Philosophy of Science and to Transform These Spotlights in Time Inspire Our Future Success and Development
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Table of Contents Overview of the First 40 Years ... 00 • • 00 •••• 00 •• 00 •• 00 00. 2 Annual Lecture Series, 1960-2002 ..................... 6 Visiting Fellows and Scholars Program ........... 14 Lunchtime Colloquium .................................... 17 Conferences and Workshops .. ... .... ................... 18 Public Lecture Series ........................................ 26 Advisory Board .......... .. .... .. .. ............... :... ........ 00 26 Resident Fellows and Associates .. ............... .. ... 27 Center Publications ... ............... .. .. .. .... ... ... ........ 2 8 Archives of Scientific Philosophy in the 20th Century .............................. ............ 30 Major Funding Sources ... ................................. 31 CENTER CHRONOLOGY • In 2001-2002, the Center for Philosophy of Scie nce celebrates 40 years of in· 9/1/60 Acaaemic Vice CHancellor Ctiarles• H. Peak:e appoints Aaolf Grun- novation and accomplishment. The timeline included here highlights many baum as Andrew Mellon Professor of Philosophy with a twin mandate to of the Center's remarkable achievements and most memorable moments. establish a first-class center for philosophy of science and to transform These spotlights in time inspire our future success and development. the Department of Philosof:!hy into a leading department in the country. Andrew Mellon chair in philosophy to an unusually promis rated sixd1 in one category and eighth d1e main foci of Griinbaum's administra ing young scholar, someone so young that the age d1reshold in a second. In a confidential report tion. He relinquished his adnlinistrative of forty years for the Mellon Professorships had to be waived prepared in August 1965 for the Pitt appointment as Center Director in 1978 in order to secure Griinbaum for the chair. Perhaps no ap University Study Committee, Philosophy when he became its first chairman, a posi pointment at any university has returned greater dividends was among three departments identi- tion he continues to hold. he year 2000 marked the 40th anniversary of the than this one. fied as "spires of distinction." These departments, selected for preferential In that year, Lany Laudan succeeded creation of the Center for Philosophy of Science at T he administration also gave some assurances for the future, treatment," ...would serve a two-fold Griinbaum as Director, after having the University of Pittsburgh. In 1960, momentous promising a major renovation of the Philosophy Department purpose of bringing prestige to d1e served briefly as an Associate Director events were occurring not only within the University, but also and the inauguration, wid1 Griinbaum as director, of a Center Urliversity and exemplifying a standard during Griinbaum's administration. In in the country at large. On the national front, the Cold War for Philosophy of Science, under whose aegis an annual of excellence for the guidance of all od1er July of iliat year, the Center was moved to was escalating and Americans watched as Russia lengthened lecture series would be offered to provide a 'showcase' of en Departments." This statement would Mervis Hall (now Thackeray Hall) where its lead in the space race. Civil rights sit-ins were being staged hanced visibility for d1e university's revitalized commitment prove prophetic, for already by d1e early it occupied rooms 618-622. Also in 1978, in the Soud1. And the end of d1at year brought d1e historic to philosophy." 1970s, national professional surveys rated Rachel Laudan was appointed Assistant presidential race in which John F. Ken Director of the Center, a position she As Peake himself reported, " ... I met the Department of Philosophy as one of nedy narrowly edged out Richard Nixon. continued to fill until she and Larry left briefly wid1 Chancellor Litchfield, and d1e top three departments in d1e country d1e University in 1981. Karla Goldman By 1960, the U Diversity of Pittsburgh told him about the plan, which he readily (along wid1 Princeton and Harvard), a replaced McMunn (who remained as was undergoing its own transformation. approved. An hour or so later I met with distinction it maintained for the next Griinbaum's secretary) as secreta1y for the Two years earlier, Chancellor Edward Adolf: d1e rest is history. Technically Adolf quarter century. In 1995, the Conference Larry Laudan Center. While Rachel Laudan performed Litchfield, in a landmark speech deliv was not appointed to the Center, for it Board of Associated Research Programs many of d1e administrative duties, Jarlis's ered on December 16, 1958, formally did not exist; it became an organizational completed an assessment of research-doctorate programs dealings with the Fellows became a