Stephen Schiffer (born 1940) is an American philosopher and currently Silver Professor of Philosophy at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. He is a specialist 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 ...

Education and career

Schiffer was awarded a

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 ...

in philosophy from 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 ...

in 1962 and a Ph.D. in philosophy from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 1970. He taught at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

, and the

Graduate Center of the City University of New York The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and postgraduate university in New York City. Formed in 1961 as Division of Graduate Studies at City University ...

before moving to the

New York University Department of Philosophy The New York University Department of Philosophy offers Bachelor of Arts, B.A. and Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D. degrees in philosophy, as well as a Academic minor, minor in philosophy and a joint Academic major, major in language and mind with the ...

. He was elected a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

American Academy of Arts and 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 ...

in 2007."AAAS Elects Five NYU Faculty, Along with Gore, O'Connor, and Bloomberg"

, May 1, 2007.

Philosophical work

He has specialized in the

, and is the author of three significant works concerning semantic meaning: ''Meaning'' (OUP, 1972), ''Remnants of Meaning'' (

MIT Press The MIT Press is the university press of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The MIT Press publishes a number of academic journals and has been a pioneer in the Open Ac ...

, 1987), and ''The Things We Mean'' (OUP, 2003).

References

External links

Schiffer's homepagearchived version
1940 births Living people 20th-century American philosophers 21st-century American philosophers University of Pennsylvania alumni American philosophers of language Alumni of the University of Oxford American expatriates in the United Kingdom University of California, Berkeley faculty University of Arizona faculty CUNY Graduate Center faculty New York University faculty Silver professors {{US-philosopher-stub