Benson Mates

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Benson Mates (born May 19, 1919 in Portland (Oregon) , † May 14, 2009 in Berkeley ) was an American philosopher , known for his work in the field of logic , the history of philosophy and especially skepticism .

Life

Mates studied mathematics and philosophy at the University of Oregon , Cornell University, and the University of California, Berkeley . His teachers and influences include John Barkley Rosser , Harold Cherniss and Alfred Tarski . From 1948 until his retirement in 1989 he was professor of philosophy at Berkeley, where he remained as an emeritus until his death. In 1987, Mates was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . Benson Mates died just 5 days before his 90th birthday.

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His thesis from 1948 On the Logic of the Old Stoa ( German , about the logic of the older Stoa ') formed the basis of his monograph Stoic Logic from 1953. Peter Geach wrote in his review: " Stoic logic is a difficult subject […] Dr. Mates's monograph is a strict and successful effort to overcome these difficulties. "( PT Geach : The Philosophical Review , 64: 1 (January 1955), p. 143., German:" Stoic Logic is a Difficult Subject [...] The writing of Dr. Mates represents a zealous and successful effort to this Difficulties to overcome. ”) Mates' Elementary Logic ( German elementary logic , 1969, 2nd edition 1978) was until recently a widely used textbook for the introduction to logic. In 1986 a widely acclaimed paper on Leibniz was published .

In his own philosophical research, Mates took a position that borrows from the Pyrrhonic skepticism . According to Mates, fundamental problems of philosophy such as the liar's paradox , the existence of the outside world, and free will are understandable, non-trivial, and yet unsolvable. In contrast to ancient Pyrrhonism, skeptical arguments do not lead to ataraxia for him , but only to an unsatisfied state of amazement.

Monographs and edited volumes

  • Benson Mates: Stoic Logic (=  University of California Publications in Philosophy . Volume 26 ). University of California Press, Berkeley 1953, ISBN 0-520-02368-4 (English, ISBN of the 1973 reprint).
  • Benson Mates: Elementary Logic . 1965, German elementary logic - first level predicate logic. most recently: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen 1997, ISBN 3-525-40541-3 .
  • Benson Mates: Skeptical Essays . University of Chicago Press, 1981.
  • Benson Mates: The philosophy of Leibniz. Metaphysics and language . Oxford Univ. Pr., New York 1986, ISBN 0-19-503696-4 .
  • Benson Mates: The Skeptic Way: Sextus Empiricus's Outlines of Pyrrhonism. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1996.

Web links

  • List of Mates publications available online at phipapers.org

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The philosophy of Leibniz: metaphysics and language “ Mates' book [is] the best work of its kind on Leibniz yet published. "( JA Cover and Glenn Hartz : Noûs , 24: 1 (March 1990), p. 169, German:" Mates' book is the work of its kind on Leibniz that has appeared so far. ")
  2. ^ Benson Mates: Skeptical Essays . University of Chicago Press, 1981, pp. 3-13.
  3. ^ Benson Mates: Skeptical Essays . University of Chicago Press, 1981, p. 158.
personal data
SURNAME Mates, Benson
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American logician and philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Portland, Oregon
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 2009
Place of death Berkeley