Name Norman Smith | ||
Died 1958, Edinburgh, United Kingdom Books The philosophy of David, commentary to Kant's Critique o, John Locke (1632‑1704), Studies in the Cartesian, New studies in the philos Similar People Saul Kripke, David Lewis, Walter Kaufmann | ||
Education University of St Andrews | ||
Norman Duncan Kemp Smith FRSE (5 May 1872 – 3 September 1958) was a Scottish philosopher who was Professor of Psychology (1906–14) and Philosophy (1914–19) at Princeton University and was Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Edinburgh (1919–45).
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Early life
He was born Norman Smith in 1872 in Dundee, Scotland. He was educated in Dundee and then studied Mental Philosophy at the University of St. Andrews, graduating with first-class honours in 1893. He added his wife's last name when he married Amy Kemp in 1910. He is noted for his English translation of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.
Career
Kemp Smith received his doctorate in 1902 from the University of St. Andrews. He lectured in philosophy and psychology at Princeton from 1906 to 1916, and at Edinburgh from 1919 until his retirement in 1945. He is best known for his English translation of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, published in 1929 and often used as the standard English version of the text. His commentaries on the Critique are also well regarded, as are his works on David Hume and other philosophers. He was president of the Aristotelian Society from 1947 to 1948. A portrait by the Edinburgh artist Adam Bruce Thomson is held by the University of Edinburgh's Fine Art Collection.
Kemp Smith died on 3 September 1958 in Edinburgh.