Charles Dacre Parsons (April 13, 1933 – April 19, 2024) was an American philosopher best known for his work in the philosophy of mathematics and the study of the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. He was professor emeritus at Harvard University.

Life and career

Born on April 13, 1933, Charles Dacre Parsons was a son of Harvard sociologist Talcott Parsons. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at Harvard University in 1961, under the direction of Burton Dreben and Willard Van Orman Quine. He taught for many years at Columbia University before moving to Harvard University in 1989. He retired in 2005 as the Edgar Pierce professor of philosophy, a position formerly held by Quine. Parsons was an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Among his doctoral students were Michael Levin, James Higginbotham, Peter Ludlow, Gila Sher and Øystein Linnebo. In 2017 Parsons gave the Gödel Lecture, titled Gödel and the Universe of Sets. Parsons died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 19, 2024, at the age of 91.

Philosophical work

In addition to his work in logic and the philosophy of mathematics, Parsons was an editor, with Solomon Feferman and others, of the posthumous works of Kurt Gödel. He has also written on historical figures, especially Immanuel Kant, Gottlob Frege, Kurt Gödel, and Willard Van Orman Quine.

Selected publications

Books

Articles