Barbara Caroline Scholz (August 29, 1947 – May 14, 2011) was an American philosopher of science, with a particular focus on the philosophy of

cognitive science Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes. It examines the nature, the tasks, and the functions of cognition (in a broad sense). Mental faculties of concern to cognitive scientists include percep ...

and

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

. She taught at the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a Public university, public research university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, ...

, at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

, and at

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

. She was a fellow of the

Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, is an institute of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 2005–2006. From 1994 until her death in 2011, she was married to linguist Geoff Pullum.

Early life and education

Barbara Scholz was born on August 29, 1947, in

Troy, Ohio Troy is a city in and the county seat of Miami County, Ohio, United States. The population was 26,305 at the 2020 census, making it Miami County's largest city and Ohio's 55th-largest. Troy lies along the Great Miami River about north of Da ...

. Throughout her education, she obtained five degrees in various fields. Scholz earned a B.A. in Philosophy and Religion from

Urbana College Urbana University was a private university specializing in liberal arts education and located in Urbana, Ohio. In its final few years, it was purchased by Franklin University and was a branch campus of that university. History Urbana Universit ...

in 1973, followed by an M.Div. from Andover Newton Theological School in 1976. She taught

community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

courses in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, before deciding to focus on

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. Scholz went on to receive an M.A. (1985) and Ph.D. (1990) from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

, where Stewart Shapiro was her primary doctoral adviser. During her Ph.D. studies, she also completed an M.Sc. in

Cognitive Science Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes. It examines the nature, the tasks, and the functions of cognition (in a broad sense). Mental faculties of concern to cognitive scientists include percep ...

from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

in 1988.

Career

Barbara Scholz accepted a tenure-track position at the

in 1989. Later, she relocated to California and taught philosophy part-time at De Anza College and

UC Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located in Monterey Bay ...

, before obtaining a more permanent position at

. Scholz's areas of expertise included

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

, philosophy of linguistics,

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

philosophy of biology The philosophy of biology is a subfield of philosophy of science, which deals with epistemology, epistemological, metaphysics, metaphysical, and ethics, ethical issues in the biological and biomedical sciences. Although philosophers of science and ...

, and

philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known Text (literary theo ...

. In 2004, Scholz, Geoff Pullum, and James Rogers initiated a group project on the applications of model theory in syntax, which was supported by the

in 2005–2006. However, due to contractual complications with San Jose State, Scholz decided to leave the university and continue her work at Harvard. In 2007, Scholz and Pullum moved to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, where she took up a position in the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences at the University of Edinburgh.

Views

Scholz was an atheist and philosophical naturalist.

Personal life

"In her second year someone stole and distributed some love letters of hers, outing her as a lesbian, and she was ostracized within the school's community." Scholz was introduced to Pullum by Arnold Zwicky, and they were married in 1994 in Santa Cruz, California. In December 2010, Scholz was diagnosed with metastasized and inoperable terminal cancer.

Selected publications

* Scholz, Barbara C. (1994). Rescuing the institutional theory of art. '' Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism'' 52 (1994), 309–325. * Pullum, Geoffrey K. and Barbara C. Scholz (2002). Empirical assessment of stimulus poverty arguments. ''

The Linguistic Review ''The Linguistic Review'' is a double-blind peer-reviewed academic journal covering linguistics established in 1981 and published by Walter de Gruyter. The editor-in-chief is Harry van der Hulst (University of Connecticut). Aims and scope The jou ...

'' 19, 9–50. * Scholz, Barbara C. and Geoffrey K. Pullum (2002). Searching for an argument for linguistic nativism. (A reply to six critical commentary articles on `Empirical assessment of stimulus poverty arguments'.) ''The Linguistic Review'' 19, nos. 1–2, 185–224. * Scholz, Barbara C.; Francis Jeffry Pelletier; and Geoffrey K. Pullum (2011). Philosophy of linguistics. In Edward N. Zalta (ed.), ''

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') is a freely available online philosophy resource published and maintained by Stanford University, encompassing both an online encyclopedia of philosophy and peer-reviewed original publication ...

'', Metaphysics Research Lab, CSLI, Stanford University. Winter 2011 edition (December 21). http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/linguistics/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scholz, Barbara Caroline 1947 births 2011 deaths American women philosophers 20th-century American philosophers American philosophers of science People from Troy, Ohio Urbana University alumni Andover Newton Theological School alumni Ohio State University alumni Alumni of the University of Edinburgh University of Toledo faculty University of California, Santa Cruz faculty San Jose State University faculty 20th-century American women Radcliffe fellows Philosophers of linguistics 21st-century American women Lesbian academics