Alvin Goldman (1938-2024)
Alvin I. Goldman, emeritus professor of philosophy and cognitive science at Rutgers University, and one of the most influential epistemologists of the past 50 years, has died.
Professor Goldman was known for his work developing naturalized epistemology. He is the author of several books, including A Theory of Human Action (1970), Epistemology and Cognition (1986), Knowledge in a Social World (1999), Simulating Minds: The Philosophy, Psychology, and Neuroscience of Mindreading (2006), among others, and there are several volumes collecting his articles. You can learn more about his writings here and here.
Professor Goldman joined the Rutgers faculty in 2002, after spending close to two decades as professor of philosophy at the University of Arizona. Before that, he was a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and from 1963 to 1980 was a member of the philosophy faculty at the University of Michigan. He earned his MA and PhD from Princeton University and his BA from Columbia University.
He died on August 4th, 2024.
UPDATE: A memorial notice has been posted at the Rutgers University Department of Philosophy site.
Wrote my dissertation in epistemology using some of his texts (unsurprisingly).
I didn’t share his philosophical intuitions, and some times I found he dodged some harder questions about knowledge and consciousness in favour of a ‘naturalistic’ analysis.
But the real mark isn’t agreement but learning: reading him on externalism/reliabilism/naturalized epistemology ,,just is,, to get one of the best versions of such views. Very clear writer.
Proofessor Goldman’s ‘Knowledge in a Social World’ is the most helpful tool in approaching social epistemology. It is clear, concise and clever, as is most of his writing. He manages to retain mainstream epistemological issues and values whilst moving from individual to to social epistemology. He was a great philosopher who approached issues seriosly and with a clear desire to not ‘be right’ but to find knowledge. I owe very much to Professor Goldman.