Michael Levin (; born 21 May 1943) is an American philosopher and writer. A professor emeritus of philosophy at

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

, he has published on

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 ...

epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...

, race,

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

, the philosophy of archaeology, 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 ...

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 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, ...

. Levin's central research interests are in

(

reliabilism Reliabilism, a category of theories in the philosophical discipline of epistemology, has been advanced as a theory both of justification and of knowledge. Process reliabilism has been used as an argument against philosophical skepticism, such as ...

and Gettier problems) and in philosophy of race.

Education

Levin graduated from

Stuyvesant High School Stuyvesant High School ( ) is a co-ed, State school, public, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school in Manhattan, New York City. The school, commonly called "Stuy" ( ) by its students, faculty, a ...

in 1960, earned his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

in 1964, and studied at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

where he received a doctoral degree in 1969. His dissertation was titled "Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Mathematics".

Philosophical views

Levin advocates

and the theory of

compatibilism Compatibilism is the belief that free will and determinism are mutually compatible and that it is possible to believe in both without being logically inconsistent. As Steven Weinberg puts it: "I would say that free will is nothing but our consc ...

in free will.

Political and social views

Torture

In the 1982 article "The Case for Torture", Levin argued that "there are situations where torture is not merely permissible but morally mandatory." Levin reiterated this view in 2009.

Economics

For Christmas 2000, Levin published a libertarian critique of Dickens's popular novella ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...

'' in which he defends Scrooge as "an entrepreneur whose ideas and practices benefit his employees, society at large, and himself."

Homosexuality

Levin has questioned the morality, wisdom, and naturalness of

. He argues that homosexual acts are abnormal because their participants are not using their sexual organs for what they are designed, and that this abnormality must be a source of unhappiness, even though it may go unrecognized. In his book ''

Sexual Desire Sexual desire is an emotion and motivational state characterized by an interest in sexual objects or activities, or by a drive to seek out sexual objects or to engage in sexual activities. It is an aspect of sexuality, which varies significantly ...

'' (1986), the philosopher

Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton, (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher, writer, and social critic who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of Conservatism in the United Kingdom, c ...

criticized Levin's attempt to show that homosexuality is abnormal, calling it absurd. Timothy Murphy has criticized Levin's arguments about homosexuality in detail. Murphy states in '' Gay Science'' (1997) that while Levin "more or less accepts that there is a strong biological basis for homoerotic orientation" he nevertheless believes that discrimination against gay people may be defensible on several grounds, including the possibility that there is a biologically based dislike of homosexuality.

Feminism

Feminist

Susan Faludi Susan Charlotte Faludi (; born April 18, 1959) is an American feminism, feminist, journalist, and author. She won a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism in 1991, for a report on the leveraged buyout of Safeway Stores, Inc., a report that the ...

writes in '' Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women'' (1991) that Levin's 1988 book ''Feminism and Freedom'' characterizes feminism as an "antidemocratic, if not totalitarian, ideology" without a single redeeming feature.Faludi, Susan. ''Backlash: The Undeclared War Against Women''. London: Chatto & Windus, 1992. pages 329-330

Race

Levin agrees with

Arthur Jensen Arthur Robert Jensen (August 24, 1923 – October 22, 2012) was an American psychologist and writer. He was a professor of educational psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Jensen was known for his work in psychometrics an ...

and

Richard Lynn Richard Lynn (20 February 1930 – July 2023) was a controversial English psychologist and self-described " scientific racist" who advocated for a genetic relationship between race and intelligence. He was the editor-in-chief of '' Mankind Qua ...

that white people score higher on IQ tests than black people due to genetic differences—a view that has been criticized by scholars such as

Leon Kamin Leon J. Kamin (December 29, 1927 – December 22, 2017) was an American psychologist known for his contributions to learning theory and his critique of estimates of the heritability of IQ. He studied under Richard Solomon (psychologist), Richard S ...

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 ...

. Levin defended this view in an exchange in the journal ''

Philosophy of the Social Sciences Philosophy of social science examines how social science integrates with other related scientific disciplines, which implies a rigorous, systematic endeavor to build and organize knowledge relevant to the interaction between individual people and ...

''. Throughout the 1990s Levin frequently wrote about race differences in intelligence, biology, and morality for the

white nationalist White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a Race (human categorization), raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara ...

publication ''

American Renaissance The American Renaissance was a period of American architecture and the arts from 1876 to 1917, characterized by renewed national self-confidence and a feeling that the United States was the heir to Greek democracy, Roman law, and Renaissance hu ...

''. The

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...

classifies him as an "unabashed white supremacist."

Personal life

Like Michael H. Hart, he is one of the few

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

supporters of

white nationalism White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a Race (human categorization), raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara ...

