Michael Friedman (born April 2, 1947) is an American
philosopher
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 ...
who serves as Professor of Philosophy and the Frederick P. Rehmus Family Professor of Humanities at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
. Friedman is best known for his work in the
philosophy of science
Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...
, especially on
scientific explanation and the
philosophy of physics, and for his
historical
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
work on
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...
. Friedman has also done historical work on figures in
continental philosophy
Continental philosophy is a term used to describe some philosophers and philosophical traditions that do not fall under the umbrella of analytic philosophy. However, there is no academic consensus on the definition of continental philosophy. Pri ...
such as
Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centu ...
and
Ernst Cassirer. Friedman also serves as the co-director of the Program in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at Stanford University.
Education and career
Friedman earned his
BA from
Queens College, City University of New York
Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than ...
in 1969 and his
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic
* Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group
** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...
from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
in 1973. He is the Frederick P. Rehmus Family Professor of Humanities at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
. Before moving to Stanford in 2002, Friedman taught 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 highe ...
, the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...
, the
University of Illinois at Chicago
The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois ...
,
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
*Indiana Universi ...
, and
UC 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 uni ...
as a
visiting professor
In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...
.
Friedman has been a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts & Sciences since 1997. Four of his articles have been selected as among the "ten best" of their year by ''
The Philosopher's Annual''.
Philosophical work
Friedman's early work was on the nature of scientific explanation and the philosophy of physics. His first book, ''Foundations of Space-Time Theories'', was published by
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large.
The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...
in 1983 won the
Matchette Prize (now known as the Book Prize) from the
American Philosophical Association, to recognize work by a younger scholar. It also won the
Lakatos Award
The Lakatos Award is given annually for an outstanding contribution to the philosophy of science, widely interpreted. The contribution must be in the form of a monograph, co-authored or single-authored, and published in English during the prev ...
from the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 milli ...
to recognize outstanding work in philosophy of science.
''Kant and the Exact Sciences'' was described in ''
Philosophical Review
''The Philosophical Review'' is a quarterly journal of philosophy edited by the faculty of the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University and published by Duke University Press (since September 2006).
Overview
The journal publishes original ...
'' as "a very important book," "required reading for researchers on the relation between the exact sciences and Kant's philosophy."
UC 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 uni ...
German philosophy professor
Hans Sluga described Friedman's 2000 book ''A Parting of the Ways: Carnap, Cassirer, and Heidegger'', a book that detailed the philosophies of
Carnap,
Cassirer, and
Heidegger, as "eye-opening" and "ambitious". The book shed new light on the split between
analytic philosophy
Analytic philosophy is a branch and tradition of philosophy using analysis, popular in the Western world and particularly the Anglosphere, which began around the turn of the 20th century in the contemporary era in the United Kingdom, United ...
and
Continental philosophy
Continental philosophy is a term used to describe some philosophers and philosophical traditions that do not fall under the umbrella of analytic philosophy. However, there is no academic consensus on the definition of continental philosophy. Pri ...
.
In his book ''Dynamics of Reason'', Friedman "provides the fullest account to date not only of
isneo-Kantian, historicized, dynamical conception of relativized ''a priori'' principles of mathematics and physics, but also of the pivotal role that
esees philosophy as playing in making scientific revolutions rational."
Friedman is an
honorary professor
Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...
at the
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...
.
Personal life
Friedman is married to Graciela de Pierris, an associate professor 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. ...
at Stanford who has published research on
late modern philosophy.
Selected publications
Books
*''Foundations of Space-Time Theories: Relativistic Physics and the Philosophy of Science'' (Princeton University Press, 1983)
*''Kant and the Exact Sciences'' (Harvard University Press, 1992)
*''Reconsidering Logical Positivism'' (Cambridge University Press, 1999)
*''A Parting of the Ways: Carnap, Cassirer, and Heidegger'' (Open Court, 2000)
*''Dynamics of Reason: The 1999 Kant Lectures at Stanford University'' (CSLI/University of Chicago Press, 2001)
*''Immanuel Kant: Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science'' (Cambridge University Press, 2004) (editor)
*''The Kantian Legacy in Nineteenth-Century Science'' (MIT Press, 2006) (co-editor with Alfred Nordmann)
*''The Cambridge Companion to Carnap'' (2007) (co-editor with Richard Creath)
*''Kant's Construction of Nature: A Reading of the Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science'' (Cambridge University Press, 2013)
Journal articles
*
References
External links
Faculty profileat
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Michael
20th-century American philosophers
21st-century American philosophers
American philosophy academics
Philosophers of cosmology
Philosophers of science
Living people
1947 births
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Lakatos Award winners