Barry Stroud (; 18 May 1935 – 9 August 2019) was a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
philosopher and professor at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
. Known especially for his work on
philosophical skepticism
Philosophical skepticism ( UK spelling: scepticism; from Greek σκέψις ''skepsis'', "inquiry") is a family of philosophical views that question the possibility of knowledge. It differs from other forms of skepticism in that it even reject ...
, he wrote about
David Hume
David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...
,
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is considere ...
, the metaphysics of color, and many other topics.
Biography
Barry Greenwood Stroud was born on 18 May 1935 in Toronto, Canada.
He was the second of two sons to William and Florence Stroud (who were both born in the U.K. but emigrated to Canada as children).
He attended high school at the
East York Collegiate.
The Study of Human Nature and the Subjectivity of Value
' THE TANNER LECTURES ON HUMAN VALUES Delivered at The University of Buenos Aires June 7, 1988 (republished in ''Philosophers Past and Present''. .)
Academic career
Stroud received a B.A. in philosophy from the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
in 1958.
At
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
he received an
A.M. in 1960.
With a thesis titled ''Two Conventionalistic Theories Of Logical Truth,'' written under the direction of
Morton White, he received his
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
there in 1962.
From 1961, until his retirement, Stroud worked at the University of California, Berkeley.
He was made a full professor there in 1974 and, from 1994, served as the Mills Professor of Metaphysics and Epistemology.
In 2007 he was named Willis S. and Marion Slusser
Professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
of
Philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
in the Berkeley Philosophy Department, a position he held until he retired as
professor emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
.
Though officially retiring at the end of the 2015-2016
academic year
An academic year or school year is a period of time which schools, colleges and universities use to measure a quantity of study.
School holiday
School holidays (also referred to as vacations, breaks, and recess) are the periods during which sch ...
, he continued his research, teaching and advising as a Professor of the Graduate School.
During his tenure he had served as departmental Chair from 1978 to 1981, 1984 to 1985, and in 1998.
Stroud was a visiting professor of philosophy at the
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...
(1974), at the
National Autonomous University of Mexico
The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...
(1979), and at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
(1983-1984, and 1997).
In 1981 Stroud was awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
. and spent a sabbatical year in Venice.
He was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States of America, United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bow ...
in 1987, and a corresponding fellow of the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
in 1993.
Over 1986–1987, as a visiting fellow of
New College and
All Souls College
All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...
, Stroud gave the
John Locke Lectures
The John Locke Lectures are a series of annual lectures in philosophy given at the University of Oxford. Named for British philosopher John Locke, the Locke Lectures are the world's most prestigious lectures in philosophy, and are among the world' ...
at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
under the title 'The Quest for Reality.'
He also delivered the
Gareth Evans Memorial Lecture at Oxford and Whitehead Lectures at
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
To the
American Philosophical Association
The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarly ...
, which he served as Pacific Division president in 1995–1996,
he gave the
Dewey Lecture in 2008
and the Patrick Romanell Lecture in 2009. Stroud also delivered the
Tanner Lectures on Human Values
The Tanner Lectures on Human Values is a multi-university lecture series in the humanities, founded in 1978, at Clare Hall, Cambridge University, by the American scholar Obert Clark Tanner. In founding the lecture, he defined their purpose as fol ...
at the
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one o ...
in 1988.
He would return to Brazil, where several of his works have been translated into
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
and discussed in print, most recently in 2014 to participate in the 16th ANPOF conference in
Campos do Jordão
Campos do Jordão () is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in southeastern Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 52,405 (2020 est.) in an area of . The city is situated above s ...
,
Philosophical work
Stroud's first book ''Hume'' (1977), which received positive reviews from
R. F. Atkinson in ''
Hume Studies
''Hume Studies'' is an interdisciplinary journal that publishes articles on the philosophical thought of David Hume. It is published by the Hume Society in April and November issues. There is open access to the journal's first 30 volumes, which ar ...
'' and
Donald W. Livingston amongst others, won the
Matchette Prize in 1979.
It would be followed, in 1984, by ''The Significance of Philosophical Scepticism'' and, in 1999, by ''The Quest for Reality: Subjectivism and the Metaphysics of Colour.'' Stroud's ''Engagement and Metaphysical Dissatisfaction: Modality and Value'' was published in 2011.
2011 would also see the publication of the first book-length critical treatment of Stroud's thought, ''The Possibility of Philosophical Understanding: Reflections on the Thought of Barry Stroud''.
