Distinguished University
Professor
Lawrence Sklar
Lawrence Sklar, one of the world’s leading philosophers of
science, has made fundamental contributions to the philosophy of
physics, particularly space-time and statistical physics. His insightful
papers and reviews in those fields, as well as metaphysics, epistemology
and the philosophy of language, are considered classics.
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Sklar’s book “Space, Time, and Spacetime” (University
of California Press 1974) won the American Philosophical Association’s
Franklin J. Matchette Prize. His introductory book “Philosophy
of Physics” (Oxford University Press 1992) has made it possible
for a wider audience to engage in serious study of the field. Another
of Sklar’s books, “Physics and Chance: Philosophical
Issues in the Foundations of Statistical Mechanics” (Cambridge
University Press 1993), received the Imrè Lakatos Award for
distinction and was acclaimed by Choice magazine as “one of
the most important books in the philosophy of science in the last
50 years.”
A member of the Department of Philosophy faculty since 1968, Sklar
also is an excellent teacher. He combines a dynamic style with the
lucidity and gift for exposition evident in his writing. Many of
his graduate students have gone on to achieve distinguished careers.
Sklar has served on the governing board of the Philosophy of Science
Association and the Executive Committee of the American Philosophical
Association, on the editorial boards of Philosophy of Science, Studies
in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, Philosophical Essays,
and Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, and as president of
the American Philosophical Association’s Central Division.
In 1998, he presented the John Locke Lectures at Oxford University,
one of the most prestigious lecture series in philosophy. He is
a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received
numerous research grants from the National Science Foundation, as
well as awards from the American Council of Learned Societies, the
National Endowment for the Humanities, and the John Simon Guggenheim
Memorial Foundation.
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