Charles Dacre Parsons (April 13, 1933 – April 19, 2024) was an American philosopher best known for his work in the

philosophy of mathematics Philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of mathematics and its relationship to other areas of philosophy, particularly epistemology and metaphysics. Central questions posed include whether or not mathem ...

and the study of the philosophy of

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

. He was professor emeritus at

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 a 2014 review of one of his books, Stewart Shapiro and Teresa Kouri said of Parsons: "It surely goes without saying that eis one of the most important philosophers of mathematics in our generation".

Life and career

Born on April 13, 1933, Charles Dacre Parsons was a son of Harvard sociologist

Talcott Parsons Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902 – May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist of the classical tradition, best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism. Parsons is considered one of the most influential figures in soci ...

. He earned his Ph.D. in

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 ...

in 1961, under the direction of Burton Dreben and

Willard Van Orman Quine Willard Van Orman Quine ( ; known to his friends as "Van"; June 25, 1908 – December 25, 2000) was an American philosopher and logician in the analytic tradition, recognized as "one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century" ...

.Charles D. Parsons, Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus

Department of Philosophy. He taught for many years at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

before moving to Harvard University in 1989. He retired in 2005 as the Edgar Pierce professor of philosophy, a position formerly held by Quine. Parsons was an elected Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

and the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick University in Christiania was establis ...

. Among his doctoral students were Michael Levin, James Higginbotham, Peter Ludlow, Gila Sher and Øystein Linnebo. In 2017 Parsons gave the

Gödel Lecture The Gödel Lecture is an honor in mathematical logic given by the Association for Symbolic Logic, associated with an annual lecture at the association's general meeting. The award is named after Kurt Gödel and has been given annually since 1990. ...

, titled ''Gödel and the Universe of Sets''. Parsons died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 19, 2024, at the age of 91.

Philosophical work

In addition to his work in logic and the philosophy of mathematics, Parsons was an editor, with

Solomon Feferman Solomon Feferman (December 13, 1928July 26, 2016) was an American philosopher and mathematician who worked in mathematical logic. In addition to his prolific technical work in proof theory, computability theory, and set theory, he was known for h ...

and others, of the posthumous works of

Kurt Gödel Kurt Friedrich Gödel ( ; ; April 28, 1906 – January 14, 1978) was a logician, mathematician, and philosopher. Considered along with Aristotle and Gottlob Frege to be one of the most significant logicians in history, Gödel profoundly ...

. He has also written on historical figures, especially

Gottlob Frege Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (; ; 8 November 1848 – 26 July 1925) was a German philosopher, logician, and mathematician. He was a mathematics professor at the University of Jena, and is understood by many to be the father of analytic philos ...

, and

."Quine and Gödel on analyticity", Parsons 014a Essay 6; also Essays 8 and 9, and 983 Essay 7.

Selected publications

Books

* 1983. ''Mathematics in Philosophy: Selected Essays''. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univ. Press. * 2008. ''Mathematical Thought and its Objects''. Cambridge Univ. Press. * 2012. ''From Kant to Husserl: Selected Essays''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London: Harvard Univ. Press. * 2014a. ''Philosophy of Mathematics in the Twentieth Century: Selected Essays''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London: Harvard Univ. Press.

Articles

* 1987. "Developing Arithmetic in Set Theory without infinity: Some Historical Remarks". ''History and Philosophy of Logic'', vol. 8, pp. 201–213. * 1990a. "The Uniqueness of the Natural Numbers". '' Iyyun'', vol. 39, pp. 13–44. ISSN 0021-3306. * 1990b. "The Structuralist View of Mathematical Objects". ''

Synthese ''Synthese'' () is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the epistemology, methodology, and philosophy of science, and related issues. The name ''Synthese'' (from the Dutch for '' synthesis'') finds its origin in the intentions of its f ...

'', vol. 84 (3), pp. 303–346. * 2014b. "Analyticity for Realists". In ''Interpreting Gödel: Critical Essays,'' ed. J. Kennedy. Cambridge University Press, pp. 131–150.

References

1933 births 2024 deaths American logicians Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Columbia University faculty Harvard University Department of Philosophy faculty Mathematical logicians American philosophers of mathematics Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters People from Cambridge, Massachusetts {{US-mathematician-stub