Gerald J. Massey (1934-2024)
Gerald J. Massey, Distinguished Service Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, has died.
Professor Massey worked in logic, philosophy of science, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, the history of philosophy, and what he called the zoological approach to philosophy, which “takes into account what science and experience teach us about animals”. You can learn more about his work here and here.
Professor Massey joined the faculty at Pittsburgh in 1970 and retired in 2007. Before that he was a professor at Michigan State University. He earned his PhD from Princeton (under Carl Hempel), and an MA and BA from Notre Dame. Between Notre Dame and Princeton he served three years (1958-61) on active duty as a Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.
He died on September 13th.
An obituary is here.
As a graduate student at Pitt in the mid-1980s, I took three courses from Jerry — Advanced Logic, Logic and Algebra, and Conceivability. He was an excellent teacher — incredibly clear, patient, thorough, and generous. He also, it seemed to me as a student, had a philosophical sensibility that was both widened and deepened by those same qualities — clarity, patience, thoroughness, and generosity.
I recall that he liked horses very much.