Home > David Lewis (philosopher)

Lewis was born in OberlinOberlin College Oberlin is a city located in Lorain County, Ohio, to the south and west of Cleveland. Oberlin is perhaps best known for being the home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts and music school with approximately 3,000 students. As of the 2000 ce, OhioOhio is a Midwestern state in the northeastern corner of the United States. It was the first and eastern-most state in the Midwest admitted to the Union under the Northwest Ordinance. postal abbreviation is OH its old-style abbreviation is O. Ohio is an I, to a Professor of Government at Oberlin CollegeOberlin College is a small liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, founded in 1833, with a student population of approximately 3,000. It is home to the Oberlin Conservatory, a distinguished music school. Oberlin is frequently recognized as one of the best and a distinguished medieval historian. He was known later in life for his formidable (even intimidating) intellect; this intelligence was already manifest during his years at Oberlin High School, when he attended college lectures in chemistryChemistry is the science of matter and its interactions with energy (see physics, biology). Because of the diversity of matter (which is mostly atomic), Chemists are often engaged in the pursuit of studying how atoms interact to form molecules, and how mo. He went on to Swarthmore CollegeSwarthmore College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the United States. Along with Williams, Amherst, Wellesley, Carleton, Pomona, and Bowdoin, Swarthmore is considered one of the top liberal arts colleges in the world. All of its 1,500, and spent a year at Oxford (1959-1960), where he was tutored by Iris MurdochDame Jean Iris Murdoch ( July 15, 1919 February 8, 1999) was an Anglo-Irish novelist and philosopher, famed for her series of novels that combine rich characterization and compelling plotlines usually involving ethical or sexual themes. Life and work Murd and attended lectures by Gilbert RyleGilbert Ryle ( 1900 1976), philosopher, was a representative of the generation of British ordinary language philosophers influenced by Wittgenstein's insights into language, and is principally known for his critique of Cartesian dualism, for which he coin, H. P. Grice , P. F. StrawsonPeter Frederick Strawson (born November 23, 1919 in London) is a philosopher associated with the ordinary language philosophy movement within analytical philosophy. He was the Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at the University of Oxford from, and J. L. Austin. It was his year at Oxford that played a seminal role in his decision to study philosophy, and which made him the quintessentially Analytic philosopher that he would be for the rest of his life. Lewis went on to receive his Ph.D from Harvard, where he studied under W. V. O. Quine. It was there that his connection with Australia was first established when he took a seminar with J.J.C. Smart , a leading Australian philosopher. "I taught David Lewis," Smart would say in later years, "Or rather, he taught me."

Lewis's most important works include Convention (1969), which used concepts of game theory to analyze the nature of linguistic conventions; Counterfactuals (1973), which astonished the philosophical world with a ground-breaking analysis of counterfactual conditionals in terms of the theory of possible worlds; and On the Plurality of Worlds (1986), which fleshed out and defended the theory of modal realism which he had advanced in Counterfactuals. He also published five volumes of collected papers covering a remarkably wide range of topics.

Lewis suffered from severe diabetes for much of his life, which eventually grew worse and led into kidney failure. In July of 2000 he received a kidney transplant from his wife Stephanie. The transplant allowed him to work and travel for another year, before he died suddenly, and unexpectedly, from further complications of his diabetes, on 14 October 2001.