Max Cresswell (1939-2024)
Max Cresswell, professor emeritus of philosophy at Victoria University of Wellington (Te Herenga Waka), has died.
Professor Cresswell was known for his work in logic (especially modal logic) and semantics. He is the author of The World-Time Parallel: Tense and Modality in Logic and Metaphysics (with A.A. Rini) (2012), Semantic Indexicality (1996), Language in the World: A Philosophical Enquiry (1994), Entities and Indices (1990), Structured Meanings (1985), and (with George E. Hughes) An Introduction to Modal Logic (1968) (known as the first modern textbook on modal logic), among other works, which you can learn more about here and here.
Cresswell joined the faculty of Victoria University of Wellington in 1963, retiring in 2001. He earned his PhD from Victoria University of Manchester, and his MA and BA from the University of New Zealand.
Max’s passing leaves the Australiasian logic community (and the world) much poorer. Max had been a supportive mentor and an inspiration to me ever since I first met him at an Australasian Association for Logic conference many many years ago. When I was writing my Introduction to Substructural Logics, Hughes and Cresswell’s New Introduction to Modal Logic was a model and an example of what I was aiming for. Max was unfailingly supportive and encouraging, whenever our paths crossed.
My condolences to his partner Adriane Rini and to everyone who was close to him. He will be sorely missed.
Since I first met him in 1973 in Wellington, Max Cresswell has been one of the brightest stars in my sky, one that I have always taken my bearings from. I feel the pain also for Adriane Rini and all who were close to him and who will grieve his loss. He had amazing ideas, and articulated them in ways that opened doors to new worlds of further thoughts for others. And he also conveyed intensely the passionate enjoyment of the adventure. He could be so much fun, not only in his works but also in life. The ideas live on but he is gone; yet I take comfort in an axiom of one of the tense logics: It will always be that this once was.
As a fellow NZ philosopher, I knew Max fairly well and liked him, but his biggest influence on me was through his book An Introduction to Modal Logic co-written with George Hughes, which I studied as an undergraduate at Cambridge in the late seventies. The basic understanding of modal logic that I acquired all those years ago has stood me in good stead for the rest of my life. So useful so many ways! I had the satisfaction of telling him so and expressing my gratitude before he died. I am so glad that I got the chance and took it.
Condolences ot Adriane
I “grew up” on Hughes & Cresswell, so it was something of a shock to get an email from Max, towards the end of my PhD, asking for a copy of a paper I’d (foolishly) written criticising his views on logical omniscience. Despite my offering bad arguments against his (obviously good) views, he was warm and encouraging, probably recognising in me someone who needed quite a bit of help. We corresponded, and met a few times in NZ, and I’ll always be grateful for his kind and encouraging words. Thanks Max, and condolences Adriane.