Nicholas Wolterstorff

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Region Western Philosophy Influenced Kendall Walton Role Philosopher		Name Nicholas Wolterstorff

Born January 21, 1932 (age 92) ( 1932-01-21 ) Bigelow, Minnesota Era 20th-century philosophy Main interests Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, Aesthetics, Political Philosophy Education Calvin College, Harvard University Influenced by Alvin Plantinga, John Calvin, Thomas Reid Books Lament for a son, Justice : rights and wrongs, Divine discourse, Until justice and peace embrace, Justice in Love Similar People Alvin Plantinga, Robert Audi, Terence Cuneo, Cornelius Plantinga, R C Sproul
Notable ideas Reformed epistemology Schools of thought Analytic philosophy

Nicholas wolterstorff art and aesthetics

Nicholas Wolterstorff (born January 21, 1932) is an American philosopher. A prolific writer with wide-ranging philosophical and theological interests, he has written books on aesthetics, epistemology, political philosophy, philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and philosophy of education. In Faith and Rationality, Wolterstorff, Alvin Plantinga, and William Alston developed and expanded upon a view of religious epistemology that has come to be known as Reformed epistemology. He also helped to establish the journal Faith and Philosophy and the Society of Christian Philosophers.

Nicholas Wolterstorff httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Nicholas wolterstorff on analytic and continental philosophy

Degrees

Nicholas Wolterstorff Nicholas Wolterstorff Loving God Loving your Neighbor

Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan BA in philosophy 1953

Harvard University, M.A. and PhD in philosophy 1956

Vrije Universiteit, Honorary Doctorate in philosophy 2007.

University positions

Nicholas Wolterstorff httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommons88

Professor of Philosophy, Calvin College (1959–1989)

Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology, Yale University (1989–2001) and, concurrently, Adjunct Professor in the Philosophy Department and the Religious Studies Department

Visiting professorships

Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, Oxford University, University of Notre Dame, University of Texas, University of Michigan, Temple University, the Free University of Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit), and the University of Virginia.

Professional distinctions

Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, 1953

Harvard Foundation Fellowship, 1954

Josiah Royce Memorial Fellowship, Harvard University, 1954

Fulbright Scholarship, 1957

President of the American Philosophical Association (Central Division)

President of the Society of Christian Philosophers

Senior Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study in Culture, University of Virginia, 2005

Endowed lectureships

Kuyper Lectures, Free University of Amsterdam, 1981

Wilde Lectures, Oxford University, 1993

Gifford Lectures, St Andrews University, 1995

Tate-Willson Lectures, Southern Methodist University, 1991

Stone Lectures, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1998

Lectures at Southern Seminary, Lecture #2, Lecture #3, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2000

Taylor Lectures, Yale University, 2001

Laing Lectures, Regent College, 2007

Personal life

Nicholas Wolterstorff lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with his wife Claire. He has seven grandchildren.

Thought

While an undergraduate at Calvin College, Wolterstorff was greatly influenced by professors William Harry Jellema, Henry Stob and Henry Zylstra, who introduced him to schools of thought that have dominated his mature thinking: Reformed theology and common sense philosophy (these have also influenced the thinking of Wolterstorff's friend and colleague Alvin Plantinga, another alumnus of Calvin College).

Wolterstorff builds upon the ideas of the Scottish common sense philosopher Thomas Reid, who approached knowledge "from the bottom-up". Instead of reasoning about transcendental conditions of knowledge, Wolterstorff suggests that knowledge and our knowing faculties are not the subject of our research but have to be seen as its starting point. Wolterstorff rejects classical foundationalism and instead sees knowledge as based upon insights in reality which are direct and indubitable.

References

Nicholas Wolterstorff Wikipedia

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