major part of his role as announced the establishment of ten entity wid1 d1 e official confirmation of in d1e United States. The Department of Philosophy was Associate Director as the Fellows program attracted more A.W Mellon Professorships and Fellow his dual appointment. The 'Center' was, ranked second, and d1e Department of History and Philoso visitors, particularly in the physical sciences. With the en ships in the Academic Disciplines. Aca of course, just words: Adolf made them phy of Science (HPS) was ranked fifth in d1e nation among largement of d1e Visiting Fellows program in 1977-78, made demic Vice Chancellor Charles H . Peake real. ... " standard philosophy departments. Interestingly, HPS attained was charged with the responsibility of this high ranking despite the fact that it offers only a few of possible by the Scaife grant, d1e Lunchtime Colloquium was filling those chairs. This was to be an Taking Herbert Feigl's Minnesota Center the stanJarJ subspecialtics of philosophy. instiU1ted (see section titl ed Lunchtime Colloqt1ium). augury of the University of Pittsburgh's as his model, Griinbaum, as fow1ding di Meanwllile, the acquisition of external funding continued renaissance. rector of the newly created Center (initially During d1ese early years, the Center's size belied its academic called a "Program"), set about to build a strength. Operating out of Griinbaum's faculty office in the to be a high priority. Almost from d1e start, Dr. Bernard Peake had secured the advice of a board major research institute in philosophy of Cathedral of Learning, the Center was staffed by Elizabeili Kobosky, d1en Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs, had been of outside eminent scholars to advise science. Grunbaum quickly put in place an McMunn, whom Adolf had recruited in 1961 from her posi a vigorous advocate of d1e Center in his dealings wid1 local him on suitable occupants of the chairs annuallecn1re series, together wid1 a series tion as secretary of ilie Philosophy Department, and a succes foundations. Wid1 his vital help, a pivotal event occurred in in each of the ten fields in which the Adolf Grunbaum of volumes growing out of these lectures. sion of Associate Directors. Nicholas Rescher, who joined d1e 1980 when the Richard King Mellon Foundation awarded ilie professorships had been established. The In 1962, the University of Pittsburgh Press Department of Philosophy in 1961, became the Center's first first of three substantial operating grants to the Center, and Advisory Board had highly recommended Adolf Griinbaum, published the first volume of d1e University of Pittsburgh Associate Director in 1962. In 1975, AllenJanis, then at Lehigh University, for the chair in philosophy. Series in d1e Philosophy of Science, Frontiers of Science and who had been appointed to d1e Physics Department In 1962, the University of Pittsburgh Press As described by the editors in their preface to the 1993 Philosophy, edited by Robert G. Colodny, and based on ilie in 1957, began a 17 -year stint as Associate Director published the first volume of the University of Festschrift tided Philosophical P1'oblems of the Internal and 1960 Inaugural Annual Lecture Series. In 1965, Grunbaum until his official retirement from the University in Exte1'nal Wodds: Essays on the Philosophy ofA dolf GTiinbazmz: organized a workshop-conference on scientific d1eories, 1992, whereupon he was named ilie first and, to Pittsburgh Series in the Philosophy of Science. thereby launching the Center's tradition of sponsoring major date, only Fellow Emeritus of ilie Center. "In the fall of 1960, Adolf Griinbaum left Lehigh University conferences and workshops. Volume four of the University of to join the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh as Andrew The '70s were critical building years for tl1e Center. In 1974, d1e Sarah Scaife Foundation awarded a second grant. This Pittsburgh Series, The Natzwe and Function of Scientific Them'ies, Mellon Professor of Philosophy and as founding director of d1e Rudolf Carnap Collection was acquired, and this prompted infusion of money provided, for the first time, a modicum of emerged from dlis inaugural workshop-conference. the Center for Philosophy of Science. Ten professorships d1e creation of d1e Archives of Scientific Philosophy in d1e financial stability. The Visiting Fellows Program grew as the at d1e University of Pittsburgh had been endowed by the By dlis time, Grunbaum and d1e remarkable contingent of 20th Century at ilie University's Hillman Library. Then, in number of fellowships was increased, and so did the number A.W Mellon Foundation during d1e 1950's, and for an initial colleagues whom he had recruited were well on d1e way to 1977, ilie Center was awarded its first major grant by tl1e Sarah of conferences and workshops. The Archives of Scientific period these