Photo: Andrej Bauer, CC BY-SA 2.5 si, via Wikimedia Commons¹²

Charles Parsons

American philosopher (1933–2024)

Charles Dacre Parsons (April 13, 1933 – April 19, 2024) was an American philosopher best known for his work in the philosophy of mathematics and the study of the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. He was professor emeritus at Harvard University.²

From Wikipedia’s article on Charles Parsons (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Apr 13, 1933, died Apr 19, 2024.¹

About

In a 2014 review of one of his books, Stewart Shapiro and Teresa Kouri said of Parsons: "It surely goes without saying that [he] is one of the most important philosophers of mathematics in our generation".

From Wikipedia’s article on Charles Parsons, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.²

Companies

Association for Symbolic LogicChair 1989 to 1991¹¹

Early life and education

1961Harvard University Doctor of Philosophy; philosophy³

Career

Occupation: philosopher, logician, mathematician.⁶

1989 to 1991Chair, Association for Symbolic Logic⁵
Date not recordedWorked at Harvard University⁴
Date not recordedWorked at Columbia University⁴

Life and career

Born on April 13, 1933, Charles Dacre Parsons was a son of Harvard sociologist Talcott Parsons. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at Harvard University in 1961, under the direction of Burton Dreben and Willard Van Orman Quine. He taught for many years at Columbia University before moving to Harvard University in 1989. He retired in 2005 as the Edgar Pierce professor of philosophy, a position formerly held by Quine.

Parsons was an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

Among his doctoral students were Michael Levin, James Higginbotham, Peter Ludlow, Gila Sher, and Øystein Linnebo.

In 2017 Parsons gave the Gödel Lecture, titled "Gödel and the Universe of Sets".

Parsons died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 19, 2024, at the age of 91.

Philosophical work

In addition to his work in logic and the philosophy of mathematics, Parsons was an editor, with Solomon Feferman and others, of the posthumous works of Kurt Gödel. He has also written on historical figures, especially Immanuel Kant, Gottlob Frege, Kurt Gödel, and Willard Van Orman Quine.

From Wikipedia’s article on Charles Parsons (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

BornApr 13, 1933, Cambridge⁷
DiedApr 19, 2024, Cambridge⁸
CitizenshipUnited States⁹

Awards

Date not recordedGuggenheim Fellowship¹⁰

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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WikidataCharles Parsons on Wikidata
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WikipediaCharles Parsons on Wikipedia
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WikidataCharles Parsons: education, on Wikidata
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WikidataCharles Parsons: Worked at Harvard University, on Wikidata
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WikidataCharles Parsons: Chair, Association for Symbolic Logic, on Wikidata
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WikidataCharles Parsons: occupation, on Wikidata
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WikidataCharles Parsons: place of birth, on Wikidata
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WikidataCharles Parsons: place of death, on Wikidata
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WikidataCharles Parsons: citizenship, on Wikidata
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WikidataCharles Parsons: award, on Wikidata
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WikidataAssociation for Symbolic Logic, Chair
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Wikimedia CommonsCharles Parsons photo by Andrej Bauer, CC BY-SA 2.5 si