Peter Glassen
Peter Glassen | |
---|---|
Born | Szeged (Hungary) | October 19, 1920
Died | March 24, 1986 Winnipeg, Canada | (aged 65)
Era | 20th-century |
Region | Canada |
School | Analytic |
Main interests | Moral theory, metaphysics |
Notable ideas | Classification of moral terms, linguistic argument against non-cognitivism |
Peter Glassen (1920–1986) was a professor of philosophy at the University of Manitoba from 1949 until his death in 1986. He was an analytic moral philosopher, publishing several articles in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was also known for his arguments against metaphysical materialism, and spent a year (1948–49) in the psychology department at the University of Saskatchewan.
Early years
Born in
Studies at Harvard
In 1945, Glassen entered
Career at the University of Manitoba
Glassen's first set of publications consisted in eight papers published in major philosophical journals in 1957, 1958 and 1959. These reflected his core interests: analytic moral theory (where he was a
In 1961, Glassen travelled to England on a Canada Council grant, meeting with many leading moral philosophers of the time, including Sir David Ross, H. B. Acton and others.
Glassen's early promise was not entirely realized. This was at least partly due to the lasting effects of a personal tragedy. While returning from Toronto to Winnipeg for the beginning of the 1965–66 school year, Glassen was involved in a car accident that took the life of the other driver. Though not ultimately found at fault, Glassen never fully recovered from the shock. His scholarly output declined and he turned down an opportunity to move to the more prominent department at the University of Toronto in 1967. His career might have faded into complete obscurity had it not been for the development of eliminative materialism by fellow University of Manitoba philosophers Paul Churchland and Patricia Churchland in the 1970s. This aroused his vehement opposition and revived his interest in writing and publishing. After several years of good health, a series of illnesses in 1985-86 brought on a recurrence of depression and alcoholism, leading to his death by suicide on or about March 24, 1986 in Winnipeg.[2]
List of known writings
Year | Title | Where Published | Type | Subject matter | Responding to |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1957 | Some Questions about Relations | Analysis 17(3):64-68 (Ja'57) | Article | Ontology | None |
A Fallacy in Aristotle's Argument About the Good | Philosophical Quarterly 7:319-322 | Article | Moral Theory | Aristotle | |
1958 | Moore and the Indefinability of Good | Journal of Philosophy ?:430-435 | Article | Moral Theory | G. E. Moore |
Reds, Greens and the Synthetic A Priori | Philosophical Studies 9:33-38 | Article | Epistemology | Hilary Putnam | |
"Charientic" Judgments | Philosophy 33:138-146 | Article | Value Theory | None | |
1959 | The Cognitivity of Moral Judgments | Mind 68:57-72 | Article | Moral Theory | None |
The Classes of Moral Terms | Methodos 11:223-244 | Article | Moral Theory; Value Theory | None | |
The Senses of "Ought" | Philosophical Studies ?:10-16 | Article | Value Theory | Jason Xenakis | |
1960 | Is Man A Physical Object? | Proceedings of the XIIth Int'l Congress of Philosophy 2:169-174 | Published Conference Paper | Metaphysics (Dualism) | None |
1962 | Are There Unresolvable Moral Disputes? | Dialogue 1:36-50 | Article | Moral Theory | None |
1963 | The Cognitivity of Moral Judgments: A Rejoinder to Miss Schuster | Mind 72:137-140 | Article (Discussion) | Moral Theory | Cynthia Schuster |
The Problem of Man | Proceedings of the XIIIth Int'l Congress of Philosophy 2:159-164 | Published Conference Paper | Psychology | None | |
Sidney Zink, The Concepts of Ethics | Dialogue 1:431-432 | Book Review | Moral Theory | Sidney Zink | |
1965 | Jacques Maritain, Moral Philosophy | Dialogue 3:445-446 | Book Review | Moral Theory | Jacques Maritain |
1969 | Die Kognitivität moralischer Urteile | Eike von Savigny (ed.), Philosophie und normale Sprache: Texte der Ordinary-Language-Philosophie (Freiburg/München: Karl Alber), p. 139-156. | Article: translation of The Cognitivity of Moral Judgments (1959) | Moral Theory | |
Die Kognitivität moralischer Urteile: Eine Erwiderung | Eike von Savigny (ed.), Philosophie und normale Sprache: Texte der Ordinary-Language-Philosophie (Freiburg/München: Karl Alber), p. 161-166. | Article: translation of The Cognitivity of Moral Judgments: A Rejoinder to Miss Schuster (1963) | Moral Theory | Cynthia Schuster | |
1970 | R. S. Downie & E. Telfer, Respect for Persons | Dialogue 9:465-467 | Book Review | Moral Theory | R. S. Downie; Elizabeth Telfer |
1976 | J. J. C. Smart, Materialism and Occam's Razor | Philosophy 51:349-352 | Article | Metaphysics (Dualism) | J. J. C. Smart |
1983 | Smart, Materialism and Believing | Philosophy 58:95-101 | Article | Metaphysics (Dualism); Epistemology | J. J. C. Smart |
'Is Determinism Self-Refuting?' No, But... | Unpublished | MS., 10 pp. | Metaphysics (Determinism) | Patricia Churchland, John Eccles | |
1984 | Thalberg on Immateriality | Mind 93:566-569 | Article | Metaphysics (Dualism) | Irving Thalberg |
O'Hear on an Argument of Popper's | British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 35:375-377 | Article (Discussion) | Metaphysics (Determinism) | Anthony O'Hear, Karl Popper |
Synopses of major articles
Some Questions about Relations (1957) is an analysis of the
A Fallacy in Aristotle's Argument about the Good (1957) is a close analysis of a crucial paragraph in Book I, chapter 7 of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Glassen argues that Aristotle fails to show (or even to attempt to argue) that it follows from the fact that the function of a good man is activity of the soul in accordance with virtue that the good of man—his final goal—is precisely that function. This reflects Glassen's attention to the distinction between morality and the broader theory of value. Glassen's argument has been referred to in a number of subsequent papers.[3] Aurel Kolnai, referring to the same problem although not specifically to Glassen's paper, called this the "Aristotelian Equivocation".[4]
Are There Unresolvable Moral Disputes? (1962) was influential in the field of
References
- ^ Most of the biographical details of early life and academic career, etc. are from a copy of a Harvard University form dated October 1, 1947, filled out by Glassen.
- ^ Death notice, "Peter Glassen", Winnipeg Free Press, March 27, 1986.
- ^ E.g. by Kathleen V. Wilkes, "The Good Man and the Good for Man in Aristotle’s Ethics", Mind 87:553 (1978).
- ^ Aurel Kolnai, "Morality and Practice I" in Ethics, Value and Reality: Selected Essays of Aurel Kolnai (1978), 63-94 at 66.