Anil Gupta (philosopher)

Anil Gupta
Anil Gupta
Alma mater	University of London (B.Sc.); University of Pittsburgh (Ph.D.)
Era	20th/21st-century philosophy
Region	Western Philosophy
School	Analytic philosophy
Main interests	Logic; Epistemology; Philosophy of language; Metaphysics
Notable ideas	Revision Theory of Truth; Hypothetical Given; General theory of definitions

Anil K. Gupta (born 1949) is an Indian-American philosopher who works primarily in logic, philosophy of language, metaphysics, and epistemology. Gupta is the Alan Ross Anderson Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.^[1]

Biography

Gupta earned his B.Sc. with first class honours from the University of London in 1969. He then attended the University of Pittsburgh where he received his M.A. (1973) and Ph.D. (1977). Gupta has taught at several universities: McGill University (1975-1982), University of Illinois at Chicago (1982-1989), Indiana University (1989-2000).^[2] In 2001 Gupta joined the Department of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh where he served as Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and, since 2013, as Alan Ross Anderson Chair.^[3]

Revision theory

Gupta developed developed an early version of the revision theory of truth.^[4] He generalized this to a theory of circular definitions.^[5] This work was further developed, resulting in the book, The Revision Theory of Truth, co-written with Nuel Belnap.

The revision theory of truth is a semantic theory of truth that can be used with an unrestricted truth predicate and classical logic.^[6] Revision theory takes truth to be a circular concept, defined by the Tarski biconditionals.

`A' is true if and only if A,

and circular concepts have non-standard interpretations. Rather than interpret the truth predicate via a single extension, as is done with non-circular predicates, revision theory generates a sequence of interpretations, each of which is determined by the previous one together with the Tarski biconditionals. For example, if a sentence

A

is evaluated as having semantic value 1 at one stage in the sequence, then the sentence

`A' is true

is evaluated as having semantic value 1 at the subsequent stage.

Gupta has applied revision theory to rational choice in game theory, building on the work of André Chapuis.^[7]

Gupta has recently applied the formal machinery of revision theory to problems arising in the philosophy of perception.^[8]

Honors and awards

A.C.L.S. Fellowship, 1988–89; 2003–2004
N.E.H. Fellowship for University Teachers, 1988–1989; 2003–2004; 2010
Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, 1998–1999
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences^[9]
Recipient, 225th Anniversary Medallion of the University of Pittsburgh, 2013^[10]
Simon Lectures, University of Toronto, 2007
Whitehead Lectures, Harvard University, 2012

Select publications

Modal Logic and Truth (1978). Journal of Philosophical Logic 7 (1):441–472.
The Logic of Common Nouns: An Investigation in Quantified Modal Logic (1980). Yale University Press.
Truth and Paradox (1982). Journal of Philosophical Logic 11: 1-60.
The Meaning of Truth (1987). In Ernest Lepore (ed.), New Directions in Semantics. Academic Press 453–480.
Remarks on Definitions and the Concept of Truth (1988). Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 89:227–246.
The Revision Theory of Truth (written with Nuel Belnap) (1993). MIT Press.^[11]
Minimalism (1993). Philosophical Perspectives 7: 359–369
Empiricism and Experience (2006). Oxford University Press.^[12]
Equivalence, Reliability, and Convergence: Replies to McDowell, Peacocke, and Neta (2009). Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 79: 490–508.
Truth, Meaning, Experience (2011). Oxford University Press.^[13]
An Account of Conscious Experience (2012). Analytic Philosophy 53: 1-29.
The Relationship of Experience to Thought (2013). The Monist 96 (2):252-294.

Select discussions of Gupta's work

Kapitan, T. (1984). Review of The Logic of Common Nouns: An Investigation in Quantified Modal Logic. Noûs 18: 166–173.
McGee, V. (1996). Review of The Revision Theory of Truth. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 56: 727–730.
Antonelli, G.A. (1996) What's in a Function?. Synthese 107: 167–204.
McDowell, J. (2009). The Given in Experience: Comment on Gupta. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 79: 468–474.
Peacocke, C. (2009). Perception, Content and Rationality. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 79: 475–471.
Neta, R. (2009). Empiricism about Experience. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 79: 482–489.
Corbi, J.E. (2009). The Insight of Empiricism: In Defence of a Hypothetical but Propositional Given. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 17: 289–298.
Grimaltos, T. & Moya, C.J. (2009). Content, Meaning and Truth. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 17: 299–305.
Iranzo, V. (2009). On the Epistemic Authority of Experience. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 17: 307–314.
Fernández, J.M. (2009). On the Reliability of Experience and the Norm of Revision. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 17: 315–321.
Abad, J.V. (2009). Empiricism and Experience: Two Problems. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 17: 323–328.
Frey, C. (2011). On the Rational Contribution of Experiential Transparency. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 82: 721–732.
Schafer, K. (2011). The Rationalism in Anil Gupta's Empiricism and Experience. Philosophical Studies 152: 1–15.
Berker, S. (2011). Gupta's Gambit. Philosophical Studies 152: 17–39.
Ray, N. (2012). Ordinary Empirical Judgments and our Scientific Knowledge: An Extension of Reformed Empiricism to the Philosophy of Science Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. Paper 580.

References

^ List of the Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (PDF)
^ Biographical information from Gupta's CV (PDF)
^ Gupta's profile at the University of Pittsburgh
^ Gupta (1982).
^ Gupta (1988).
^ See Gupta and Belnap (1993) for details.
^ See chapter 4 of Gupta (2011).
^ See Gupta (2006).
^ List of the Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (PDF)
^ List of the recipients of the 225th Anniversary Medallion of the University of Pittsburgh
^ The Revision Theory of Truth MIT Press page
^ Empiricism and Experience Oxford University Press page
^ Truth, Meaning, Experience Oxford University Press page

External links

[1] List of the Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (PDF)

[2] Biographical information from Gupta's CV (PDF)

[3] Gupta's profile at the University of Pittsburgh

[4] Gupta (1982).

[5] Gupta (1988).

[6] See Gupta and Belnap (1993) for details.

[7] See chapter 4 of Gupta (2011).

[8] See Gupta (2006).

[9] List of the Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (PDF)

[10] List of the recipients of the 225th Anniversary Medallion of the University of Pittsburgh

[11] The Revision Theory of Truth MIT Press page

[12] Empiricism and Experience Oxford University Press page

[13] Truth, Meaning, Experience Oxford University Press page

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v t e Epistemology
Epistemologists	Thomas Aquinas Augustine of Hippo William Alston Robert Audi A. J. Ayer George Berkeley Laurence BonJour Gilles Deleuze Keith DeRose René Descartes John Dewey Fred Dretske Edmund Gettier Alvin Goldman Nelson Goodman Paul Grice Anil Gupta Susan Haack David Hume Immanuel Kant Søren Kierkegaard Peter Klein Saul Kripke Hilary Kornblith David Lewis John Locke G. E. Moore John McDowell Robert Nozick Alvin Plantinga Plato Duncan Pritchard James Pryor Hilary Putnam W. V. O. Quine Thomas Reid Bertrand Russell Gilbert Ryle Wilfrid Sellars Susanna Siegel Ernest Sosa P. F. Strawson Baruch Spinoza Timothy Williamson Ludwig Wittgenstein Nicholas Wolterstorff Vienna Circle more...
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