Factual Appendix to
ACADEMIC VITA
Nicholas Rescher
University Professor of Philosophy
1. BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
Born in
2. STUDIES
Undergraduate
study at
Graduate Study at Princeton University,
1949-1951. M.A. (philosophy), 1950; Ph.D., 1951. University Fellow,
1949-1951. Dissertation: “Leibniz’s Cosmology: A Study of the
Relations Between Leibniz’s Work in Physics and his
Philosophy.” (Ph.D. completed in two years, still at
age 22, setting a record in the Princeton department.)
3. POSITIONS
Assistant in Instruction (Philosophy), 1950-1951.
Instructor in Philosophy, 1951-1952.
The RAND Corporation (
Assistant Mathematician, 1954-1955.
Associate Mathematician, 1955-1956.
Research Mathematician, 1956-1957.
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, 1957-1959.
Associate Professor of Philosophy, 1959-1961.
Professor of Philosophy, 1961-1968.
Research Professor of Philosophy, 1968-1970.
University Professor of Philosophy, 1970-present.
4. ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE AT THE
Chairman, Department of Philosophy, 1980-1981.
Director, Center for Philosophy of Science, 1981-1988.
Chairman, Center for Philosophy of Science, 1988-present.
5. VISITING PROFESSORSHIPS
Honorary member of
Visiting Professor: Temple University, 1968-1969; University
of Western Ontario, 1970-1974; Catholic University of America, 1971-1972;
6. PUBLICATIONS
Author of over two hundred scholarly articles and of some hundred
books, many of which
have been translated into other languages. For details, see the
separate “List of Publications.”
7. BOOKS ABOUT NR’S WORK
Ernest Sosa (ed.), The Philosophy of Nicholas Rescher (Dordrecht: Reidel, 1979). [A collection of critical essays with brief replies by N.R. [The contributors include: Annette Baier, Stephen Barker, Nuel D. Belnap, Jr., Laurence BonJour, Robert E. Butts, Roderick M. Chisholm, L. Jonathan Cohen, Jude J. Dougherty, Brian Ellis, R.M. Hare, Hide Ishiguro, George Von Wright, and John W. Yolton.]
Robert Almeder (ed.), Praxis and Reason: Studies in the Philosophy of Nicholas Rescher (Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1982.) [A collection of critical and expanding essays with brief replies by NR. The contributors include: Timo Airaksinen, Robert Almeder, Antonio Cua, John E. Hare, Risto Hilpinen, John Kekes, Gerald J. Massey, Jack W. Meiland, Mark Pastin, Friedrick Rapp, James Sterba, and Dennis Temple.]
Heiner Coomann, Die kohaerenztheorie
der Wahrheit: Eine kritische Darstellung der Theorie Reschers von Ihrem
historischen Hintergrund (Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Peter Lang,
1983).
Andrea Bottani, Verità e Coerenza: Suggio su’ll epistemologia coerentista di Nicholas Rescher, (Milano: Franco Angeli Liberi, 1989). [A systematic study of NR’s coherence theory of truth.]
Michele Marsonet, The Primacy of Practical Reason: An Essay on Nicholas Rescher’s Philosophy (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1995).
A. Wüstehube and M. Quante (eds.), Pragmatic Idealism: Critical Discussions of Nicholas Rescher’s Philosophy System (Amsterdam: Ropodi, 1998). [A series of some fifteen critical essays on NR’s philosophy.]
Lotfallah Nabori, Avicennan Logic
Based on Nicholas Rescher’s Point of View (
Michael Weber (ed.), After Whitehead: Rescher and Process Philosophy (Frankfurt: ONTOS Verlag, 2004).
8. MEMBERSHIP IN ACADEMIES
Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Elected to fellowship in 1961.
Institut International de Philosophie.
Elected to membership in 1971. [Based in
Academie Internationale de Philosphie des
Sciences. Elected to membership in 1984.
