Cora Diamond (born 1937) is an American philosopher who works on

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian- British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is cons ...

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 ph ...

, moral philosophy,

animal ethics Animal ethics is a branch of ethics which examines human-animal relationships, the moral consideration of animals and how nonhuman animals ought to be treated. The subject matter includes animal rights, animal welfare, animal law, speciesism, ...

political philosophy Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...

philosophy of language In analytic philosophy, philosophy of language investigates the nature of language and the relations between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of meaning, intentionality, reference, the ...

, and philosophy and literature. Diamond is the Kenan Professor of Philosophy Emerita at 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 College admission ...

Education and career

Diamond received her

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 yea ...

degree from Swarthmore College in 1957 and her Bachelor of Philosophy degree from St Hugh's College, Oxford (where her tutor was Paul Grice), in 1961.

Philosophical work

One of Diamond's most famous articles, "What Nonsense Might Be", criticizes the way that the logical positivists think about nonsense on

Fregean 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 philo ...

grounds (see category mistake). Another well-known article, "Eating Meat and Eating People", examines the rhetorical and philosophical nature of contemporary attitudes towards

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

. Diamond's writings on both "early" ('' Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'' era) and "late" ('' Philosophical Investigations'' era) Wittgenstein have made her a leading influence in the New Wittgensteinian approach advanced by Alice Crary, James F. Conant, and others. Diamond has published a collection of essays titled ''The Realistic Spirit: Wittgenstein, Philosophy, and the Mind.'' She is the editor of ''Wittgenstein's Lectures on the Foundations of Mathematics: Cambridge 1939'', a collection of lectures assembled from the notes of Wittgenstein's students Norman Malcolm, Rush Rhees, Yorick Smythies, and R. G. Bosanquet. ''Wittgenstein and the Moral Life: Essays in Honor of Cora Diamond'' (edited by Alice Crary) features essays by Crary,

John McDowell John Henry McDowell, FBA (born 7 March 1942) is a South African philosopher, formerly a fellow of University College, Oxford, and now university professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Although he has written on metaphysics, epistemology ...

, Martha Nussbaum, Stanley Cavell, and James F. Conant, among others.

References

External links

Diamond's home page at UVaAn interview with Diamond from 2000
(pdf)
Eating Meat and Eating People
(pdf) {{DEFAULTSORT:Diamond, Cora 1937 births 20th-century American philosophers 20th-century American women writers Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford American ethicists American political philosophers American women philosophers Animal ethicists Living people Philosophers from New York (state) Philosophers of language Swarthmore College alumni University of Virginia faculty Wittgensteinian philosophers Writers from New York City

Education and career

Philosophical work

See also

References

External links