Mark Lowell Wilson (born 1947) is an American philosopher and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
. Wilson has authored several books on the
philosophy of mathematics
The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics. It aims to understand the nature and methods of mathematics, and find out the place of mathematics in people's ...
.
Education and early life
Wilson was raised in Oregon, and enrolled at
Reed College between 1965 and 1967, before earning his bachelor's degree in 1969 from the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
. He completed a doctorate at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1976, where his thesis was supervised by
Hilary Putnam
Hilary Whitehall Putnam (; July 31, 1926 – March 13, 2016) was an American philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist, and a major figure in analytic philosophy in the second half of the 20th century. He made significant contributions ...
.
Academic career
Before joining the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
faculty, where he was named distinguished professor of philosophy in 2015, Wilson taught at the
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
,
University of Illinois at Chicago
The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a Public university, public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus esta ...
, and
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
.
His research mainly focuses on how physical and mathematical concerns become entangled with metaphysics and philosophy of language. He has published several books, including ''Imitation of Rigor: An Alternate History of Analytic Philosophy'', ''Innovation and Certainty'', ''Wandering Significance: An Essay on Conceptual Behavior'', and ''Physics Avoidance: and other essays in conceptual strategy''. He is a Resident Fellow of the
Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh and a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) 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 ...
.
Bibliography
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Mark
21st-century American philosophers
21st-century American male writers
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
University of Pittsburgh faculty
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Philosophers from Pennsylvania
University of California, San Diego faculty
Reed College alumni
20th-century American philosophers
1947 births
University of Washington alumni
Harvard University alumni
University of Illinois Chicago faculty
Ohio State University faculty
Philosophers from Oregon
American philosophers of mathematics
American philosophy academics