It included essay contributions from
Robert Fogelin
Robert John Fogelin (June 24, 1932– October 24, 2016) was an American philosopher, and advocate and leading scholar of modern Pyrrhonism. He was a professor of philosophy and Sherman Fairchild Professor in the humanities (emeritus) at Dartmout ...
,
Ernest Sosa
Ernest Sosa (born June 17, 1940) is an American philosopher primarily interested in epistemology. Since 2007 he has been Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, but he spent most of his career at Brown University.
Educa ...
,
John McDowell
John Henry McDowell, FBA (born 7 March 1942) is a South African philosopher, formerly a fellow of University College, Oxford, and now university professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Although he has written on metaphysics, epistemology, ...
, Sarah Stroud and UC Berkeley colleague
Hannah Ginsborg amongst others.
Some of the central themes of his philosophical work are interpreted and elaborated upon in the volume editors' introduction to that work.
Several collections of Stroud's essays would also be published in his lifetime, the last of these appearing in 2018.
Death
Having been diagnosed with advanced stage brain cancer just two months prior, Barry Stroud died on 9 August 2019.
Announcing his death, Berkeley Philosophy Department recorded that:
''His body of work, his influence on generations of students, his imprint on the character of our department, the example that he set of the purest philosophical inquiry — all of it is beyond reckoning. As hard as it is to imagine what philosophy at Berkeley will be like without him, it is even harder to imagine what it would have been''.
A memorial by former student, and fellow philosopher, John Schwenkler was published by ''
3 Quarks Daily'' on 19 August 2019.
Obituaries in the ''Berkeley News'' and ''The Daily Californian'' followed shortly after.
Bibliography
Books
*(1977) ''
Hume'' ''(Arguments of the Philosophers)''
Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
.
available_for_loan_on_ available_for_loan_on_Internet_Archive">iarchive:hume0000stro">available_for_loan_on_Internet_Archive.html" ;"title="Internet_Archive.html" ;"title="iarchive:hume0000stro">available for loan on Internet Archive">iarchive:hume0000stro">available for loan on Internet Archive">Internet_Archive.html" ;"title="iarchive:hume0000stro">available for loan on Internet Archive">iarchive:hume0000stro">available for loan on Internet Archive/sup>
* (1984) ''The Significance of Philosophical Scepticism''. Oxford University Press. .
* (1999) ''The Quest for Reality: Subjectivism and the Metaphysics of Colour''. Oxford University Press. .
* (2000) ''Understanding Human Knowledge: Philosophical Essays''. Oxford University Press. .
* (2000) ''Meaning, Understanding, and Practice: Philosophical Essays''. Oxford University Press. .
* (2011) ''Engagement and Metaphysical Dissatisfaction: Modality and Value''. Oxford University Press. .
* (2011) ''Philosophers Past and Present: Selected Essays''. Oxford University Press. .
* (2018) ''Seeing, Knowing, Understanding: Philosophical Essays''. Oxford University Press.
Select articles/chapters
Open access
Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...
/free (or free to borrow/read online with registration)
* (1965) ''Wittgenstein and Logical Necessity'' (1965). Reprinted in:
A Priori Knowledge', Oxford 1987
ook_available_for_loan_at_Open_Library.html" ;"title="Open_Library.html" ;"title="ook available for loan at Open Library">ook available for loan at Open Library">Open_Library.html" ;"title="ook available for loan at Open Library">ook available for loan at Open Library/sup>
*(1968)
Transcendental Arguments' ''The Journal of Philosophy'',
Vol. 65, No. 9 (May 2, 1968), pp. 241–256
*(1980)
Berkeley v. Locke on Primary QualitiesPhilosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
,''
Vol. 55, No. 212 (Apr., 1980), pp. 149–166 vailable_to_read_online_free_with_registration_at_JSTOR.html" ;"title="JSTOR.html" ;"title="vailable to read online free with registration at JSTOR">vailable to read online free with registration at JSTOR">JSTOR.html" ;"title="vailable to read online free with registration at JSTOR">vailable to read online free with registration at JSTOR/sup>
*(1984)
The Problem of the External World
' Chapter I of
The Significance of Philosophical Skepticism
' (1984)
*(1984)
The Disappearing ‘We’
'' Jonathan Lear, Barry Stroud, ''Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume'', Volume 58, Issue 1, 1 July 1984, pp. 219–258,
*(1984)
G. E. Moore and Scepticism: ‘Internal’ and ‘External
'
Chapter III
of
The Significance of Philosophical Scepticism
'
*(1985
''An End to Anxiety: Review of four books on Wittgenstein''
''The London Review of Books'' 18 July 1985
*(1987)
XV—The Physical World
'' ''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society
The Aristotelian Society for the Systematic Study of Philosophy, more generally known as the Aristotelian Society, is a philosophical society in London.
