Graham Oddie is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

philosopher who lives and works in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He has been Professor of Philosophy at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

since 1994.

Biography

Oddie was educated at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

, where he received a first class honors degree in philosophy, and at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, where he received a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in logic and philosophy of science (1979). His teachers at the

included Pavel Tichý and Alan Musgrave, and at the LSE, John Watkins (his supervisor), and Colin Howson. Before moving to the United States he held positions at the University of Otago Oddie wrote a PhD on his new idea of truthlikeness which transformed into his book, ''Likeness to Truth''. and

Massey University Massey University () is a Public university, public research university in New Zealand that provides internal and distance education. The university has campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Data from Universities New Zealand ...

(where he was Professor and Chair of Philosophy from 1988 to 1994). At the

he was elected Chair of Philosophy in 1997, and appointed Associate Dean for Humanities and the Arts in 2002. He is a past President of the Australasian Association of Philosophy, and has held visiting positions at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

, Tantur Institute Jerusalem, the University of London, the Australian National University,

the University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, the University of Canterbury, and

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. Oddie is best known for his work in the theory of value—including the nature of value, the logic of value and our knowledge of value. He is also known for work on cognitive values (truth, truthlikeness and probability). His books include ''Likeness to Truth'' (the first monograph on the notion of verisimilitude, or closeness to the truth), and ''Value, Reality, and Desire'' (an extended defense of the thesis that value is real and irreducible).

Publications

Books

*''Likeness to Truth'', (Reidel, 1986), . *''Justice, Ethics and New Zealand Society'', co-edited with Roy Perrett, (Oxford University Press, 1992), . *''What's Wrong? Applied Ethicists and Their Critics'', co-edited with David Boonin, (Oxford University Press, 2004 and 2009), . *''Value, Reality and Desire'' (Oxford University Press, 2005 and 2009), .

Selected papers

*“Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Partiality, Preferences and Perspective”, ''Les Ateliers De L’Éthique (La Revue de Créum)'' Volume 9, numéro 2, été 2014, pp. 57–81. *"The content, consequence and likeness approaches to verisimilitude: compatibility, trivialization, and underdetermination", ''Synthese'' June 2013, Volume 190, Issue 9, pp 1647–1687. *"Truthlikeness", ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (Summer 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) *“The fictionalist’s attitude problem”, (with Dan Demetriou) in ''Ethical Theory and Moral Practice'', (2007), 10: 485-98.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oddie, Graham Living people 20th-century New Zealand philosophers University of Otago alumni Alumni of the London School of Economics Academic staff of the University of Otago Academic staff of Massey University University of Colorado Boulder faculty Year of birth missing (living people)