Gilbert Harman
Encyclopedia
Gilbert Harman is a contemporary American
philosopher, teaching at Princeton University
, who has published widely in linguistics, semantics, cognitive science, philosophy of mind, ethics, moral psychology, epistemology, statistical learning theory, and metaphysics. He and George Miller co-directed the Princeton University Cognitive Science Laboratory. Harman has taught or co-taught courses in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Psychology, Philosophy, and Linguistics.
He currently holds the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professorship in Philosophy. He has been named a Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. He received the Jean Nicod Prize in Paris in 2005. In 2009 he received Princeton University's Behrman award for distinguished achievement in the humanities. His acceptance speech was titled "We need a linguistics department."
He has a BA from Swarthmore College
and a Ph.D. from Harvard University
. His most influential teachers were Michael Scriven
, W. V. Quine, and Noam Chomsky
.
His daughter, Elizabeth Harman, is also a philosopher and a member of the philosophy department and the Center for Human Values at Princeton University.
Harman has argued that intuitions about knowledge are useful in thinking about inference. He and Brett Sherman have suggested that knowledge can rest on assumptions that are not themselves known. He and Sanjeev Kulkarni have also suggested that elementary statistical learning theory offers a kind of response to the philosophical problem of induction.
He has also proposed that perceptual and other psychological states are self-reflective so that the content of a perceptual experience might be: this very experience is the result of perceiving a tree with such and such features (except that the experience is not in language). The content of an intention might be: this very intention will lead me to go home by six o'clock.
He has argued that there is not a single true morality. In that respect, moral relativism
is true. (This sort of moral relativism is not a theory about what ordinary people mean by their moral judgments.
He has also written about various ways in which values might be explained and has discussed what it is to value something intrinsically.
Edited:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
philosopher, teaching at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, who has published widely in linguistics, semantics, cognitive science, philosophy of mind, ethics, moral psychology, epistemology, statistical learning theory, and metaphysics. He and George Miller co-directed the Princeton University Cognitive Science Laboratory. Harman has taught or co-taught courses in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Psychology, Philosophy, and Linguistics.
He currently holds the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professorship in Philosophy. He has been named a Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. He received the Jean Nicod Prize in Paris in 2005. In 2009 he received Princeton University's Behrman award for distinguished achievement in the humanities. His acceptance speech was titled "We need a linguistics department."
He has a BA from Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
and a Ph.D. from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. His most influential teachers were Michael Scriven
Michael Scriven
Michael Scriven is a British-born academic, with a first degree in mathematics and a doctorate in philosophy. He has made significant contributions in the fields of philosophy, psychology, critical thinking, and, most notably, evaluation .He has produced over 400 scholarly publications and has...
, W. V. Quine, and Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
.
His daughter, Elizabeth Harman, is also a philosopher and a member of the philosophy department and the Center for Human Values at Princeton University.
EPISTEMOLOGY
Gilbert Harman wrote an early discussion of "inference to the best explanation" and argued in later work that all inference or reasoning should be conceived as rational "change in view," balancing conservatism against coherence, where simplicity and explanatory considerations are relevant to positive coherence (which is good) and where avoiding inconsistency is relevant to negative coherence (which is bad). He has expressed doubts about appeals to a priori knowledge and has argued that logic and decision theory are implication and consistency and should not be interpreted as theories that can be followed: they are not theories of inference or reasoning.Harman has argued that intuitions about knowledge are useful in thinking about inference. He and Brett Sherman have suggested that knowledge can rest on assumptions that are not themselves known. He and Sanjeev Kulkarni have also suggested that elementary statistical learning theory offers a kind of response to the philosophical problem of induction.
MIND
Harman has also argued that perceptual experience has "intentional content" and that it is important not to confuse qualities of the intentional object of experience with qualities of the experience. Perceivers are only aware of qualities that are presented to them in experience, as opposed to properties of experience that represent what we experience as a kind of mental paint.He has also proposed that perceptual and other psychological states are self-reflective so that the content of a perceptual experience might be: this very experience is the result of perceiving a tree with such and such features (except that the experience is not in language). The content of an intention might be: this very intention will lead me to go home by six o'clock.
ETHICS
Harman has rejected attempts to base moral theory on conceptions of human flourishing and character traits and has expressed skepticism about the need for a good person to be susceptible to moral guilt or shame.He has argued that there is not a single true morality. In that respect, moral relativism
Moral relativism
Moral relativism may be any of several descriptive, meta-ethical, or normative positions. Each of them is concerned with the differences in moral judgments across different people and cultures:...
is true. (This sort of moral relativism is not a theory about what ordinary people mean by their moral judgments.
He has also written about various ways in which values might be explained and has discussed what it is to value something intrinsically.
Works
Monographs:- Thought (Princeton,1973) ISBN 0-691-07188-8
- The Nature of Morality: An Introduction to Ethics (Oxford,1977) ISBN 0-19-502143-6
- Change in View: Principles of Reasoning (MIT,1986) ISBN 0-262-58091-8
- Scepticism and the Definition of Knowledge (Garland,1990) [This is Gilbert Harman's doctoral dissertation which was submitted to Harvard University in 1964]
- (with Judith Jarvis ThomsonJudith Jarvis ThomsonJudith Jarvis Thomson is an American moral philosopher and metaphysician, best known for her use of thought experiments to make philosophical points.- Career :...
), Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivity (Blackwell,1996) ISBN 0-631-19211-5 - Reasoning, Meaning and Mind (Clarendon,1999) ISBN 0-19-823802-9
- Explaining Value and Other Essays in Moral Philosophy (Clarendon,2000) ISBN 0-19-823804-5
- (with Sanjeev Kulkarni) Reliable Reasoning: Induction and Statistical Learning Theory (MIT Press, 2007)
- (with Sanjeev Kulkanri) "An Elementary Introduction to Stantistical Learning Theory" (Wiley, 2012).
Edited:
- (with Donald DavidsonDonald Davidson (philosopher)Donald Herbert Davidson was an American philosopher born in Springfield, Massachusetts, who served as Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley from 1981 to 2003 after having also held teaching appointments at Stanford University, Rockefeller University, Princeton...
), Semantics of Natural Language (D. Reidel,1972) - On Noam ChomskyNoam ChomskyAvram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
: Critical Essays (Anchor,1974) - (with Donald Davidson), The Logic of Grammar (Dickenson,1975)
- Conceptions of the Human Mind: Essays in Honor of George A. Miller (Laurence Erlbaum,1993)
See also
- American philosophyAmerican philosophyAmerican philosophy is the philosophical activity or output of Americans, both within the United States and abroad. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes that while American philosophy lacks a "core of defining features, American Philosophy can nevertheless be seen as both reflecting and...
- List of Jean Nicod Prize laureatesJean Nicod PrizeThe Jean Nicod Prize is awarded annually in Paris to a leading philosopher of mind or philosophically-oriented cognitive scientist. The lectures are organized by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique as part of its effort to promote interdisciplinary research in cognitive science in...
- Moral skepticismMoral skepticism"Moral skepticism" denotes a class of metaethical theories all members of which entail that no one has any moral knowledge. Many moral skeptics also make the stronger, modal, claim that moral knowledge is impossible...
- List of American philosophers
External links
- http://www.princeton.edu/~harman/