.Carol M. Swain, ''The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration'', Cambridge University Press, 2002, page 70 Levin is married to philosopher of mathematics Margarita Levin.

Selected publications

Books

*''Metaphysics and the Mind-Body Problem'', Oxford University Press, 1979. . *''Feminism and Freedom'', Transaction Publishers, 1987. *''Why Race Matters: Race Differences and What They Mean'', Praeger Publishers, 1997.

Articles and essays

*Levin, M. E. 1968. Fine, Mathematics, and Theory Change. ''The Journal of Philosophy'' 65, no. 2: pages 52–56. *Levin, M. E. 1971. Length Relativity. ''The Journal of Philosophy'' 68, no. 6: pages 164–174. *Levin, M. E. 1973. On explanation in archaeology: a rebuttal to Fritz and Plog. ''American Antiquity'' 38, no. 4: pages 387–395. *Levin, M. E. 1974. Kant's Derivation of the Formula of Universal Law as an Ontological Argument. ''Kant-Studien'' 65, no. 1-4: pages 50–66. *Levin, M. E. 1975. Kripke's argument against the identity thesis. ''The Journal of Philosophy'' 72, no. 6: pages 149–167. *Levin, M. E. 1975. Relativity, Spatial and Ontological. ''Nous'': pages 243–267. *Levin, M. E. 1976. The extensionality of causation and causal-explanatory contexts. ''Philosophy of Science'' 43, no. 2: pages 266–277. *Levin, M. E. 1976. On the ascription of functions to objects, with special reference to inference in archaeology. ''Philosophy of the Social Sciences'' 6, no. 3: page 227. *Levin, M. E. 1977. Animal rights evaluated. ''The Humanist'' 37, no. 4: pages 12–15. *Levin, M. E., and M. R. Levin. 1977. Flagpoles, shadows and deductive explanation. ''Philosophical Studies'' 32, no. 3: pages 293–299. *Levin, M. E., and M. R. Levin. 1978. The independence results of set theory: An informal exposition. ''Synthese'' 38, no. 1: pages 1-34. *Levin, M. E., and M. R. Levin. 1978. Lavoisier's Slow Burn. ''Philosophy of Science'' 45, no. 4: pages 626–629. *Levin, M. E. 1979. On theory-change and meaning-change. ''Philosophy of Science'' 46, no. 3: pages 407–424. *Levin, M. E. 1979. Quine's View (s) of Logical Truth. ''Essays on the Philosophy ofW. V. Quine'': pages 45–67. *Levin, M. E. 1979. The universalizability of moral judgments revisited. ''Mind'' 88, no. 1: page 115. *Levin, M. E. 1979. Forcing and the Indeterminacy of Translation. ''Erkenntnis'' 14, no. 1: pages 25–32. *Levin, M. E. 1979. Ahab as Socratic Philosopher: The Myth of the Cave Inverted. ''ATQ: The American Transcendental Quarterly'' 41: pages 61–73. *Levin, M. E., and M. R. Levin. 1979. The modal confusion in Rawls' original position. ''Analysis'' 39, no. 2: page 82. *Levin, M. E. 1980. Reverse discrimination, shackled runners, and personal identity. ''Philosophical Studies'' 37, no. 2: pages 139–149. *Levin, M. E. 1981. Equality of opportunity. ''The Philosophical Quarterly'' 31, no. 123: pages 110–125. *Levin, M. E. 1981. Is racial discrimination special? ''The Journal of Value Inquiry'' 15, no. 3: pages 225–234. *Levin, M. E. 1981. Phenomenal Properties. ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 42, no. 1: pages 42–58. *Levin, M. E. 1984. Why Homosexuality is Abnormal. ''The Monist'' 67, no. 2, Sociobiology and Philosophy: pages 251–283. *Levin, M. E. 1984. Why we believe in other minds. ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 44, no. 3: pages 343–359. *Levin, M. E. 2007. Bundling Hume with Kripkenstein. ''Synthese'' 155, no. 1: pages 35–64. *Levin, M. E. 2007. Compatibilism and Special Relativity. ''The Journal of philosophy'' 104, no. 9: pages 433–463. *Levin, M. E. 1982 ''The Case for Torture'' *Levin, M. E. nd. ''In Defense of Scrooge'

a Libertarianism, libertarian apology in favor of the popular protagonist of

Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the great ...

' ''

References

External links

Levin's academic page
at CUNY
Michael Levin

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levin, Michael 1943 births Living people 21st-century American philosophers American libertarians American white nationalists Jewish philosophers City College of New York faculty Columbia University alumni Male critics of feminism People involved in race and intelligence controversies Stuyvesant High School alumni Place of birth missing (living people)