[Based in
Academia Europaea:
Royal Society of Canada. Elected to fFellowship in 2006.
9. HONORARY DEGREES
L.H.D. (Doctor of
Humane Letters), Loyola
Dr. h.c. (Doctor honoris causa), National Autonomous University of Córdoba (Argentina), 1992.
L.H.D.
(Doctor of Humane Letters),
Dr. h.c. (Doctor honoris
causa),
D.Sc. (Doctor of
Science, honoris causa).
Dr. phil. h.c. (Doctor philosophiae honoris causa), Fernuniversität Hagen (Germany), 2001.
Dr. rer. Pol. h.c. (Doctor rerum politicarum honors causa. University of
10. AWARDS AND PRIZES
Alexander von Humboldt Humanities Prize, 1983. (Some three or four of these prizes, designed as Forschungspreis für Geisteswissenschaftler, are awarded worldwide each year under the auspices of the Federal Republic of Germany “in recognition of outstanding research accomplishments by humanistic scholars of international distinction.”)
Medal
of Merit for Distinguished Scholarship, University of
President’s
Distinguished Research Award,
11. SPECIAL LECTURESHIPS
United States Air Force Academy: J.A. Reich Distinguished Lecture on War, Morality and the Military Profession. “The Complexity of Military Obligation.” November, 1990.
Southern
12. MEMBERSHIP IN LEARNED AND HONORARY SOCIETIES
Member of American Philosophical Association, American Catholic Philosophical Association, Philosophy of Science Society, International G.W. Leibniz Society, Charles S. Peirce Society, and others.
Member of Phi Betta Kappa and Sigma Xi. Honoris causa member of the Omicron Delta Kappa Society (student honorary) and of Phi Sigma Tau (student philosophy honorary).
13. PRESIDENCIES OF SCHOLARLY ORGANIZATIONS
• Charles Sanders Peirce Society (1983-86).
• G. W. Leibniz Society of America (1983-86).
• American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division (1989-90).
• American Catholic Philosophical Association (2003-04).
• American Metaphysical Society (2004-05)
14. SERVICE ON GOVERNING BOARDS OF SCHOLARLY
ORGANIZATIONS
Secretary General, Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science of the international Union of History and Philosophy of Science (an organ of UNESCO), 1969-1975.
Board of Directors, International Federation of Philosophical Societies, 1984-present. (Chairman, Commission on Finances 1972-77.)
President,
Member of the Board of Directors, JHP Institute
(Publisher of the Journal of the History of Philosophy),
1963 - 1975. (Founding member.)
Member of the Governing Board of JPL Associates (Governing body of the Journal of Philosophical Logic), 1963 - present; president 1971-1980.
Member of the Board of Directors,
1981 - 1990.
Member of the International Board of Advisors,
Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology,
1989 - 1995.
15. OFFICES IN PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES
Member of the Council (Wissenschaftlicher Beirat) of the International Leibniz Society (Internationale G.W. Leibniz-Gesellschaft), 1967 - present.
Executive Committee Member, The Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science (1970-1980).
Chairman, Program Committee for 1970, American Philosophical Association (Eastern Division).
Executive Committee Member, Leibniz Society of America (1976-78).
Chairman, Nominating Committee for 1984-85, Philosophy of Science Society.
Member, Matchette Prize Selection Committee for 1987, American Philosophical Association.
President, Phi Beta Kappa Chapter Xi of Pennsylvania, 1998 (Member of the Executive Committee 1982-present).
Member of the Board of Directors, International Federation of Philosophical Societies, (1988-1995).
16. MEMBERSHIP OF SCHOLARLY COMMITTEES AND
COMMISSIONS
Member of the U.S. National Committee for History and Philosophy of Science (U.S. National Academy/National Research Council), (1969-1975).
Member,
Commission for the Year 2000 of the American
Member of the Committee on International Cooperation of the American Philosophical Association (1972-1977).
