturer, 1975 * Fry Lecturer,
Bristol University , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...
, 1976 * Austin Lecturer, UK Association for Legal and Social Philosophy, 1982 * Secretary,
International Union of History and Philosophy of Science The International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology is one of the members of the International Science Council (ISC). It was founded in 1955 by merging the ''International Union of History of Science'' (IUHS) and the ''Inter ...
(Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science), 1975–83, Pres., 1987–91 * President,
British Society for the Philosophy of Science The British Society for the Philosophy of Science (BSPS) is a philosophy, philosophical learned society, society based in the United Kingdom that aims to further the philosophy of science, and which manages the ''British Journal for the Philosophy o ...
, 1977–79 * Chairman, British National Committee for Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, 1987–91 * Chairman, Section K (Philosophy), British Academy, 1994–96 * General Editor, Clarendon Library of Logic and Philosophy, 1973–2006


Publications

* ''The Principles of World Citizenship,'' 1954 * ''The Diversity of Meaning,'' 1962 * ''The Implications of Induction,'' 1970 * ''The Probable and the Provable,'' 1977 * ''Applications of Inductive Logic,'' 1980 (Joint editor) * ''Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science,'' 1982 (Joint editor) * ''The Dialogue of Reason,'' 1986 * ''An Introduction to the Philosophy of Induction and Probability,'' 1989 * ''An Essay on Belief and Acceptance,'' 1992 * ''Knowledge and Language. Selected Essays of L. Jonathan Cohen,'' 2002


References

*
Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...
2005 * * ''
Jewish Chronicle Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
'', 26 October 2006 (obituary) *


External links

Jonathan Cohen
obituary in ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'' (archived by
Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, L. Jonathan 1923 births 2006 deaths Burials in Oxfordshire Royal Navy officers Academics of the University of St Andrews Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford English Jews Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of The Queen's College, Oxford Columbia University faculty Harvard University staff Jewish philosophers People educated at St Paul's School, London Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Princeton University fellows Burials at Wolvercote Cemetery