History
Aristotelian Society was founded at a meeting on 19 April 1880, at 17 Bloomsbury Squa ...
'', Volume 87, Issue 1, 1 June 1987, pp. 263–277
*(1988)
The Study of Human Nature and the Subjectivity of Value
'' ''The Tanner Lectures on Human Values
The Tanner Lectures on Human Values is a multi-university lecture series in the humanities, founded in 1978, at Clare Hall, Cambridge University, by the American scholar Obert Clark Tanner. In founding the lecture, he defined their purpose as fol ...
''.
*(1994)
Philosophical Scepticism
', Ernest Sosa, Barry Stroud ''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society
The Aristotelian Society for the Systematic Study of Philosophy, more generally known as the Aristotelian Society, is a philosophical society in London.
History
Aristotelian Society was founded at a meeting on 19 April 1880, at 17 Bloomsbury Squa ...
'', Supplementary Volumes, Vol. 68 (1994), pp. 263–307 Archive
PDF
/small>
*(1996)
The Charm of Naturalism
'' 70 (2):43 - 55 (1996) Doc file">DOC
DOC, Doc, doc or DoC may refer to:
In film and television
* ''Doc'' (2001 TV series), a 2001–2004 PAX series
* ''Doc'' (1975 TV series), a 1975–1976 CBS sitcom
* "D.O.C." (''Lost''), a television episode
* ''Doc'' (film), a 1971 Wester ...
download at Phil Archive]
*(2008)
Modes of philosophizing: A round table debate
' with Jonathan Barnes
Jonathan Barnes, British Academy, FBA (born 26 December 1942 in Wenlock, Shropshire) is an English scholar of Aristotelianism, Aristotelian and ancient philosophy.
Education and career
He was educated at the City of London School and Balliol Co ...
, Myles Burnyeat
Myles Fredric Burnyeat (1 January 1939 – 20 September 2019) was an English scholar of ancient philosophy.
Early life and education
Myles Burnyeat was born on 1 January 1939 to Peter James Anthony Burnyeat and Cynthia Cherry Warburg. He rece ...
and Raymond Geuss
Raymond Geuss, FBA (; born 1946) is a political philosopher and scholar of 19th and 20th century European philosophy. He is currently Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge. Geuss is primarily known for three ...
, ''Eurozin'' ''e'', May 2008
*(2011)
Feelings and the Ascription of Feelings
', ''Teorema
''Teorema'', also known as ''Theorem'' ( UK), is a 1968 Italian allegorical film written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini and starring Terence Stamp, Laura Betti, Silvana Mangano, Massimo Girotti and Anne Wiazemsky. Pasolini's sixth film, it ...
'', January 2011 pp. 25–33, [Available for download at journal's ''Teorema
''Teorema'', also known as ''Theorem'' ( UK), is a 1968 Italian allegorical film written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini and starring Terence Stamp, Laura Betti, Silvana Mangano, Massimo Girotti and Anne Wiazemsky. Pasolini's sixth film, it ...
'' Volume 30 archives]
*(2016)''Responses to Sceptical Essays''
''Sképsis,'' , ANO VII, Nº 14, 2016, p. 218-233. (the 'Sceptical Essays' responded to form the volume of ''Sképsis'' that this reply paper closes, all of which can also be found Open Access
Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...
br>here
''Full publications list''
at UC Berkeley homepage
See also
*Canadian philosophy
The study and teaching of philosophy in Canada date from the time of New France. Generally, canadian philosophers have not developed unique forms of philosophical thought; rather, Canadian philosophers have reflected particular views of established ...
*List of Canadian philosophers
This page lists philosophers from Canada.
{{Dynamic list
*Leslie Armour, Research Professor of Philosophy at Dominican University College, and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Ottawa
*Vernon J. Bourke (1907-1988), Professor of ...
References
External links
Barry Stroud on Scepticism
''Philosophy Bites
''Philosophy Bites'' is a podcast series featuring philosophy, philosophers being interviewed for 15–20 minutes on a specific topic. The series, which has been running since 2007, is hosted by Nigel Warburton, freelance lecturer, and David Edmo ...
'' podcast interview, December 16, 2007
* Stroud in conversation with Donald Davidson on skepticism
video
(1997)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stroud, Barry
Epistemologists
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy
People from Toronto
University of Toronto alumni
Harvard University alumni
University of California, Berkeley faculty
Canadian philosophers
Wittgensteinian philosophers
1935 births
2019 deaths