Peter Hacker

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Peter Hacker
Wittgenstein, Philosophical anthropology
Notable ideas	The mereological fallacy in neuroscience and the philosophy of mind
Website	https://www.pmshacker.co.uk/

Peter Michael Stephan Hacker (born 15 July 1939)

. His principal expertise is in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and philosophical anthropology. He is known for his detailed exegesis and interpretation of the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, his critique of cognitive neuroscience, and for his comprehensive studies of human nature.^[2]

Professional biography

Hacker studied philosophy, politics and economics at The Queen's College, Oxford, from 1960 to 1963. In 1963–65 he was senior scholar at St Antony's College, Oxford, where he began graduate work under the supervision of H. L. A. Hart. His D.Phil. thesis "Rules and Duties" was completed in 1966 during a junior research fellowship at Balliol College, Oxford.

Since 1966 Hacker has been a fellow of

, Italy (2009). From 1985 to 1987 he was a British Academy Research Reader in the Humanities. In 1991–94 he was a Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow. Hacker retired from Oxford in 2006, and was appointed to an emeritus research fellowship from 2006 to 2015, since when he has been an emeritus fellow. He was made an honorary fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford, in 2010. He was a part-time professor of philosophy at the University of Kent at Canterbury from 2013 to 2016. He was appointed to an honorary professorship at the Institute of Neurology at University College, London, for the period 2019–2024.

Hacker is Jewish by heritage.

Philosophical views

Hacker is one of the most important contemporary exponents of the

. Hacker argues that these are indeed problems, only not empirical ones. They are conceptual problems and puzzlements that are to be dissolved or resolved by logico-linguistic analysis. It follows that scientific inquiry (learning more facts about humans or the world) does not help to resolve them anymore than discoveries in physics can help to prove a mathematical theorem. His 2003 book "Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience", co-authored with neuroscientist Max Bennett, contains an exposition of these views, and critiques of the ideas of many contemporary neuroscientists and philosophers, including Francis Crick, Antonio Damasio, Daniel Dennett, John Searle, and others.

Hacker in general finds many received components of current

are no more than a philosopher's fiction.

Since 2005 Hacker has completed an ambitious tetralogy on

in life and the place of death in life. Hacker's methodology is connective analysis in which the wide range of conceptual and logical features of the relevant subjects is laid bare.

Hacker has frequently collaborated with fellow Oxford philosopher

.

Works

Books

1. Insight and Illusion: Wittgenstein on Philosophy and the Metaphysics of Experience (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1972) (
   ISBN 0198243693, 978-0198243694
   )
2. Insight and Illusion – themes in the philosophy of Wittgenstein (extensively revised edition) (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1986) (
   ISBN 0-19-824783-4
   )
3. Wittgenstein : Understanding and Meaning, Volume 1 of an analytical commentary on the Philosophical Investigations (Blackwell, Oxford, and Chicago University Press, Chicago, 1980)(
   ISBN 1405199253
   ).
4. Frege : Logical Excavations, (Blackwell, Oxford, O.U.P., N.Y., 1984) (
   ISBN 0-19-503261-6
   ) co-authored with G.P. Baker.
5. Language, Sense and Nonsense, a critical investigation into modern theories of language (Blackwell, 1984) (
   ISBN 0-631-13519-7
   ) co-authored with G.P. Baker.
6. Scepticism, Rules and Language (Blackwell, 1984) (
   ISBN 0-631-13614-2
   ) co-authored with G.P. Baker.
7. Wittgenstein : Rules, Grammar, and Necessity – Volume 2 of an analytical commentary on the Philosophical Investigations (Blackwell, Oxford, UK and Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1985) (
   ISBN 1-118-85459-4
   )
8. Appearance and Reality – a philosophical investigation into perception and perceptual qualities (Blackwell, 1987) (
   ISBN 0-631-15704-2
   )
9. Wittgenstein : Meaning and Mind, Volume 3 of an Analytical Commentary on the Philosophical Investigations (Blackwell, Oxford and Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1990) (
   ISBN 1118951751
   ).
10. Wittgenstein: Mind and Will, Volume 4 of an Analytical Commentary on the Philosophical Investigations (Blackwell, 1996) (
    ISBN 0-631-18739-1
    )
11. Wittgenstein's Place in Twentieth Century Analytic Philosophy (Blackwell, Oxford, UK and Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1996) (
    ISBN 0-631-20098-3
    )
12. ISBN 0-7538-0193-0
    )
13. Wittgenstein: Connections and Controversies (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 2001) (
    ISBN 0-19-924569-X
    )
14. Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience (Blackwell, Oxford, and Malden, Mass., 2003) (
    ISBN 1-4051-0855-X), co-authored with Max Bennett
    . A second edition with 80,000 extra words was released in 2022 (ISBN 978-1119530978)
15. Neuroscience and Philosophy: Brain, Mind, and Language (Columbia University Press, New York, 2007) (
    ISBN 978-0-231-14044-7), co-authored with Max Bennett
    , D. Dennett, and J. Searle
16. Human Nature: The Categorial Framework (Blackwell, 2007) (
    ISBN 1405147288
    )
17. History of Cognitive Neuroscience (Wiley, Blackwell, 2008) (
    ISBN 978-1-4051-8182-2), co-authored with Max Bennett
18. The Intellectual Powers: A study of Human Nature (Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, 2013)
    ISBN 978-1-4443-3247-6 pb. ed.^[4]
19. Wittgenstein: Comparisons & Context (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013)
    ISBN 978-0-19-967482-4^[5]
20. The Passions: A study of Human Nature (Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, 2017)
    ISBN 978-1-119-44046-8
21. Intellectual Entertainments: Eight Dialogues on Mind, Consciousness and Thought (Anthem Press, London, 2020)
    ISBN 1785271520
22. The Moral Powers: a Study of Human Nature (Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, 2020)
    ISBN 1119657776

References

1. ISBN 978-1-85743-179-7
   .
2. ^ Cf. Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience (Blackwell, 2003); Neuroscience and Philosophy (Columbia University Press, 2007)
3. ISSN 0271-5309. Archived from the original
   (PDF) on 2 May 2006.
4. ^ "Books | PMSHacker - Philosopher".
5. ^ "Books | PMSHacker - Philosopher".

External links

• Peter Hacker's web page.
• http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/books/article3941128.ece