Robert John Fogelin (June 24, 1932– October 24, 2016) was an American philosopher, and advocate and leading scholar of modern

Pyrrhonism Pyrrhonism is a school of philosophical skepticism founded by Pyrrho in the fourth century BCE. It is best known through the surviving works of Sextus Empiricus, writing in the late second century or early third century CE. History Pyrrho of E ...

. He was a professor of philosophy and Sherman Fairchild Professor in the humanities (emeritus) at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

where he had taught since 1980. He was elected a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 2005.

Education and career

Fogelin received his B.A. from the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

in 1955. In 1957 he received his M.A. from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

and in 1960 his Ph.D. also from Yale. He joined the faculty of

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

in 1958. In 1966, he became an associate professor at Yale. He served as master of Yale's

Trumbull College Trumbull College is one of fourteen undergraduate residential colleges of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The college is named for Jonathan Trumbull, governor of Connecticut from 1769 to 1784 and advisor and friend to General George Was ...

from 1973 to 1976. Fogelin remained at Yale until 1980 when he became a professor at Dartmouth. Fogelin died on October 24, 2016, after struggling with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

Selected publications

* Fogelin, Robert J. (1994) ''Pyrrhonian Reflections on Knowledge and Justification'', Oxford: Oxford University Press * Fogelin, Robert J. (2003) ''Walking the Tightrope of Reason: The Precarious Life of a Rational Animal'', Oxford: Oxford University Press * Fogelin, Robert J. (1987) ''Wittgenstein''. 2nd ed. The Arguments of Philosophers, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul * Fogelin, Robert J. (2009) ''Taking Wittgenstein at His Word'', Princeton, Princeton University Press * Fogelin, Robert J. (2003) ''A Defense of Hume on Miracles'', Princeton, Princeton University Press (part of the Princeton Monographs in Philosophy) * Fogelin, Robert J. (2009) ''Hume's Skeptical Crisis: A Textual Study'', Oxford: Oxford University Press * Fogelin, Robert J. (1985) ''Hume's Skepticism in the Treatise of Human Nature''. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul * Fogelin, Robert J. (1992) ''Philosophical Interpretations''. New York: Oxford University Press * Fogelin, Robert J. (1988) ''Figuratively Speaking'', New Haven, Yale University Press * Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter and Fogelin, Robert J. (2009) ''Understanding Arguments: An Introduction to Informal Logic'', Wadsworth Publishing *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fogelin, Robert J. 1932 births 2016 deaths American philosophers Dartmouth College faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Pomona College faculty University of Rochester alumni Yale University alumni Yale University faculty