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Henry Nelson Goodman (7 August 1906 – 25 November 1998) was an American
philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
, known for his work on counterfactuals, mereology, the problem of induction, irrealism, and
aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...
.


Life and career

Goodman was born in Somerville,
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, the son of Sarah Elizabeth (née Woodbury) and Henry Lewis Goodman. He was of
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 ...
origins. He graduated from
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 ...
, AB, '' magna cum laude'' (1928). During the 1930s, he ran an art gallery in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, Massachusetts, while studying for a Harvard PhD in
philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
, which he completed in 1941. His experience as an art dealer helps explain his later turn towards
aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...
, where he became better known than in
logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...
and
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 ...
. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, he served as a
psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...
in the US Army. He taught at 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 ...
, 1946–1964, where his students included
Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...
, Sidney Morgenbesser, Stephen Stich, and
Hilary Putnam Hilary Whitehall Putnam (; July 31, 1926 – March 13, 2016) was an American philosopher, mathematician, computer scientist, and figure in analytic philosophy in the second half of the 20th century. He contributed to the studies of philosophy of ...
. He was a research fellow at the Harvard Center for Cognitive Studies from 1962 to 1963 and was a professor at
Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...
from 1964 to 1967, before being appointed Professor of Philosophy at Harvard in 1968. In 1967, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, he was the founding director of Harvard Project Zero, a basic research project in artistic cognition and artistic education. He remained the director for four years and served as an informal adviser for many years thereafter. Goodman died in Needham, Massachusetts.


Philosophical work


Induction and "grue"

In his book '' Fact, Fiction, and Forecast'', Goodman introduced the " new riddle of induction", so-called by analogy with Hume's classical problem of induction. He accepted Hume's observation that
inductive reasoning Inductive reasoning refers to a variety of method of reasoning, methods of reasoning in which the conclusion of an argument is supported not with deductive certainty, but with some degree of probability. Unlike Deductive reasoning, ''deductive'' ...
(i.e. inferring from past experience about events in the future) was based solely on human habit and regularities to which our day-to-day existence has accustomed us. Goodman argued, however, that Hume overlooked the fact that some regularities establish habits (a given piece of copper conducting electricity increases the credibility of statements asserting that other pieces of copper conduct electricity) while some do not (the fact that a given man in a room is a third son does not increase the credibility of statements asserting that other men in this room are third sons). Hempel's confirmation theory argued that the solution is to differentiate between hypotheses, which apply to all things of a certain class, and
evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports the proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the proposition is truth, true. The exact definition and role of evidence vary across different fields. In epistemology, evidence is what J ...
statements, which apply to only one thing. Goodman's famous counterargument was to introduce the predicate grue, which applies to all things examined before a certain time ''t'' just in case they are green, but also to other things just in case they are blue and not examined before time ''t''. If we examine emeralds before time ''t'' and find that emerald ''a'' is green, emerald ''b'' is green, and so forth, each will confirm the hypothesis that all emeralds are green. However, emeralds ''a, b, c,''..etc. also confirm the hypothesis that all emeralds are grue. Thus, before time ''t'', the apparently law-like statements "All emeralds are green" and "All emeralds are grue" are equally well confirmed by observation, but obviously "All emeralds are grue" is not a law-like statement. Goodman's example showed that the difficulty in determining what constitutes law-like statements is far greater than previously thought, and that once again we find ourselves facing the initial dilemma that "anything can confirm anything".


Nominalism and mereology

Goodman, along with Stanislaw Lesniewski, is the founder of the contemporary variant of
nominalism In metaphysics, nominalism is the view that universals and abstract objects do not actually exist other than being merely names or labels. There are two main versions of nominalism. One denies the existence of universals—that which can be inst ...
, which argues that
philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
,
logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...
, and
mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
should dispense with
set theory Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set, set theory – as a branch of mathema ...
. Goodman's nominalism was driven purely by ontological considerations. After a long and difficult 1947 paper coauthored with W. V. O. Quine, Goodman ceased to trouble himself with finding a way to reconstruct mathematics while dispensing with
set theory Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set, set theory – as a branch of mathema ...
– discredited as sole
foundations of mathematics Foundations of mathematics are the mathematical logic, logical and mathematics, mathematical framework that allows the development of mathematics without generating consistency, self-contradictory theories, and to have reliable concepts of theo ...
as of 1913 ( Russell and Whitehead, in ''
Principia Mathematica The ''Principia Mathematica'' (often abbreviated ''PM'') is a three-volume work on the foundations of mathematics written by the mathematician–philosophers Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell and published in 1910, 1912, and 1 ...
''). The program of David Hilbert to reconstruct it from logical axioms was proven futile in 1931 by Gödel. Because of this and other failures of seemingly fruitful lines of research, Quine soon came to believe that such a reconstruction was impossible, but Goodman's Penn colleague Richard Milton Martin argued otherwise, writing a number of papers suggesting ways forward. According to Thomas Tymoczko's ''afterword'' in ''New directions in the philosophy of mathematics'', Quine had "urged that we abandon ad hoc devices distinguishing mathematics from science and just accept the resulting assimilation", putting the "key burden on the theories (networks of sentences) that we accept, not on the individual sentences whose significance can change dramatically depending on their theoretical context." In so doing, Tymoczko claimed,
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 ...
and
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, ...
were merged into quasi-empiricism: the emphasis of mathematical practice as effectively part of the
scientific method The scientific method is an Empirical evidence, empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and ...
, an emphasis on method over result. The Goodman–Leonard (1940) calculus of individuals is the starting point for the American variant of mereology. While the exposition in Goodman and Leonard invoked a bit of naive set theory, the variant of the calculus of individuals that grounds Goodman's 1951 ''The Structure of Appearance'', a revision and extension of his PhD thesis, makes no mention of the notion of set (while his PhD thesis still did). Simons (1987) and Casati and Varzi (1999) show that the calculus of individuals can be grounded in either a bit of set theory, or monadic predicates, schematically employed. Mereology is accordingly "ontologically neutral" and retains some of Quine's pragmatism (which Tymoczko in 1998 carefully qualified as American Pragmatism).