Member of the Organizing Committee for the Bicentennial Symposium of Philosophy, 1974-76. (Arranged under the aegis of the American Philosophical Association.)
Member of the Peirce Sesquicennial Congress Organizing Committee, to plan for international congress in 1989. (Arranged under the aegis of the C.S. Peirce Society and the American Philosophical Association.)
Member of the Catholic Commission on Intellectual and Cultural Affairs. (Elected in 1986).
17. GRANTS IN SUPPORT OF RESEARCH/POSTDOCTORAL
FELLOWSHIPS
Over the years research support has been received from the Ford Foundation (Fellow, 1959-60), the National Science Foundation, (several grants), The J. S. Guggenheim Foundation (Fellow 1970-71), the American Philosophical Society, and the American Council of Learned Societies.
18. UNIVERSITY SERVICE:
Director, Center for Philosophy of Science, 1981-1988. (Co- Chairman, 1988-present.) (Earlier service as Associate Director 1961-1972).
Chairman, Department of Philosophy, 1962 [acting]; 1980-81.
Executive Committee, Department of Philosophy, 1961-present.
Executive Committee, Department of
History and Philosophy of Science, 1971-present.
Task Force for inaugurating a doctoral program in Religious Studies, 1966-67; internal Evaluation Committee for the Department of Classics, 1979; University Senate committee for University press, 1974-77 and 1980-1988 (Chairman, 1981-84); Steering Committee for the University’s Distinguished Lecture Series, 1979-12; Search Committee for Mellon Professor of Economics, 1981; Provost Search Committee, 1970, 1983, 1993. Member, Executive Committee of the University’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter, 1980-1995. Chairman, Provost Review Committee, 1990. Member, Selection Committee for President’s Distinguished Research Award, 1995-96. Distinguished Professorship Nomination Review Committee, 1997-99. Provost’s Committee on Academic Freedom, 2002-03.
19. DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS DIRECTED
Stephen Puryear 2006
Alexander Pruss 2001
Johanna Seibt 1990
David Carey 1989
Joshua Golding 1989
M. Bryson Brown 1986
Robyn (Mintz) Heym 1981
Diego Marconi 1980
Gerald Michalec 1978
Kathleen Owens 1977
Mary Grace Richardson 1977
Zakaria
Bashier
1973
Kenneth
Collier
1972
Richard
Schuldenfrei 1972
Carl Putz 1971
David Mayo 1970
Thomas Schwartz 1970
Richard Hertz 1967
Brian Skyrms 1964
Ernest Sosa 1964
Stuart Silvers, 1962
20. SUPPORT FOR CONGRESSIONAL PANELS
Support for the Congressionally mandated Natural Science Foundation report on Science Indicators 1976 published in 1977 by the NSF for the National Science Board as document NSB-77-1. Also consulted on the NSF’s “Five Year Outlook” in 1979 as a member of Advisory Committee for the Program in Science and Technology.
Testimony before the Congressional Science Committee’s Subcommittee
on Manned Space Flight (Chaired by Representative Donald Fuqua of
Contribution to the Civilian Space Stations and the U. S. Future in Space (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Office of Technology Assessment; document OTA-STI-24: November 1984).
21. SERVICES TO PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND
INSTITUTIONS
Member, External Program Evaluation Committee: Lehigh University, 1974,1975; Loyola University of Chicago, 1978; Catholic University of America, 1979; Syracuse University, 1980; Guelph & McMaster Universities, 1989; SUNY, Albany, 1990; Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 1998.
Member of the University Press Committee of the
Member of the Board of Editorial Advisors, C.S. Peirce Edition (1975-1980).
Member of the Board of Editors, “Studies in Islamic Philosophy and Science” (Publications series of the Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science) 1978-1982.
Member of the Board of Editors, “History of Logic Library” (1981 - ).
Member of the Board of Editors, “Epistêmê Library” (1987- ).
