Virgil Charles Aldrich (13 September 1903 in
Narsinghpur
Narsinghpur is a city in Madhya Pradesh in central India. It comes under Jabalpur division.
Narsinghpur has a large temple dedicated to Lord Narsingh
As of 2001, Narsinghpur is the most literate district of the state.
History
Prehistory ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
– 28 May 1998 in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
), was an American
philosopher of art
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...
,
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
, and
religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
.
Early life and education
The son of Floyd Clement Aldrich and his wife Ann Hanley, Virgil Aldrich earned his
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree at
Ohio Wesleyan University
Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio. It was founded in 1842 by methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five – a consortium ...
in 1925. He studied at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
in 1927 and then went on to earn a ''
Diplôme d'Études Supérieures de Philosophie'' at the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
in 1928 before completing his
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
at the
University of California 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 univ ...
in 1931. He married Louise Hafliger on 3 September 1927 and they had one son, David Virgil Aldrich.
Academic career
Aldrich's first academic appointment was his appointment as an
instructor
Instructor may refer to:
Education
* Instructor, a teacher of a specialised subject that involves skill:
** Teaching assistant
** Tutor
** Lecturer
** Fellow
** Teaching fellow
*** Teaching associate
*** Graduate student instructor
** Professor
S ...
in
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
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...
in 1931 and Sterling Fellow at
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 ...
in 1931-32. Promoted to
assistant professor
Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada.
Overview
This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...
, he remained at Rice until 1942, when he was appointed visiting professor at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
from 1942 to 1946. Appointed
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 at
Kenyon College
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is se ...
in 1946, he remained there until 1965, serving as visiting professor at
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
in 1962-63. In 1965, he became professor of philosophy at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
, where he remained until his retirement in 1972. On his retirement, he moved to
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
, where he became an adjunct professor at the
University of Utah
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
.
Aldrich served as Director of the
Kyoto American Studies Institute
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the city ...
in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and for short periods was visiting professor 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 higher le ...
, the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, and
the University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
. He served as trustee and president of the
American Society of Aesthetics
American Society for Aesthetics (ASA) is a
philosophical organization founded in 1942 to promote the study of aesthetics. The ASA sponsors national and regional conferences, and publishes the ''Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism'', the '' ...
and president of
American Philosophical Association
The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarly ...
.
"Some Meanings of Vague" (1937)
In his article "Some Meanings of Vague",
[''Analysis'', Vol. 4, No. 6 (Aug. 1937), pp. 89–95, Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Analysis Committee.] Aldrich puts forth a series of definitions of
vague
In linguistics and philosophy, a vague predicate is one which gives rise to borderline cases. For example, the English adjective "tall" is vague since it is not clearly true or false for someone of middling height. By contrast, the word "prime" i ...
objects and
sensum, and then argues that any empiricist must account for vague sensum every bit as much as clear sensum, without skirting the issue. He takes there to be many kinds of vagueness—importantly, there is vagueness of symbols and vagueness of senses. Here symbols are anything which is used to refer, including verbal words, signs, pictures, and more. Vagueness regarding symbols can be the same as the vagueness which regards the senses. There can, additionally, be vagueness of the practices surrounding the use of the symbol to refer. These, he suggests, should be avoided.
Honors
*
L.H.D.
The degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (; DHumLitt; DHL; or LHD) is an honorary degree awarded to those who have distinguished themselves through humanitarian and philanthropic contributions to society.
The criteria for awarding the degree differ ...
,
Ohio Wesleyan University
Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio. It was founded in 1842 by methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five – a consortium ...
, 1963
*
L.H.D.
The degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (; DHumLitt; DHL; or LHD) is an honorary degree awarded to those who have distinguished themselves through humanitarian and philanthropic contributions to society.
The criteria for awarding the degree differ ...
,
Kenyon College
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is se ...
, 1972
Writings
Books:
* ''Language and philosophy'' (
yoto Kyoto American Studies Seminar, 1955)
* ''Philosophy of Art'', (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, 1963)
* ''The Body of a Person'', (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1988)
* ''My Century'', Nantucket, Massachusetts, EditAndPublishYourBook.com/Lulu, 20 November 2010
* ''Philosophical Reflections'', Nantucket, Massachusetts, EditAndPublishYourBook.com/Lulu,
11 December 2010
Contributions:
* ''Readings in Philosophical Analysis'' (1951)
* ''Reflections on Art'' (1958)
* ''Religious Experience and Truth'' (1961)
* ''Faith and the Philosophers'' (1962)
* ''World Perspectives on Philosophy'' (1967)
"Design, Composition, and Symbol" ''The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism'' (Vol. 27, No. 4, Summer, 1969), pp. 379–388.
* ''Studies in philosophy: a symposium on Gilbert Ryle'', Edited by Konstantin Kolenda. (Houston, Tex. : William Marsh Rice University, 1972)
* "Pictures and Persons" in ''Review of Metaphysics'' (1975)
* "Description and expression: Physicalism restricted," ''Inquiry'' vol. 20 (1977), pp. 149–164.
* ''Falling in love with wisdom: American philosophers talk about their calling,'' edited by David D. Karnos, Robert G. Shoemaker. (New York : Oxford University Press, 1993
Festschrift
* ''Body, mind, and method: essays in honor of Virgil C. Aldrich'' edited by Donald F. Gustafson and Bangs L. Tapscott. (Dordrecht and Boston: D. Reidel Pub. Co., 1979)
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
Sources
* University of Utah Library
* ''
Marquis Who's Who
Marquis Who's Who ( or ) is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in America'', ''Who's Who of American Wome ...
''
External links
Kenyon College Obituary Inventory of the Vigil Aldrich Papers, Marriott Library, University of UtahBody, Mind and Method available at Google BooksEntry for Virgil Aldrich at JSTORReview at the Journal of Symbolic Logic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aldrich, Virgil
1903 births
1998 deaths
20th-century American philosophers
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Indian emigrants to the United States
Philosophers from Texas
Philosophers from New York (state)
Philosophers of language
Ohio Wesleyan University alumni
University of Paris alumni
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Philosophers from Utah
Philosophers from North Carolina
Rice University faculty
Columbia University faculty
University of Utah faculty
Kenyon College faculty
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty
Philosophers of art
People from Narsinghpur
University of Michigan faculty
American male writers of Indian descent
American expatriates in France
Philosophers from Ohio
American male non-fiction writers
20th-century American male writers
American expatriates in England