Name Frederic Sommers Died October 2, 2014 | Role Philosopher | |
Born January 1, 1923 New York City, U.S. Spouse Christina Hoff Sommers (m. 1981–2014) Books The logic of natural language, An Invitation to Formal Reasoning: The Logic of Terms | ||
Frederic Tamler Sommers (January 1, 1923 – October 2, 2014), better known as Fred Sommers, was an American philosopher who, after an initial focus on ontology more generally, turned his attention specifically to a revival of classical logic.
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Birth and education
Sommers was born in New York City on January 1, 1923. He received his BA and PhD in philosophy at Columbia University, his dissertation being entitled An Empiricist Ontology: A Study in the Metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead.
Career
Sommers began his academic career at Columbia University, where he was assistant professor of philosophy from 1955 to 1963. He was invited to Brandeis University in 1964 as an associate professor of philosophy and was promoted to full professor in 1966. From 1965 until his retirement, he held the Harry Austryn Wolfson Chair of Philosophy; from 1993 until his death he was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Brandeis. He died aged 91 in 2014.