Member, International Board of Advisors, Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology (1990- 1995).
Nominating Committee, McArthur Foundation, 1993-94.
Member, Council (Beirat) of the Institut für Wissenschaft und Ethik (1995- ).
Nominating Editor, The Philosopher’s Annual (1997- ).
Member of the Advisory Board, Center for Culture and Civil Society (2006- ).
Memberof the
Advisory Board, C. S. Lewis Society of
22. CONSULTANCIES
RAND Corporation (
Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968-73.
Program in Science and Technology, National Science Foundation (1979-80).
North America Philosophical Publications, 1980-present
23. EDITORSHIP OF LEARNED JOURNALS
Editor, American Philosophical Quarterly, 1964-94.
Editor, History of Philosophy Quarterly, 1983-92.
Editor, Public Affairs Quarterly, 1986-91.
24. OTHER EDITORIAL SERVICE
General Co-Editor, Pittsburgh Series in Philosophy and History
of Science (
General Co-Editor, C.P.S. Publications in Philosophy of Science (University Press of America), 1982-present.
Member of the Management Committee, Studia Leibnitiana.
Member of the Management Committee, Deutsche
Zeitschrift für Philosophie.
Member of the Board of Advisors, Jahrbuch
für Wissenschaft und Ethik; Revista
Colombiana de Filosofîa de la Sciencia; Science and Technology Stories;
The Independent Review: A Journal of Political Economy.
Editorial Board Member: Asian Philosophy; Dialogue and Humanism (Poland); Epistemologia; History of Philosopohy and Logical Analysis; Idealistic Studies; Informal Logic; Leibniz Society Review; Metaphilosophy; Mind and Society; Nature and System; Philosophical Alternatives (Bulgaria); Philosophy and Computing; Philosophy in Context; Reason in Practice: Journal of the Philosophy of Management; Research in Philosophy and Technology; Social Philosophy and Policy; Studia Culturologica (Bulgaria); The Journal of Philosophical Logic; Theoria et Historia Scientiarum (Poland); The Pluralist.
25. COMMUNITY SERVICE
Trustee, St. Edmund’s Academy, Pittsburgh, PA (an independent school, under Episcopalian auspices, running from the nursery school level through the eighth grade), 1980-1985; Vice President of the Board of Trustees, 1983-1985.
26. LISTINGS IN ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND REFERENCE WORKS
Diccionario de filosofía, ed. J.
Ferrater-Mora (6th ed., [
Dizionario dei Filosofi del Novecento, Roma, Leo S. Olschkin Editore, 1985), p. 625.
Pragmatik: Handbuch des
pragmatischen Denkens
(Hamburg: F. Meiner), Vol. II (1987), pp. 272-4 and 405-7; Vol. III
(1989), pp. 473-76; Vol. V (1995), pp. 179-194.
Philosophie der Gegenwart, ed. by J.
Nida-Rümelin (Stuttgart: Alfred Kroner Verlag, 1991), pp. 495-99.
A Companion to Epistemology ed. by S. Sosa and J. Dancy, (Oxford: Blackwells 1992), pp. 448-49.
The
Enzyklopädie Philosophie und
Wissenschaftstheorie, ed.
by J. Mittelstrass, Vol. 3 (Stuttgart: Verlag J. B. Metzler, 1995), pp.
594-97.
A Dictionary of Philosophy ed. by Thos. Mautner (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), p. 366.
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy ed. by Edward Craig (London: Routledge, 1996), pp. 660-61. Article by E. Sosa.
Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth Century Philosophers, ed. by S. Brown et. al. (London and New York: Routledge, 1996).
A Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion, ed. by William L. Reese, 2nd ed. (Atlantic Highland, NJ: Humanities Press, 1996).
Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy, ed. by T. Mautner (London: Penguin Books, 1997).
Brockhaus: Die Enzyklopädie, Vol. 18 [F.A. Brockhaus:
Leipzig-Meisenheim, 1998), p. 290.
