Terence Dwight Parsons (1939-2022) was an American philosopher, specializing in

philosophy of language In analytic philosophy, philosophy of language investigates the nature of language and the relations between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of Meaning (philosophy of language), meanin ...

and

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

. He was emeritus professor of philosophy at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

Life and career

Parsons was born in

Endicott, New York Endicott is a village in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 13,392 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area. The village is named after Henry B. Endicott, a founding member of the End ...

and graduated from the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of ...

with a BA in physics. He received his PhD from

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 ...

in 1966. He was a full-time faculty member at 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 ...

from 1965 to 1972, at the

University of Massachusetts at 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 ...

from 1972 to 1979, at the

University of California at Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 und ...

from 1979 to 2000, and at the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

from 2000 to 2012. In 2007, he was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

Philosophical work

Parsons worked on the

semantics Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...

natural language In neuropsychology, linguistics, and philosophy of language, a natural language or ordinary language is any language that has evolved naturally in humans through use and repetition without conscious planning or premeditation. Natural languages ...

to develop theories of truth and meaning for natural language similar to those devised for

artificial language Artificial languages are languages of a typically very limited size which emerge either in computer simulations between artificial agents, robot interactions or controlled psychological experiments with humans. They are different from both constr ...

s by philosophical logicians. Heavily influenced by

Alexius Meinong Alexius Meinong Ritter von Handschuchsheim (17 July 1853 – 27 November 1920) was an Austrian philosopher, a realist known for his unique ontology. He also made contributions to philosophy of mind and theory of value. Life Alexius Meinong ...

, he wrote ''Nonexistent Objects'' (1980), which dealt with possible world theory in order to defend the reality of nonexistent objects.

Works

* ''Nonexistent Objects'', Yale University Press, 1980. * ''Events in the Semantics of English'', MIT Press, 1990. * ''Indeterminate Identity'', Oxford University Press, 2000. * ''Articulating Medieval Logic'', Oxford University Press, 2014.

References

External links

Parson's UCLA website
Living people Analytic philosophers Metaphysicians Abstract object theory 1939 births University of California, Los Angeles faculty UCLA Philosophy People from Endicott, New York University of Rochester alumni Stanford University alumni University of Illinois Chicago faculty University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty University of California, Irvine faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Presidents of the American Philosophical Association {{US-philosopher-stub

Life and career

Philosophical work

Works

See also

References

External links