Philip Kitcher: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=OctoberDecember 20132024}}

| institutions = [[Columbia University]],<br />[[University of California, San Diego]],<br />[[University of Vermont]]

| education = [[Christ's College, Cambridge|Christ's College]], ([[University of Cambridge]] (B. A.|BA]]);<br />[[Princeton University]] ([[PhD]])

'''Philip Stuart Kitcher''' (born 20 February 1947) is a [[British people|British]] philosopher who is [[the John Dewey]] Professor Emeritus of [[philosophy]] at [[Columbia University]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://philosophy.columbia.edu/content/philip-kitcher|title=Philip Kitcher &#124; Philosophy|access-date=14 November 2021|archive-date=8 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608002801/https://philosophy.columbia.edu/content/philip-kitcher|url-status=dead}}</ref> He specialises in the [[philosophy of science]], the [[philosophy of biology]], the [[philosophy of mathematics]], the [[philosophy of literature]], and more recently [[pragmatism]].

Born in London, Kitcher spent his early life in [[Eastbourne]], [[East Sussex]], on the south coast of the United Kingdom, where another distinguished philosopher of an earlier generation ([[A. J. Ayer]]) was also at school.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._J._Ayer.</ref> Kitcher himself went to school at [[Christ's Hospital]], Horsham, [[West Sussex]].<ref>{{cite web|title=ACADEMIC AUTOBIOGRAPHY – PHILIP KITCHER|url=http://www.columbia.edu/~psk16/autobio.htm|websitepublisher=www.columbia.eduColumbia University|access-date=8 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Kitcher|first1=Philip|title=Joyce's kaleidoscope : an invitation to Finnegans wake|date=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0195321029|page=Dedication}}</ref> He earned his B.A.BA in Mathematicsmathematics/Historyhistory and Philosophyphilosophy of Sciencescience from [[Christ's College, Cambridge]], in 1969, and his PhD in Historyhistory and Philosophyphilosophy of Sciencescience from [[Princeton University]] in 1974, where he worked closely with [[Carl Hempel]] and [[Thomas Kuhn]].

Kitcher is currently [[John Dewey]] Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at [[Columbia University]]. As chair of Columbia's [[Core Curriculum (Columbia College)#Table of Core Curriculum Requirements|Contemporary Civilization]] program (part of its undergraduate [[Core Curriculum (Columbia College)|Core Curriculum]]), he also held the [[James R. Barker (businessman)|James R. Barker]] Professorship of Contemporary Civilization. Before moving to Columbia, Kitcher taughtheld tenure-track positions at the [[University of Vermont]], [[Vassar College]], Thethe [[University of Minnesota]], [[University of Michigan]], and for several years at [[University of California, San Diego]], where he held the position of Presidential Professor of Philosophy.

Kitcher is past president of the [[American Philosophical Association]]. In 2002, Kitcher was named a fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], and he was awarded the inaugural Prometheus Prize from the [[American Philosophical Association]] in 2006 in honour of extended achievement in the [[philosophy of science]]. He was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 2018.<ref>[https://www.amphilsoc.org/blog/election-new-members-2018-spring-meeting "Election of New Members at the 2018 Spring Meeting"]</ref> Kitcher was Editor-in-Chief of the journal ''Philosophy of Science'' from 1994 to 1999, was also a member of the [[National Institutes of Health|NIH]]/[[United States Department of Energy|DOE]] Working Group on the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of the [[Human Genome Project]] from 1995 to 1997.

Within philosophy, Kitcher is best known for his work in philosophy of [[biology]], [[science]], and [[mathematics]], and outside academia for his work examining [[creationism]] and [[sociobiology]]. His works attempt to connect the questions raised in [[philosophy of biology]] and [[philosophy of mathematics]] with the central philosophical issues of [[epistemology]], [[metaphysics]], and [[ethics]]. He has also published papers on [[John Stuart Mill]], [[Immanuel Kant|Kant]] and other figures in the [[history of philosophy]]. His 2012 book<ref>Kitcher, P. ''Preludes to Pragmatism: Toward a Reconstruction of Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 2012</ref> documented his developing interest in [[John Dewey]] and a pragmatic approach to philosophical issues. He sees [[pragmatism]] as providing a unifying and reconstructive approach to traditional philosophy issues. He had, a year earlier, published a book outlining a naturalistic approach to ethics, ''The Ethical Project'' (Harvard University Press, 2011).<ref>Mallon, R. Review of Kitcher, P. The Ethical Project, Harvard University Press, October 2011. {{ISBN|0-67-406144-6}} (Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews)</ref> He has also done work on the philosophy of [[climate change]].<ref>Kitcher, Philip (2010). [https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1189312 "The Climate Change Debates"] ''Science'', 328(5983):pp.1230-1234</ref><ref>Kitcher, Philip (25 March 25, 2015). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hY2fZbDb3A "Climate Change: The Hard Problem"] 'Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas-UNAM'</ref>

===Criteria for what constitutes '"good science'"===

He increasingly recognised the role of values in practical decisions about scientific research.<ref>Longino, Helen E. (2002), Science and the Common Good: Thoughts on Philip Kitcher’sKitcher's Science, Truth, and Democracy, ''Philosophy of Science'', 69, pp. 560–568 ([http://mypages.iit.edu/~schmaus/Science_and_Values/readings/longino1.pdf PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221213221318/http://mypages.iit.edu/~schmaus/Science_and_Values/readings/longino1.pdf |date=13 December 2022 }})</ref>

<{{blockquote>|[[Thomas Kuhn]]'s book ''[[The Structure of Scientific Revolutions]]'' has probably been more widely read—and more widely misinterpreted—than any other book in the recent philosophy of science. The broad circulation of his views has generated a popular caricature of Kuhn's position. According to this popular caricature, scientists working in a field belong to a club. All club members are required to agree on main points of doctrine. Indeed, the price of admission is several years of [[graduate education]], during which the chief [[dogma]]s are inculcated. The views of outsiders are ignored. Now I want to emphasize that this is a hopeless caricature, both of the practice of scientists and of Kuhn's analysis of the practice. Nevertheless, the caricature has become commonly accepted as a faithful representation, thereby lending support to the Creationists' claims that their views are arrogantly disregarded.<ref>Kitcher, P, 1982, ''Abusing Science: The Case Against Creationism'', p. 168</ref></blockquote>}}

*''The Lives to Come: The Genetic Revolution and Human Possibilities'' (Simon and Schuster [US], Penguin [UK], January 1996, paperback editions 1997). The American paperback contains a postscript on [[cloning]], almost identical with his article "Whose Self is it, Anyway?”".

*''Finding an Ending: Reflections on [[Der Ring des Nibelungen|Wagner’sWagner's Ring]]'', co-authored with [[Richard Schacht]], Oxford University Press, February 2004. {{ISBN|0-19-517359-7}}

*[http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/74992/ Life after faith: Interview with Richard Marshall] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190309095126/http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/74992/ |date=9 March 2019 }} 3am Magazine, 2 August 2015.

[[Category:20th-century British essayists]]

[[Category:21st-century British essayists]]

[[Category:EpistemologistsBritish epistemologists]]

[[Category:PhilosophersBritish philosophers of culture]]

[[Category:PhilosophersBritish philosophers of education]]

[[Category:PhilosophersBritish philosophers of mind]]

[[Category:PhilosophersBritish philosophers of science]]

[[Category:PhilosophyBritish philosophy academics]]

[[Category:PhilosophyPhilosophers of biology]]