World Philosophers
and Their Works John. K. Roth (ed.) (
Lexicon of Philosophers. www.philosophenlexicon.de
The
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd ed. (
Wikipedia
27. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES
The International Who’s Who, Dictionary of International Biography; International Authors and Writers Who’s Who, Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the 21st Century, Contemporary Authors, Directory of American Scholars, American Men and Women of Science, Who’s Who in American Education, and others.
28. From THE PHILOSOPHER’S DICTIONARY by Daniel
Dennett
resch, (1) v. To evince an extravagant or pathological degree of intellectual energy in many directions. “He is always resching into print—one can’t keep up with his stuff.” (2) rescher, n. A unit for measuring the venue of printed pages, equal to the collected writing of Francis Bacon (e.g.; a rescher of Bacon). 1 rescher = 10,000 sheffers. “The new wing will increase the library by over a thousand rescher.”
29. IDEAS AND INNOVATIONS ASSOCIATED EPONYMOUSLY
WITH NR’S NAME
• The Rescher Quantifier in symbolic logic. See Stanley Peters and Dag Weslerstahl, Quantifies in Logic and Language (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2006), pp. 60-61 and 473-474). See also NR’s “Plurality Quantification Revisited,” Philosophical Inquirer, vol. 26 (2004), pp. 1-6.
• Rescher's Law of Logarithmic Returns [also Rescher’s Principle of Decreasing Marginal Returns] in scientometrics. See James R. Wible, The Economics of Science (London & New York: Routledge, 1998), p. 151 and the Index) and Roland Wagner-Döbler, “Rescher’s Principle of Diminishing Marginal Returns in Scientific Research,” Scientometrics, vol. 50 (2001), pp. 419-36. Idem, “Wissenschafteliche Information,” Wissenschaftliches Jahrbuch 2000 (Norderstet, Gestellschaft für Wissenschaftsfurlong, 2001), pp. 105-120. See also the Wikipedia entry on “Rescher’s Law of Diminishing Returns.”
• Rescher’s Effective Average Measure in the theory of distributive justice. Se L. H. Powers, “A More Effective Average,” Philosophical Studies, vol. 24 (1970), pp. 74-78); and Geoffrey Ross, “Utilities for distributive Justine,” Theory and Decision, vol. 4 (1974), pp. 239-58 (especially pp. 250-57).
• The Dienes-Rescher Inference Engine (also Rescher-Dienes Implication) in nonstandard logic. See Olaf Wolkenhauser, Fuzzy Inference Engines (Manchester GB: University of Manchester in Stockport, 2000), pp. 21-22.
• The Rescher-Gaines Implication in many-valued logic. See B. Reusch and K. Temme (eds), Computational Intelligence in Theory and Practice (2001).
• The Rescher-Manor Consequence Relation in nonmonotonic logic. See Diderik Batens, “A Survey of Inconsistency-Adaptive Logics and the Foundtion of Non-Monotonic Logics,” Logique et Analyse, vol. 37 (1994), pp. 57-94; see also J. Merhuis (ed.), Inconsistency in Science (Dordrecht: Klewer, 2002), pp. 144-46.
• The Rescher-Brandom Semantics for paraconsistent logic. See Edward V. Zalta, Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, vol. 36 (1997), pp. 640-60.
• Rescher’s Model [or Theory] of Formal Disputation in dialectics. See Gerhard Brewka, “Dynamic Argument Systems,” Journal of Logic and Computation, vol. 11 (2001), pp. 257-82.
• The Rescher Operator in temporal logic. See Lennart Aqvist, “Combinations of Tense and Deontic Modality: On the Rt approach to Temporal Logic with Historical Necessity and Conditional Obligation,” Journal of Applied Logic, vol. 3 (2005), pp. 421-60.
((For detailed information about these items see the references accessible via Google .))