Michael Friedman (April 2, 1947 – March 24, 2025) was an American philosopher who was Emeritus

Patrick Suppes Patrick Colonel Suppes (; March 17, 1922 – November 17, 2014) was an American philosopher who made significant contributions to philosophy of science, the theory of measurement, the foundations of quantum mechanics, decision theory, psycholog ...

Professor of Philosophy of Science and Professor, by courtesy, of German Studies at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. Friedman was best known for his work in the

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...

, especially on scientific explanation and the

philosophy of physics In philosophy, the philosophy of physics deals with conceptual and interpretational issues in physics, many of which overlap with research done by certain kinds of theoretical physicists. Historically, philosophers of physics have engaged with ...

, and for his

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

work on

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 ...

. Friedman has done historical work on figures in

continental philosophy Continental philosophy is a group of philosophies prominent in 20th-century continental Europe that derive from a broadly Kantianism, Kantian tradition.Continental philosophers usually identify such conditions with the transcendental subject or ...

such as

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art ...

and

Ernst Cassirer Ernst Alfred Cassirer ( ; ; July 28, 1874 – April 13, 1945) was a German philosopher and historian of philosophy. Trained within the Neo-Kantian Marburg School, he initially followed his mentor Hermann Cohen in attempting to supply an idealistic ...

. He also served as the co-director of the Program in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at Stanford University.

Education and career

Friedman earned his BA from

Queens College, City University of New York Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing. Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...

in 1969 and his PhD from

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 ...

in 1973. Before moving to Stanford in 2002, Friedman taught 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 ...

, the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

, and

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

as a

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

. Friedman was a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts & 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 F ...

from 1997 until his death in 2025. In 2024 he was elected honorary member of the International Academy of Philosophy of Science (AIPS). Four of his articles have been selected as among the "ten best" of their year by '' The Philosopher's Annual''.

Philosophical work

Friedman's early work was on the nature of scientific explanation and the philosophy of physics. His first book, ''Foundations of Space-Time Theories'', was published by

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

in 1983 won the Matchette Prize (now known as the Book Prize) from the

American Philosophical Association The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarl ...

, to recognize work by a younger scholar. It also won the

Lakatos Award The Lakatos Award is given annually for an outstanding contribution to the philosophy of science, widely interpreted. The contribution must be in the form of a monograph, co-authored or single-authored, and published in English during the previou ...

from 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 ...

to recognize outstanding work in philosophy of science. ''Kant and the Exact Sciences'' was described in '' Philosophical Review'' as "a very important book," "required reading for researchers on the relation between the exact sciences and Kant's philosophy."

German philosophy German philosophy, meaning philosophy in the German language or philosophy by German people, in its diversity, is fundamental for both the analytic and continental traditions. It covers figures such as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Immanuel Kant, ...

professor

Hans Sluga Hans D. Sluga (; born 24 April 1937) is a German philosopher who spent most of his career as professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. Sluga teaches and writes on topics in the history of analytic philosophy, the history ...

described Friedman's 2000 book ''A Parting of the Ways: Carnap, Cassirer, and Heidegger'', a book that detailed the philosophies of

Carnap Rudolf Carnap (; ; 18 May 1891 – 14 September 1970) was a German-language philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United States thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle and an advocate of logical positivism. ...

, Cassirer, and

Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art, and language. In April ...

, as "eye-opening" and "ambitious". The book shed new light on the split between

analytic philosophy Analytic philosophy is a broad movement within Western philosophy, especially English-speaking world, anglophone philosophy, focused on analysis as a philosophical method; clarity of prose; rigor in arguments; and making use of formal logic, mat ...

and

Continental philosophy Continental philosophy is a group of philosophies prominent in 20th-century continental Europe that derive from a broadly Kantianism, Kantian tradition.Continental philosophers usually identify such conditions with the transcendental subject or ...

. In his book ''Dynamics of Reason'', Friedman "provides the fullest account to date not only of isneo-Kantian, historicized, dynamical conception of relativized ''a priori'' principles of mathematics and physics, but also of the pivotal role that esees philosophy as playing in making scientific revolutions rational." In 2015, he was awarded the Fernando Gil International Prize for the Philosophy of Science for his book ''Kant's Construction of Nature''. Friedman was an

honorary professor Honorary titles (professor, president, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as ...

at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

Personal life and death

Friedman was married to Graciela De Pierris, a professor of philosophy at Stanford who has published work on

early modern philosophy Early modern philosophy (also classical modern philosophy) Richard Schacht, ''Classical Modern Philosophers: Descartes to Kant'', Routledge, 2013, p. 1: "Seven men have come to stand out from all of their counterparts in what has come to be known ...

. Friedman died in Stanford on March 24, 2025, at the age of 77.In Loving Memory - Michael L. Friedman, 1947-2025.
philosophy.stanford.edu, 8 April 2025. Retrieved 25 April 2025.

Selected publications

Books

*''Foundations of Space-Time Theories: Relativistic Physics and the Philosophy of Science'' (Princeton University Press, 1983) *''Kant and the Exact Sciences'' (Harvard University Press, 1992) *''Reconsidering Logical Positivism'' (Cambridge University Press, 1999) *''A Parting of the Ways: Carnap, Cassirer, and Heidegger'' (Open Court, 2000) *''Dynamics of Reason: The 1999 Kant Lectures at Stanford University'' (CSLI/University of Chicago Press, 2001) *''Immanuel Kant: Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science'' (Cambridge University Press, 2004) (editor) *''The Kantian Legacy in Nineteenth-Century Science'' (MIT Press, 2006) (co-editor with Alfred Nordmann) *''The Cambridge Companion to Carnap'' (2007) (co-editor with Richard Creath) *''Kant's Construction of Nature: A Reading of the Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science'' (Cambridge University Press, 2013)

Journal articles

References

External links

Faculty profile
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Michael 1947 births 2025 deaths 20th-century American philosophers 21st-century American philosophers American philosophy academics Philosophers of cosmology American philosophers of science Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Lakatos Award winners