Stephen Francis Barker (January 11, 1927 – December 16, 2019) was an American

philosopher of mathematics The philosophy of mathematics is the Discipline (academia), branch of philosophy that studies the assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics. It aims to understand the nature and methodology, methods of mathematics, and find out ...

, a professor emeritus of philosophy at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

and a faculty member at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

,"Dr. Barker Receives Harvard Fellowship," ''Daily Trojan'', Vol. 46, No. 136, May 16, 1955 the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

and

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...

.Faculty profile
JHU, retrieved 2011-06-10. Barker did his undergraduate studies at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a private liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeducational colleges in the United States. It was established as ...

and earned a doctorate from

Harvard University 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 highe ...

in 1954.. While at Harvard, he won the Bechtel Prize in 1951 for his essay, "A Study of Phenomenalism". As a young instructor at the University of Southern California, Harvard awarded him the George Santayana Fellowship for the academic year 1954–55. He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1964. Barker's wife, Evelyn A. Barker, was also a philosopher.

Books

Barker is the author of: *''Induction and hypothesis: a study of the logic of confirmation'' (Cornell University Press, 1957). This study of theories of informal reasoning is structured in four parts: an investigation of the problem of induction, a rejection of explanations based on overriding premises (such as the uniformity of nature) as a form of

begging the question In classical rhetoric and logic, begging the question or assuming the conclusion (Latin: ') is an informal fallacy that occurs when an argument's premises assume the truth of the conclusion, instead of supporting it. For example: * "Green is t ...

, an overview of positivist approaches to the problem, and finally a resolution to the problem based on theories of John George Kemeny involving the selection of the most likely hypothesis to fit a set of observations. *''Philosophy of mathematics'' (Prentice-Hall, 1964). Part of a series of books (edited by Elizabeth and

Monroe Beardsley Monroe Curtis Beardsley (; December 10, 1915 – September 18, 1985) was an American philosopher of art. Biography Beardsley was born and raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and educated at Yale University (B.A. 1936, Ph.D. 1939), where he re ...

) overviewing the main areas of philosophy, this book describes the main problems in the

philosophy of mathematics The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics. It aims to understand the nature and methods of mathematics, and find out the place of mathematics in people' ...

and evaluates their proposed solutions. Its five chapters concern Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry, and literalist and non-literalist views on the meaning of numbers. *''The elements of logic'' (McGraw Hill, 1965) *''Thomas Reid critical interpretations'' (with Tom L. Beauchamp, Philosophical monographs, 1976) In addition, he edited

John Wisdom Arthur John Terence Dibben Wisdom (12 September 1904, in Leyton, Essex – 9 December 1993, in Cambridge), usually cited as John Wisdom, was a leading British philosopher considered to be an ordinary language philosopher, a philosopher of mind ...

's ''Proof and explanation: the Virginia lectures'' (University Press of America, 1991), co-edited ''The Legacy of logical positivism; studies in the philosophy of science'' with

Peter Achinstein Peter Achinstein (born June 30, 1935) is an American philosopher of science at Johns Hopkins University. Biography Achinstein is the son of Betty (née Comras) and economist Asher Achinstein. He received his B.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard with ...

(Johns Hopkins Press, 1969),Review
of ''The Legacy of logical positivism'' by John M. Frame, ''Westminster Theological Journal'' 34 (2): 199–201.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Steven Philosophers from Virginia Philosophers from Ohio Philosophers from Maryland Philosophers of mathematics Swarthmore College alumni Harvard University alumni University of Virginia faculty Ohio State University faculty Johns Hopkins University faculty 1927 births 2019 deaths Philosophers from California