Sun-Joo Shin is a Korean-American philosopher known for her work on

diagrammatic reasoning Diagrammatic reasoning is reasoning by means of visual depiction, representations. The study of ''diagrammatic reasoning'' is about the understanding of concepts and ideas, visualized with the use of diagrams and imagery instead of by natural lan ...

mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of Logic#Formal logic, formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory (also known as computability theory). Research in mathematical logic com ...

, including the validity of reasoning using

Venn diagram A Venn diagram is a widely used diagram style that shows the logical relation between set (mathematics), sets, popularized by John Venn (1834–1923) in the 1880s. The diagrams are used to teach elementary set theory, and to illustrate simple ...

s, the

existential graph An existential graph is a type of diagrammatic or visual notation for logical expressions, created by Charles Sanders Peirce, who wrote on graphical logic as early as 1882, and continued to develop the method until his death in 1914. They include ...

s of

Charles Sanders Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce ( ; September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American scientist, mathematician, logician, and philosopher who is sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism". According to philosopher Paul Weiss (philosopher), Paul ...

, and the philosophical distinction between diagrammatic and symbolic reasoning. She is a professor of philosophy at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

Education and career

Shin was an undergraduate in Korea. There, she became interested in the philosophy of art and the work of

Maurice Merleau-Ponty Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty. ( ; ; 14 March 1908 – 3 May 1961) was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. The constitution of meaning in human experience was his main interes ...

, but did not have the funding for graduate study in France. Instead, she obtained a fellowship to

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

, but transferred to

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 ...

a year later, in 1987, after earning a master's degree at Ohio State. At Stanford, under the influence of

Jon Barwise Kenneth Jon Barwise (; June 29, 1942 – March 5, 2000) was an American mathematician, philosopher and logician who proposed some fundamental revisions to the way that logic is understood and used. Education and career He was born in Indepen ...

and

John Etchemendy John W. Etchemendy (born 1952) is an American logician and philosopher who served as Stanford University's twelfth Provost (education), Provost. He succeeded John L. Hennessy to the post on September 1, 2000 and stepped down on January 31, 2017 ...

, her interests shifted to logic, and by 1991 she had completed her dissertation, ''Valid reasoning and visual representation'', under the supervision of Etchemendy. Shin's first faculty position was at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

. In 2002 she moved from Notre Dame to her present position at Yale University.

Books

Shin's books include: *''The Logical Status of Diagrams'' (Cambridge University Press, 1995) *''The Iconic Logic of Peirce’s Graphs'' (MIT Press, 2002) *''Visual Reasoning with Diagrams'' (edited with Amirouche Moktefi, Birkhäuser, 2013)

Personal life

Shin is married to Henry E. Smith, the Fessenden Professor of Law 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shin, Sun-Joo Year of birth missing (living people) Living people South Korean emigrants to the United States South Korean philosophers South Korean women academics American philosophy academics American logicians American women philosophers Philosophers of logic Women logicians Ohio State University alumni Stanford University alumni University of Notre Dame faculty Yale University faculty