Select bibliography

*"The Calculus of Individuals and Its Uses" (with Henry S. Leonard), ''
Journal of Symbolic Logic The '' Journal of Symbolic Logic'' is a peer-reviewed mathematics journal published quarterly by Association for Symbolic Logic. It was established in 1936 and covers mathematical logic. The journal is indexed by '' Mathematical Reviews'', Zent ...
5'' (1940): 45–55. *''A Study of Qualities'' ( doctoral thesis). Diss. Harvard U., 1941. Reprinted 1990, by Garland (New York), as part of its Harvard dissertations in Philosophy Series.
A Query on Confirmation
, '' The Journal of Philosophy'' (1946): Vol.43, No.14, pp. 383–385.
"Steps Toward a Constructive Nominalism"
co-authored with W. V. O. Quine, ''Journal of Symbolic Logic'', 12 (1947): 105–122, Reprinted in Nelson Goodman, ''Problems and Projects'' (Bobbs-Merrill, 1972): 173–198. *''The Structure of Appearance''. Harvard UP, 1951. 2nd ed. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1966. 3rd ed. Boston: Reidel, 1977. *'' Fact, Fiction, and Forecast''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1955. 2nd ed. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1965. 3rd. ed. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1973. 4th ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1983. *'' Languages of Art: An Approach to a Theory of Symbols''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1968. 2nd ed. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1976. Based on his 1960–61 John Locke lectures. *''Problems and Projects''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1972. *''Basic Abilities Required for Understanding and Creation in the Arts: Final Report'' (with David Perkins, Howard Gardner, and the assistance of Jeanne Bamberger et al.) Cambridge: Harvard University, Graduate School of Education: Project No. 9-0283, Grant No. OEG-0-9-310283-3721 (010), 1972. *'' Ways of Worldmaking''. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1978. Paperback *''Of Mind and Other Matters''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1984. *''Reconceptions in Philosophy and other Arts and Sciences'' (with Catherine Elgin). Indianapolis: Hackett; London: Routledge, 1988. Paperback Edition, London: Routledge, Indianapolis: Hackett, 1990. Source: ''Complete International Bibliography''


See also

* American philosophy *
List of American philosophers American philosophy is the activity, corpus, and tradition of philosophers affiliated with the United States. The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' notes that while it lacks a "core of defining features, American Philosophy can neverthe ...


Notes


References

* Casati, R., and Varzi, A., 1999. ''Parts and Places: the structures of spatial representation''. MIT Press. * Cohnitz, Daniel, and Rossberg, Marcus, 2003. ''Nelson Goodman''. Chesham: Acumen & Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. * Gardner, H., and Perkins, D. "The Mark of Zero: Project Zero's Identity Revealed." HGSE Alumni Bulletin, December 1994 39(1), 2–6. * Shottenkirk, Dena, 2009. ''Nominalism and Its Aftermath: The Philosophy of Nelson Goodman''. Synthese Library, Vol. 343. Springer, . * Simons, Peter, 1987. ''Parts: A Study in Ontology''. Oxford Univ. Press.


External links


Bibliography
of the complete primary and selected secondary literatures, by John Lee.

by Catherine Elgin. * * *
The Unity of Goodman's Thought
' by D Cohnitz, 2009.
Nelson Goodman Remembered
by Curtis Carter, 1999
Nelson Goodman Interview (1989) - Induction, Worldmaking, Symbols, & Art
on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Goodman, Nelson 1906 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American philosophers 20th-century American essayists American male essayists American male non-fiction writers American philosophy academics Analytic philosophers American epistemologists Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Harvard University Department of Philosophy faculty Jewish American military personnel Jewish philosophers Ontologists People from Needham, Massachusetts People from Somerville, Massachusetts American philosophers of art American philosophers of language American philosophers of logic American philosophers of mathematics American philosophers of mind American philosophers of social science University of Pennsylvania faculty 20th-century American male writers Corresponding fellows of the British Academy 20th-century American Jews