A. Thomas Tymoczko (September 1, 1943August 8, 1996) was a philosopher specializing in

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

and 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 ...

. He taught at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

from 1971 until his death from stomach cancer in 1996, aged 52. His publications include ''New Directions in the Philosophy of Mathematics'', an edited collection of essays for which he wrote individual introductions, and ''Sweet Reason: A Field Guide to Modern Logic'', co-authored by

Jim Henle Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim' ...

. In addition, he published a number of philosophical articles, such as " The Four-Color Problem and its Philosophical Significance", which argues that the increasing use of computers is changing the nature of mathematical proof. He is considered to be a member of the

fallibilist Originally, fallibilism (from Medieval Latin: ''fallibilis'', "liable to err") is the philosophical principle that propositions can be accepted even though they cannot be conclusively proven or justified,Haack, Susan (1979)"Fallibilism and Nece ...

school in

Philip Kitcher Philip Stuart Kitcher (born 20 February 1947) is a British philosopher who is John Dewey Professor Emeritus of philosophy at Columbia University. He specialises in the philosophy of science, the philosophy of biology, the philosophy of mathema ...

dubbed this school the "maverick" tradition in the philosophy of mathematics. (

Paul Ernest Paul Ernest is a contributor to the social constructivist philosophy of mathematics. Life Paul Ernest is currently emeritus professor of the philosophy of mathematics education at Exeter University, UK. He is best known for his work on philos ...

) He completed an undergraduate degree from

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 higher le ...

in 1965, and his PhD from the same university in 1972.

Personal life

Tymoczko was married to comparative literature scholar

Maria Tymoczko Maria Fleming Tymoczko (born 1943) is a scholar of comparative literature who has written about translation, medieval Celtic literature, and modern Irish literature including the works of James Joyce. She is a professor of comparative literature a ...

of the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

. Their three children include music composer

Dmitri Tymoczko Dmitri Tymoczko is a composer and music theorist. His music, which draws on rock, jazz, and romanticism, has been performed by ensembles such as the Amernet String Quartet, the Brentano Quartet, Janus, Newspeak, the San Francisco Contemporary Playe ...

and Smith College mathematics professor

Julianna Tymoczko Julianna Sophia Tymoczko (born 1975) is an American mathematician whose research connects algebraic geometry and algebraic combinatorics, including representation theory, Schubert calculus, equivariant cohomology, and Hessenberg varieties. She i ...

References

1943 births 1996 deaths People from New Kensington, Pennsylvania Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Smith College faculty 20th-century American philosophers {{US-philosopher-stub Deaths from cancer in the United States Deaths from stomach cancer