Dagfinn Føllesdal

Dagfinn Føllesdal
Born(1932-06-22)22 June 1932
Askim, Norway
Died1 March 2026(2026-03-01) (aged 93)
Education
EducationUniversity of Oslo
Harvard University
Doctoral advisorWillard Van Orman Quine
Philosophical work
EraContemporary philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
SchoolAnalytic philosophy (early)
Continental philosophy: phenomenology/hermeneutics (late)
InstitutionsHarvard University
Stanford University
Main interestsPhilosophy of language
Notable ideasBridging analytic philosophy and phenomenology

Dagfinn Føllesdal (22 June 1932 – 1 March 2026) was a Norwegian-born American philosopher. He was the Clarence Irving Lewis Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Stanford University and professor emeritus at the University of Oslo.[1]

Life and career

Føllesdal was born in Askim, Norway. After earning his bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Oslo, he attended Harvard University and earned his Ph.D. in 1961 under Willard Van Orman Quine. He taught at Harvard University from 1961 to 1964, and began teaching at Stanford University in 1968.

In March of 2009, Føllesdal was appointed Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav by King Harald V of Norway, thanks to his work in philosophy, ethics, and bridging the divide between Anglo-American analytic philosophy and European continental philosophy.[2]

He was a member of the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature,[3] the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters,[4] the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences,[5] and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[6]

Føllesdal resided at Tanum.[7] He was a practicing Roman Catholic. He regularly participated in the sport of orienteering.[8] Føllesdal died on 1 March 2026, at the age of 93.[9]

Philosophical work

Føllesdal wrote extensively on topics relating to the philosophy of language, phenomenology, existentialism, and hermeneutics. He was a pupil of Quine and was among the leading experts on the indeterminacy of translation.

Bibliography

  • Referential Opacity and Modal logic. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1966
  • "Quine on Modality." Synthese (December 1968), 19(1-2):147-157.
  • "Husserl's Notion of Noema." Journal of Philosophy (October 1969), 66(20):680-687.
  • "Indeterminacy of Translation and Under-Determination of the Theory of Nature." Dialectica (1973), 27:289-301.
  • "Essentialism and Reference." In Lewis Hahn, ed., The Philosophy of W. V. Quine, pp. 97–115. La Salle: Open Court, 1986.
  • "Indeterminacy and Mental States." In Perspectives on Quine. Oxford & Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1990.
  • "In What Sense Is Language Public?" In Paolo Leonardi, ed., On Quine: New Essays. New York & Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
  • "Absorbed Coping, Husserl and Heidegger." In Mark A. Wrathall and Jeff Malpas, eds., Heidegger, Authenticity, and Modernity: Essays in Honor of Hubert L. Dreyfus, Volume 1, pp. 251–257. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2000.

References

  1. ^ "Dagfinn Kåre Føllesdal - Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas". www.hf.uio.no. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
  2. ^ "Dagfinn Føllesdal".
  3. ^ "Det Norske Akademi for Sprog og Litteratur" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2009.
  4. ^ "Gruppe 3: Idéfag" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
  5. ^ "The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: Dagfinn Føllesdal". Archived from the original on 2017-09-12. Retrieved 2009-05-01.
  6. ^ Gibson, Roger F. (2005). "Føllesdal, Dagfinn Kaare (1932–)". Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers. A&C Black. p. 829. ISBN 9781843710370.
  7. ^ "75 år 22. juni: C.I. Lewis Professor Philosophy / professor emeritus Dagfinn Føllesdal" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 15 June 2007.
  8. ^ "Results for Dagfinn Føllesdal in International Orienteering". Archived from the original on 2023-05-14. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  9. ^ In Memoriam: Professor Dagfinn Føllesdal
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