Isaac Levi
{{Short description|American philosopher (1930–2018)}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| region = Western philosophy
| era = Contemporary philosophy
| image =
| caption =
| name = Isaac Levi
| birth_date = {{birth-date|June 30, 1930}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|December 25, 2018|June 30, 1930}}
| school_tradition = Neopragmatism
| main_interests = Pragmatism, epistemology, decision theory, philosophy of science
| influences = C.S. Peirce, de Finetti, Ernest Nagel, Sidney Morgenbesser, G.A. Cohen
| influenced = John Danaher (martial artist), Teddy Seidenfeld, Scott J. Shapiro, Cheryl Misak
| notable_ideas = Commitment/performance distinction, corrigibilism/fallibilism distinction, indeterminate probability, Levi identity, unity of reason thesis
| doctoral_students = John Danaher{{cite magazine | title = John Danaher, the Jujitsu Master Turning an Ancient Art Into a Modern Science | magazine = The New Yorker | date = July 10, 2017 | url = https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/the-jujitsu-master-turning-an-ancient-art-into-a-modern-science | access-date = November 20, 2024 | last1 = Frank | first1 = Sam }}
}}
Isaac Levi (June 30, 1930 – December 25, 2018) was an American philosopher who served as the John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. He is noted for his work in epistemology and decision theory.{{cite web | title = Levi, Isaac, 1930- | url = http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80015692.html | publisher = Library of Congress | access-date = October 3, 2014 | quote = (Isaac Levi, Columbia University) data sheet (b. 06-30-1930)}}{{cite web|url=http://philosophy.columbia.edu/directories/faculty/isaac-levi|title=Faculty Bio – Isaac Levi|publisher=Columbia University|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181220171801/https://philosophy.columbia.edu/directories/faculty/isaac-levi|archive-date=December 20, 2018|access-date=July 23, 2012}}{{Cite journal|last=Seidenfeld|first=Teddy|date=2019-06-29|title=A Retrospective on Isaac Levi: June 30, 1930 – December 25, 2018|url=http://proceedings.mlr.press/v103/seidenfeld19a/seidenfeld19a.pdf|journal=International Symposium on Imprecise Probabilities: Theories and Applications|language=en|pages=346–353}}{{Cite book|title=Dictionary Of Modern American Philosophers|last=Shook|first=John R.|date=2005-05-15|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9781847144706|language=en|chapter=LEVI, Isaac (1930– )|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DsKvAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1453}}
Education and career
Levi was one of several doctoral students of Ernest Nagel at Columbia University who were influential in American post-war philosophy; others were Morton White, Patrick Suppes, and Henry E. Kyburg, Jr. Levi taught at Case Western Reserve University before joining the Columbia faculty in 1970.{{Cite web|url=https://philosophy.columbia.edu/content/professor-isaac-levi-1930-2018|title=Professor Isaac Levi (1930-2018)|website=Department of Philosophy, Columbia University|access-date=2019-09-27|archive-date=September 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200911015156/https://philosophy.columbia.edu/content/professor-isaac-levi-1930-2018|url-status=dead}} He was elected in 1986 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Levi also served as doctoral advisor to prominent formal philosophers, including Horacio Arló-Costa and Teddy Seidenfeld, and acted as a mentor to Cheryl Misak during her year at Columbia.{{Citation |title=Talking to Thinkers with Cheryl Misak - December 2021. | date=January 11, 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQVUQc4lie0 |language=en |access-date=2022-09-23}} There was a debate between Kyburg and Levi on topics in what has come to be known as formal epistemology.
Philosophical work
Levi first made a name for himself with his first book, Gambling with Truth. In the text Levi offered a decision theoretic reconstruction of epistemology with a close-eye towards the classical pragmatist philosophers like William James and Charles Sanders Peirce. Levi was known for his work in belief revision and imprecise probability.
Major publications
= Books =
- {{cite book | last = Levi | first = Isaac | title = Gambling with truth: an essay on induction and the aims of science | publisher = MIT Press | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | year = 1973 | orig-year = 1967 | isbn = 9780262620260}} Originally issued by Knopf (1967).
- {{cite book | last = Levi | first = Isaac | title = The enterprise of knowledge: an essay on knowledge, credal probability, and chance | url = https://archive.org/details/enterpriseofknow00levi | url-access = registration | publisher = MIT Press | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | year = 1980 | isbn = 9780262620437}}
- {{cite book | last = Levi | first = Isaac | title = Decisions and revisions: philosophical essays on knowledge and value | url = https://archive.org/details/decisionsrevisio0000levi | url-access = registration | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | year = 1984 | isbn = 9780521027625}}
- {{cite book | last = Levi | first = Isaac | title = Hard choices: decision making under unresolved conflict | url = https://archive.org/details/hardchoicesdecis0000levi | url-access = registration | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge; New York | year = 1986 | isbn = 9780521386302}}
- {{cite book | last = Levi | first = Isaac | title = The fixation of belief and its undoing: changing beliefs through inquiry | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | year = 1991 | isbn = 9780521110297}}
- {{cite book | last = Levi | first = Isaac | title = For the sake of the argument: Ramsey Test conditionals, inductive inference and nonmonotonic reasoning | url = https://archive.org/details/forsakeofargumen0000levi | url-access = registration | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | year = 1996 | isbn = 9780521039017}}
- {{cite book | last = Levi | first = Isaac | title = The covenant of reason: rationality and the commitments of thought | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge; New York | year = 1997 | isbn = 9781139173032}}
= Chapters in books =
- {{Citation | last = Levi | first = Isaac | contribution = Convexity and separability in representing consensus | editor-last1 = Kanbur | editor-first1 = Ravi | editor-last2 = Basu | editor-first2 = Kaushik | editor-link1 = Ravi Kanbur | editor-link2 = Kaushik Basu | title = Arguments for a better world: essays in honor of Amartya Sen | Volume I: Ethics, welfare, and measurement | pages = 193–212 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford New York | year = 2009 | isbn = 9780199239115 | postscript = .}}
See also
References
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Category:21st-century American philosophers
Category:20th-century American philosophers
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