May Brodbeck (July 26, 1917 – August 1, 1983) was an American

philosopher of science A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

Biography

Brodbeck was born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, attending evening courses while working, and earned a bachelor's degree in 1941. Thereafter, she worked as a high-school chemistry teacher, before being recruited into the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

. Following the war, she studied philosophy at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

, completing a Ph.D. supervised by

Gustav Bergmann Gustav Bergmann (May 4, 1906 – April 21, 1987) was an Austrian-born American philosopher. He studied at the University of Vienna and was a member of the Vienna Circle. Bergmann was influenced by the philosophers Moritz Schlick, Friedrich W ...

in 1947, on the subject of John Dewey's '' Logic: The Theory of Inquiry''. Upon finishing her PhD, she was offered a professorship at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

, where she worked from 1947 to 1974, eventually rising to chair of the philosophy department (1967–1970) and dean of the graduate school (1972–1974). She then returned to the University of Iowa as Carver Professor of Philosophy and Dean of the Faculties. In the administrative part of her role at the University of Iowa, among other initiatives she focused in particular on the status of women in the university, and oversaw the creation of one of the first

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

programs. She stepped down from administration in 1981, retired in 1983, and died later that year in

Menlo Park, California Menlo Park is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County within the San Francisco Bay Area of California in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south ...

Work

Brodbeck's career focused on a number of issues in the philosophy of science, in particular aiming to include the

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

within its remit. She edited two widely read anthologies on the subject: ''Readings in the Philosophy of Science'' (1953, co-edited with

Herbert Feigl Herbert Feigl (; ; December 14, 1902 – June 1, 1988) was an Austrian-American philosopher and an early member of the Vienna Circle. He coined the term " nomological danglers". Biography The son of a trained weaver who became a textile designer, ...

), and ''Readings in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences'' (1968). Later in her career, she also wrote on the

philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the ontology and nature of the mind and its relationship with the body. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a number of other issues are add ...

, defending a form of

psychophysical parallelism In the philosophy of mind, psychophysical parallelism (or simply parallelism) is the theory that mental and bodily events are perfectly coordinated, without any causal interaction between them. As such, it affirms the correlation of mental and bod ...

Select bibliography

*'' Readings in the Philosophy of Science'' (1953, co-edited with

) At

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

.
List of works
by May Brodbeck listed at

PhilPapers PhilPapers is an interactive academic database of Academic journal, journal articles in philosophy. It is maintained by the Centre for Digital Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, and as of 2022, it has "394,867 registered users, incl ...

References

External links

*
Brodbeck, May (1917–1983).
'' Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia,'' '' Encyclopedia.com.'' 26 Jul. 2019 *Addis, Laird (2010)
"Brodbeck, May Selznick"
''

The Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers ''The Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers'' is a 2005 four-volume biographical reference work edited by John R. Shook, then of Oklahoma State University, published by Thoemmes Continuum. Its consulting editors were Richard T. Hull, Bruce ...

'' (Archived by

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

)
Portraits of Brodbeck
via Iowa Women's Archives, and Minnesota Philosophy Departmen

c.1953 featuring her. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brodbeck, May 1917 births 1983 deaths American women philosophers Jewish American academics Jewish philosophers Philosophers of science New York University alumni University of Iowa alumni University of Minnesota faculty University of Iowa faculty 20th-century American philosophers People from Newark, New Jersey 20th-century American women 20th-century American Jews