- Peter Glassen
Infobox_Philosopher
region = Canada
era = 20th Century
color = #B0C4DE
image_caption =
name = Peter Glassen
birth = Birth date|1920|10|19, Szeged (Hungary)
death =March 24 ,1986 , Winnipeg (Canada)
school_tradition = Analytic
main_interests = Moral Theory, Metaphysics
influences = David Hume, C. D. Broad, W. D. Ross
influenced =
notable_ideas = Classification of Moral Terms; Linguistic Argument against Non-CognitivismPeter Glassen (1920-1986) was a professor of philosophy at the
University of Manitoba from 1949 until his death in 1986. He was previously (1948-49) a member of the psychology department at theUniversity of Saskatchewan . He developed a considerable reputation as an analytic moral philosopher on the basis of a number of articles published in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was also known for his arguments against metaphysical materialism.Early years
Born in
Szeged ,Hungary (then the Austro-Hungarian Empire) onOctober 19 ,1920 , Glassen emigrated with his parents toToronto ,Canada in 1929, residing on Gladstone Avenue in the city's west end. He graduated fromBloor Collegiate Institute in 1940. Among other academic awards, Glassen received the R.W. Leonard Entrance Scholarship for General Proficiency from theUniversity of Toronto , valued at what was then the very substantial sum of $900. He graduated with a B.A. in 1944 and an M.A. in 1945.tudies at Harvard
In 1945, Glassen entered
Harvard University , having been awarded the Philip H. Sears scholarship. There he studied withRalph Barton Perry , C. I. Lewis, Henry D. Aiken, W. T. Stace,Henry Austryn Wolfson and others. In October 1947 he qualified for the A.M. degree and, under Aiken's supervision, continued to work on his doctoral dissertation ("The Ethics of Shaftesbury and Hutcheson", later changed to "The Criterion of Rightness in Action") for several years, but never completed his Ph.D. due to his commitments as an assistant professor. [Most of the biographical details of early life and academic career, etc. are from a copy of a Harvard University form datedOctober 1 ,1947 , filled out by Glassen.]Career at the University of Manitoba
Glassen's first set of publications consisted in eight papers published in major philosophical journals in 1957, 1958 and 1959. These reflected his core interests: analytic moral theory (where he was a cognitivist and champion of ordinary language analysis),
value theory (particularly the classification of, and distinctions among, moral and non-moral varieties of normative judgment), andepistemology (notably the question of the possibility ofsynthetic a priori knowledge). There followed a period of reduced activity, with two papers on cognitivism in 1962 and 1963, several reviews for "Dialogue" from 1963 to 1970, and finally a series of papers on another subject of enduring interest -- the refutation of arguments against dualism -- between 1976 and 1984. Glassen also authored a number of conference papers, including two that were published in the proceedings of the 12th and 13th meetings of theInternational Congress of Philosophy , in 1958 and 1963 respectively. Several other papers were unpublished and -- with one or two exceptions -- are likely lost.In 1961, Glassen travelled to
England on aCanada Council grant, meeting with many leading moral philosophers of the time, including Sir David Ross,H. B. Acton and others.Glassen's early promise was not entirely realized. This was at least partly due to the lasting effects of a personal tragedy. While returning from
Toronto toWinnipeg for the beginning of the 1965-66 school year, Glassen was involved in a car accident that took the life of the other driver. Though not ultimately found at fault, Glassen never fully recovered from the shock. His scholarly output declined and he turned down an opportunity to move to the more prominent department at theUniversity of Toronto in 1967. His career might have faded into complete obscurity had it not been for the development ofeliminative materialism by fellowUniversity of Manitoba philosophersPaul Churchland andPatricia Churchland in the 1970s. This aroused his vehement opposition and revived his interest in writing and publishing. After several years of good health, a series of illnesses in 1985-86 brought on a recurrence of depression and alcoholism, leading to his death by suicide on or aboutMarch 24 ,1986 inWinnipeg . [Death notice, "Peter Glassen", "Winnipeg Free Press",March 27 ,1986 .]List of known writings
ynopses of Major Articles
"Some Questions about Relations" (1957) is an analysis of the
ontology of relations. Glassen argues that a relation has both properties (e.g. reflexivity (R), symmetry (S), transitivity (T)) and content. There must be content because many relations share the same set of properties while not being the same relation (e.g. "to the left of" and "before" are both [-R, -S, T] ). Thus a relation "r" may be defined in terms of content and properties, e.g. as {r =df con, p1, p2, p3}. Glassen proceeds to point out several troubling questions that arise when we try to understand whether the relationship between content and properties is necessary or accidental. He admits in his conclusion that, "given the Bradleyan flavour of the problems to which it gives rise", there may be something wrong -- and perhaps quite importantly wrong -- with the initial distinction between content and properties. This paper was reviewed byAlonzo Church in "The Journal of Symbolic Logic" 32:3 (Sept. 1968), p. 408."A Fallacy in Aristotle's Argument about the Good" (1957) is a close analysis of a crucial paragraph in Book I, chapter 7 of
Aristotle 'sNicomachean Ethics . Glassen argues that Aristotle fails to show (or even to attempt to argue) that it follows from the fact that the function of a good man is activity of the soul in accordance with virtue that the good of man -- his final goal -- is precisely that function. This reflects Glassen's attention to the distinction between morality and the broader theory of value. Glassen's argument has been referred to in a number of subsequent papers. [E.g. by Kathleen V. Wilkes, "The Good Man and the Good for Man in Aristotle’s Ethics", "Mind" 87:553 (1978).]Aurel Kolnai , referring to the same problem although not specifically to Glassen's paper, called this the "Aristotelian Equivocation". [Aurel Kolnai, "Morality and Practice I" in "Ethics, Value and Reality: Selected Essays of Aurel Kolnai" (1978), 63-94 at 66.]"Are There Unresolvable Moral Disputes?" (1962) was influential in the field of
ethical objectivism in its introduction of subjective bases of approval on top of the objective bases for approval outlined inemotivist theory - an introduction which made possible the resolution of moral disputes theoretically unresolvable under the emotivist theory. In a way, his work can be seen as straddling the line between emotivism and ethical objectivism.References
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