Stewart Shapiro (; born 1951) is O'Donnell
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 ...
at the
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
and distinguished visiting professor at the
University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...
. He is a leading figure in the
philosophy of mathematics
The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics. It aims to understand the nature and methods of mathematics, and find out the place of mathematics in people's ...
where he defends the
abstract variety
Algebraic varieties are the central objects of study in algebraic geometry, a sub-field of mathematics. Classically, an algebraic variety is defined as the set of solutions of a system of polynomial equations over the real or complex numbers. ...
of
structuralism
In sociology, anthropology, archaeology, history, philosophy, and linguistics, structuralism is a general theory of culture and methodology that implies that elements of human culture must be understood by way of their relationship to a broader ...
.
Education and career
Shapiro studied
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
and
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 ...
at
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...
in 1973. Then, he got his
M.A.
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
in mathematics at the
State University of New York at Buffalo
The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...
in 1975. He transferred to the University at Buffalo Philosophy Department, where three years later he received a Ph.D. His doctoral supervisor was
John Corcoran.
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 2021.
Publications
Books
* ''Philosophy of Mathematics: Structure and Ontology''. Oxford University Press, 1997.
* ''Thinking about Mathematics: The Philosophy of Mathematics''. Oxford University Press, 2000.
* ''Foundations without Foundationalism: A Case for Second-Order Logic''. Oxford University Press, 1991.
* ''Vagueness in Context''. Oxford University Press, 2006.
* ''Varieties of Logic''. Oxford University Press, 2014.
Editorships
* ''Intensional Mathematics'', Studies in Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics 113, Amsterdam, North Holland Publishing Company, 1985. Contributors: S. Shapiro,
J. Myhill, N. D. Goodman, A. Scedrov, V. Lifschitz, R. Flagg, R. Smullyan.
* ''The Limits of Logic: Higher-Order Logic and the Löwenheim-Skolem Theorem'', Routledge, 1996.
* Special issue of ''Philosophia Mathematica'' 4(2), devoted to structuralism. Contributors: P. Benacerraf, G. Hellman, B. Hale, C. Parsons, M. Resnik, S. Shapiro. Contributors: P. Benacerraf, G. Hellman, B. Hale, C. Parsons, M. Resnik, S. Shapiro, 1996.
* ''The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic''. Oxford University Press, 2005.
See also
*
American philosophy
American philosophy is the activity, corpus, and tradition of philosophers affiliated with the United States. The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' notes that while it lacks a "core of defining features, American Philosophy can nevert ...
*
List of American philosophers
This is a list of American philosophers; of philosophers who are either from, or spent many productive years of their lives in the United States.
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References
External links
Stewart Shapiro's webpage at Ohio State University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shapiro, Stewart
1951 births
20th-century American philosophers
21st-century American philosophers
Case Western Reserve University alumni
Living people
Ohio State University faculty
Philosophers of mathematics
Structuralism (philosophy of mathematics)
University at Buffalo alumni