Frank Ebersole

Frank B. Ebersole was drawn from biology into philosophy by reflecting on the views of authors who thought a new metaphysics was required by the theory of evolution. Later he was attracted by ideas of analytic philosophy and ordinary language philosophy. Thinking about problems with these philosophical methods led him to a philosophical approach that is without precedent.Fact|date=May 2008 His writings make a reader rethink his or her approach to philosophy, whatever it may be.

Biography

Frank B. Ebersole (b. 1919) majored in zoology first at Indiana University and then at Heidelberg College. After several years as a philosophy graduate student at Yale University, he transferred to the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. in philosophy in 1947. While a graduate student at Chicago, he won the Fiske Poetry Prize.

Initially Ebersole was especially interested in philosophers who brought a biological perspective to their philosophy (Henri Bergson, Alfred North Whitehead, and Charles Hartshorne, for example). He also was influenced by ideas of logical analysis (especially as practised by Rudolph Carnap). But as he struggled with philosophical problems and worked to understand the later ideas of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the ideas of J. L. Austin, Gilbert Ryle, and Outs Bouwsma, he developed a unique philosophical approach.

Ebersole has held teaching posts at Carleton College, Oberlin College, San Jose State University, University of the Pacific, Stanford University, Albion College, and University of Alberta, but most of his academic career was spent at the University of Oregon, where he served a period as department chairman and organizer and director of graduate studies. He's read philosophical papers at the University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University, The University of Oregon, University of Alberta, University of Calgary, University of Victoria, and Reed College.

He's published philosophical essays in Mind, Journal of Philosophy, Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophy Today, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, and Philosophical Investigations. However, much of his writing was not intended for journal publication and is available only in his three books: Things We Know, Language and Perception, Meaning and Saying.

Professor Ebersole has served on the Executive Committee of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association, as President of the Willamette Valley Philosophical Association, and on the Editorial board of the philosophy journal, Philosophical Investigations (Blackwell Publishers, Oxford).

Besides his intense involvement with philosophical problems, he's also a parent, a photographer, a birder, and has written two books of poetry (Many Times of Year and Song of the Crow).

Ebersole's essays give form to personal struggles with philosophical problems. The essays are attempts to find ways out of philosophical dilemmas and are often dialogues.