Timothy John Smiley FBA (born 13 November 1930) is a British philosopher, appointed

Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy The Knightbridge Professorship of Philosophy is the senior professorship in philosophy at the University of Cambridge. There have been 22 Knightbridge professors, the incumbent being Rae Langton. One of the oldest professorships in Cambridge, the ...

Clare College Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He works primarily in philosophy of mathematics and logic.

Life and career

Timothy Smiley was born in London, the son of Professor M. T. Smiley and Mrs T. M. Smiley (née Browne). He was educated at Ardwyn Grammar School, Aberystwyth, followed by

Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition located in the village of Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1802 as a boys' school, it is situated in the groun ...

, then went up to

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

to read Mathematics in 1949. He obtained his BA degree in 1952 followed by a PhD in 1956 on natural systems of logic. After completing his PhD, he remained at Cambridge on a Research Fellowship at Clare (1955–59), then as a tutor and lecturer in philosophy. He also qualified as a pilot in the Air Ministry and was called to the bar at Gray's Inn. In 1980 he was appointed

, a post he held until his retirement in 1998. In 1982–83 he was President of the Aristotelian Society and in 1984 he was elected a Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

. He is the father of the author

Sophie Smiley Sophie Smiley (born 1 March 1957) is an author of books for children. She lives in Cambridge and is married with two sons. Background Smiley was born in a Dominican monastery near Cambridge. She now teaches English and is also a staff member ...

Work

Timothy Smiley has published in a wide range of philosophical areas, including Aristotle, definite descriptions, modal logic, multiple conclusion logic, negation and denial, plurals, set-theoretic foundations for mathematics and validity. In recent years, he has collaborated on a number of articles on plural descriptions with

Alex Oliver Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple peop ...

. Most recently, Smiley's professional standing was marked by the publication of ''The Force of Argument: Essays in Honor of Timothy Smiley'' (T. J. Smiley, Jonathan Lear and Alex Oliver, Routledge, 2010)

Published works

He has edited and contributed to numerous papers and publications. A full bibliography of his work is included in his Festschrift, ''The Force of Argument: Essays in Honor of Timothy Smiley''. Books *''Studies in the Philosophy of Logic and Knowledge'', (co-edited with Thomas Baldwin.) *''Mathematics and Necessity: Essays in the History of Philosophy'' *''Philosophical Logic'' *''Philosophical Dialogues: Plato, Hume, Wittgenstein. Dawes Hicks Lectures on Philosophy'' *Smiley and D. J. Shoesmith, ''Multiple-Conclusion Logic'' (1978) (see

multiple-conclusion logic A multiple-conclusion logic is one in which logical consequence is a relation, \vdash, between two sets of sentences (or propositions). \Gamma \vdash \Delta is typically interpreted as meaning that whenever each element of \Gamma is true, some ...

)Cambridge University Press – publication listing. ''Multiple Conclusion Logic'' by D. J. Shoesmith and T. J. Smiley, reprinted 2009
Retrieved 30 December 2010 *Smiley and Alex Oliver, ''Plural Logic'' (2013) Selected papers * Sense Without Denotation. ''Analysis'' 1960; 20 (6): 125–135. doi: 10.1093/analys/20.6.125 * What is syllogism?. ''Journal of Philosophical Logic'' 1973 (2): 136–154. * The Theory of Descriptions. (1981) In T. J. Smiley & Thomas Baldwin (eds.), ''Studies in the Philosophy of Logic and Knowledge''. Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press. pp. 131–61. * Aristotle's completeness proof. ''Ancient Philosophy''. 1994 (14): 25–38.

References

External links

Clare College, Cambridge
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smiley, Timothy 1930 births British philosophers Living people Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge Presidents of the Aristotelian Society Fellows of the British Academy Knightbridge Professors of Philosophy