Ian Rumfitt is a British philosopher specialising in the

philosophy of language Philosophy of language refers to the philosophical study of the nature of language. It investigates the relationship between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of Meaning (philosophy), me ...

and philosophy of math He is a senior research fellow at

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

Education and career

Rumfitt was educated at

Victoria College, Jersey Victoria College is a Government of Jersey, Government-run, Independent school, fee-paying, academically selective day school

, at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, where he was also a junior research fellow, and at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. His graduate studies at Oxford were supervised by

Sir Michael Dummett Sir Michael Anthony Eardley Dummett (; 27 June 1925 – 27 December 2011) was an English academic described as "among the most significant British philosophers of the last century and a leading campaigner for racial tolerance and equality." He ...

. He has taught at

Keele University Keele University is a Public university#United Kingdom, public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, it was granted uni ...

, the

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

, where he served as a tutorial fellow from 1998 until 2005,

Birkbeck College, University of London Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public research university located in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. Established in 1823 as the London Mechanics' ...

, where he was professor of philosophy from 2005 until 2013, and the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

, where he was professor of philosophy from 2013 until 2016. He delivered the Nelson Lectures in Philosophy at the University of Michigan in 2004. He was founding co-director of the Centre for Logic and Language within the Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London. He was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2001. Since January 2016, he has been one of the editors of

Philosophers' Imprint ''Philosophers' Imprint'' is a refereed philosophy journal. The journal was launched by University of Michigan Philosophy professors Stephen Darwall (now at Yale University) and J. David Velleman (now at New York University and Johns Hopkins Uni ...

. His primary areas of research include the

philosophy of logic Philosophy of logic is the area of philosophy that studies the scope and nature of logic. It investigates the philosophical problems raised by logic, such as the presuppositions often implicitly at work in theories of logic and in their applicatio ...

and the

. He also works in

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

model theory In mathematical logic, model theory is the study of the relationship between theory (mathematical logic), formal theories (a collection of Sentence (mathematical logic), sentences in a formal language expressing statements about a Structure (mat ...

, and 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 ...

, with an interest in the works of

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 ...

. In July 2018, Rumfitt was elected a fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

Philosophical work

Rumfitt's work in the philosophy of logic culminated in the publication of ''The Boundary Stones of Thought'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2015). The book presents a sustained defense of

classical logic Classical logic (or standard logic) or Frege–Russell logic is the intensively studied and most widely used class of deductive logic. Classical logic has had much influence on analytic philosophy. Characteristics Each logical system in this c ...

against such philosophers as

Michael Dummett Sir Michael Anthony Eardley Dummett (; 27 June 1925 – 27 December 2011) was an English academic described as "among the most significant British philosophers of the last century and a leading campaigner for racial tolerance and equality." H ...

and

Crispin Wright Crispin James Garth Wright (; born 21 December 1942) is a British philosopher, who has written on neo-Fregean (neo-logicist) philosophy of mathematics, Wittgenstein's later philosophy, and on issues related to truth, realism, cognitivism, ske ...

. What makes Rumfitt's defense unusual is that he joins Dummett and Wright in rejecting the

principle of bivalence In logic, the semantic principle (or law) of bivalence states that every declarative sentence expressing a proposition (of a theory under inspection) has exactly one truth value, either true or false. A logic satisfying this principle is calle ...

, the keystone of classical semantics. So Rumfitt presents and defends non-classical semantic theories for various problematical areas of discourse which nevertheless validate classical logic. The book also presents a solution to the

Sorites paradox The sorites paradox (), sometimes known as the paradox of the heap, is a paradox that results from vague predicates. A typical formulation involves a heap of sand, from which grains are removed individually. With the assumption that removing a s ...

and a defense of

Kripke–Platek set theory The Kripke–Platek set theory (KP), pronounced , is an axiomatic set theory developed by Saul Kripke and Richard Platek. The theory can be thought of as roughly the predicative part of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory (ZFC) and is considerably weak ...

against the better-known

Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory In set theory, Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, named after mathematicians Ernst Zermelo and Abraham Fraenkel, is an axiomatic system that was proposed in the early twentieth century in order to formulate a theory of sets free of paradoxes suc ...

. Rumfitt's earlier work in logic includes a bilateral formalization of classical logic that avoids problems that have been held to attend its familiar 'unilateral' formalization. In the philosophy of language, he is also known for his work on plural terms, on conditionals, on ascriptions of know how, on indirect speech reports, and for his views on the relationship between truth-conditional theories of meaning in the style of Donald Davidson and the intention-based theories championed by

Paul Grice Herbert Paul Grice (13 March 1913 – 28 August 1988), usually publishing under the name H. P. Grice, H. Paul Grice, or Paul Grice, was a British philosopher of language who created the theory of implicature and the cooperative principle ( ...

. *''The Boundary Stones of Thought: An Essay in the Philosophy of Logic'', (2015)* *"Truth and Meaning", ''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society'' Supplementary Volumes (2014)* *"Old Adams Buried", ''Analytic Philosophy'' (2013)* *"Plural terms: another variety of reference?" in J. L. Bermudez (ed.) ''Thought, Reference and Experience: Themes from the Philosophy of Gareth Evans'', (OUP, 2005) *"Savoir Faire", ''The Journal of Philosophy'' (2003)* *"'Yes' and 'No'", ''Mind'' (2000)* *"Truth Conditions and Communication", ''Mind'' (1995)* *"Content and Context: The Paratactic Theory Revisited and Revised", ''Mind'' (1993)*

References

External links

"Ian Rumfitt"
''Philosophy Papers'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Rumfitt, Ian 21st-century British philosophers British philosophers of language British metaphysicians Academics of Keele University Princeton University alumni People educated at Victoria College, Jersey Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford University of Michigan faculty Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Fellows of University College, Oxford 1964 births Living people Fellows of the British Academy