Rolf Schock (; 5 April 1933 – 5 December 1986) was a Swedish–American philosopher and artist, born in

Cap-d'Ail Cap-d'Ail (; oc, Caup d'Alh; it, Capodaglio or ''Capo d'Aglio'') is a seaside commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 4,523. Geography Cap-d'A ...

, France of German parents.

Biography

Schock was born at

on the French Riviera. His parents, who had left Germany, would eventually settle in the United States, where Schock would go on to obtain a bachelor's degree in geology at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

."Rolf Schock"
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. After completing a

bachelor of arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1955, he pursued studies in

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

from 1956 to 1960 at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, first in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

and then in Los Angeles (UCLA), and in 1960 moved to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, to specialize in theoretical philosophy at

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

with a particular interest in

free logic A free logic is a logic with fewer existential presuppositions than classical logic. Free logics may allow for terms that do not denote any object. Free logics may also allow models that have an empty domain. A free logic with the latter propert ...

. He was awarded an intermediate post-graduate degree in 1964 and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

During the period 1964–1969 he also studied at the

University College of Arts, Crafts and Design Konstfack, or University of Arts, Crafts and Design, is a university college for higher education in the area of art, crafts and design in Stockholm, Sweden. History Konstfack has had several different names since it was founded in 1844 by the ...

and he dedicated a lot of his time to painting and photography in addition to conducting research. He led a simple life as an independent scholar who was devoted to researching the field of

and related areas in philosophy, and never held a permanent position, earning a living by temporary teaching assignments at universities and night-schools. For some years he was affiliated with the

Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...

, where he taught a series of courses. In 1986 Schock was killed in an accident in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. To much surprise he left a large estate. Schock bequeathed half of the funds for prizes in the arts and sciences, and beginning in 1993, Schock Prizes () instituted by his will are awarded every two or three years. In his later life Schock criticized Albert Einstein's

theory of relativity The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phenomena in ...

Selected publications

*''Logics Without Existence Assumptions'' (1968) *''New Foundations for Concept Theory'' (1969)
''The Inconsistency of the Theory of Relativity''
(1981) *''On the Nature of Time'' (1983)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schock, Rolf 1933 births 1986 deaths 20th-century Swedish philosophers Relativity critics Swedish logicians Swedish philosophers Stockholm University alumni University of New Mexico alumni