Frederic Tamler Sommers (January 1, 1923 – October 2, 2014), better known as Fred Sommers, was an American philosopher who, after an initial focus on

ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exi ...

generally, turned his attention specifically to a revival of classical logic. He is the father of the philosopher Tamler Sommers.

Birth and education

Sommers was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on January 1, 1923.''The Dictionary Of Modern American Philosophers'', Thoemmes, 2005, p. 2281. His family was Jewish and he studied under Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik in the 1950s. He received his BA and PhD in philosophy at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, his dissertation being entitled ''An Empiricist Ontology: A Study in the Metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead.''

Career

Sommers began his academic career at

, where he was assistant professor of philosophy from 1955 to 1963. He was invited to

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , ...

in 1964 as an associate professor of philosophy and was promoted to full professor in 1966. From 1965 until his retirement, he held the

Harry Austryn Wolfson Harry Austryn Wolfson (November 2, 1887 – September 19, 1974) was an American scholar, philosopher, and historian at Harvard University, and the first chairman of a Judaic Studies Center in the United States. He is known for his seminal work on ...

Chair of Philosophy; from 1993 until his death he was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Brandeis. He died aged 91 in 2014.In Memoriam: Fred Sommers (1923-2014)
/ref>

Bibliography

*''An Empiricist Ontology. A Study in the Metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead'', Columbia University, 1955 (unpublished Ph.D. thesis) *''The Logic of Natural Language'', Oxford University Press, 1984. *''An Invitation to Formal Reasoning'', with George Englebretsen and Harry A. Wolfson. Ashgate, 2000. *''Vice and Virtue in Everyday Life: Introductory Readings in Ethics'', with

Christina Hoff Sommers Christina Marie Hoff Sommers (born 1950) is an American author and philosopher. Specializing in ethics, she is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

. Harcourt Brace, 1989. 9th edition:

Notes

References

*Englebretsen, George. ''Three Logicians. Aristotle, Leibniz, Sommers'', Van Gorcum Ltd, 1981. *Englebretsen, George. ''The New Syllogistic'', New York, Peter Lang, 1987. *Englebretsen, George. ''Essays on the Philosophy of Fred Sommers: In Logical Terms'', Edwin Mellen Pr, 1990. *Oderberg, David S. ''The Old New Logic: Essays on the Philosophy of Fred Sommers'', MIT Press 2005. *Shook, John R., ''The Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers'', Thoemmes, 2005.

External links

Fred Sommers on the Logic of Natural Language

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sommers, Frederic Tamler 1923 births 2014 deaths American male non-fiction writers American logicians Jewish philosophers Ontologists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American philosophers 21st-century American philosophers Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary semikhah recipients Columbia University alumni Columbia University faculty Brandeis University faculty Writers from New York City Mathematicians from New York (state) 20th-century American male writers