Jordan Howard Sobel
{{Short description|Canadian-American philosopher (1929–2010)}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Jordan Howard Sobel
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1929|9|22}}
| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois
| death_date = {{death date and age|2010|3|26|1929|9|22}}
| death_place = Toronto, Ontario
| death_cause =
| nationality = American, Canadian (dual-citizen)
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| spouse = Willa Sobel (nee Freeman)
| education = Hyde Park High School
| alma_mater = University of Illinois
University of Iowa
University of Michigan
| notable_works = Logic and Theism
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| school_tradition = Analytic philosophy
| institutions = University of Toronto
| main_interests = {{plainlist|
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| notable_ideas =Reformulated Logical and Providential Problems of Evil
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Jordan Howard Sobel (22 September 1929 – 26 March 2010) was a Canadian-American philosopher specializing in ethics, logic, and decision theory. He was a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, Canada."University of Toronto Scarborough Philosophy News." In Memoriam (Fall 2010): 5; 6. Print. In addition to his areas of specialization, Sobel made notable contributions in the fields of philosophy of religion, and value theory.{{cite web|url=http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2010/04/in-memoriam-j-howard-sobel-19292010.html |title=Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog: In Memoriam: J. Howard Sobel (1929–2010) |publisher=Leiterreports.typepad.com |date=2010-04-19 |accessdate=2016-06-02}}Rabinowicz, Wlodek. "In Memoriam – Jordan Howard Sobel (1929–2010)." Theoria 76 (2010): 192–96. Lund University. Web. Before his death, Sobel was considered by Christian apologist William Lane Craig to be the leading philosophical defender of atheism prior to Graham Oppy.{{Cite web|title=Matt Fradd Interviews Dr. Craig, Pt 1 {{!}} Reasonable Faith|url=https://www.reasonablefaith.org/media/reasonable-faith-podcast/matt-fradd-interviews-dr.-craig-pt-1|website=www.reasonablefaith.org|language=en|access-date=2020-05-07}}
Life
Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Sobel was a graduate of Hyde Park High School in Chicago before going on to study at the University of Illinois, where he earned a B.S. in Commerce and Law in 1951. He went on to earn an M.A. in Philosophy at the University of Iowa, followed by a doctorate in Philosophy at the University of Michigan in 1961. His dissertation, titled "What if everyone did that?" was supervised by Richard Cartwright and William Frankena.{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thestar/obituary.aspx?pid=142126623 |title=Jordan Sobel Obituary – Toronto, ON | Toronto Star |publisher=Legacy.com |date= |accessdate=2016-06-02}}
Teaching
Sobel's teaching career starting at Monteith College, Wayne State University (1960–1961), before holding positions at Princeton University (1961–1963), UCLA (1963–1969), University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1968–1969). The same year he joined the University of Toronto, where he taught for 28 years until his retirement in 1997.{{cite web|url=http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~sobel/cv.pdf |title=Jordan Howard Sobel : CV |accessdate=2016-06-02 |url-status=unfit |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060515021302/http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~sobel/cv.pdf |archivedate=May 15, 2006 }}
Sobel has enjoyed a close relationship with the University of Uppsala, Sweden, holding two visiting professorships in 1986, 1991, 1997–1998, and then onwards until 2004. In 2003, the University of Uppsala bestowed an honorary doctorate on Sobel. He also held visiting professorships at Dalhousie University in 1988, and the University of Umeå in 1995.
Work
Sobel is the author of more than 75 refereed publications in philosophy, as well as four books. His early publications focused on ethics, most notably utilitarianism, and determinism. Later in his career, his interests turned to decision theory and philosophy of religion.Sobel, Jordan Howard. Taking Chances: Essays on Rational Choice. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994. Print.
''Logic and Theism''
In 2004, Sobel published what many consider to be his magnum opus: Logic and Theism: Arguments For and Against Beliefs in God. The work is a comprehensive overview of many of the arguments on both sides within analytic philosophy of religion. Sobel utilizes symbolic logic, inductive logic, set theory and other tools within analytic philosophy to critically analyze cosmological arguments, ontological arguments, teleological arguments and other arguments for God's existence. Sobel also reformulates a new version of the logical problem of evil, and reveals tension between God's divine attributes. The work was well-received by philosophers on both sides of the debate. Atheist philosopher Graham Oppy stated that the work is the "very best book on arguments about the existence of God that has yet appeared."{{Cite journal|last=Oppy|first=Graham|date=2006|title=Logic and Theism|url=https://philpapers.org/rec/OPPLAT|journal=Philo|volume=9|issue=1|pages=73–91|doi=10.5840/philo2006917}} Catholic philosopher Robert Koons described the work as the best book on philosophy of religion written from an atheistic point of view since J. L. Mackie’s The Miracle of Theism.{{Cite journal|last=Koons|first=Robert|date=2006-07-01|title=Sobel, LOGIC AND THEISM: ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST BELIEFS IN GOD|url=https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy/vol23/iss3/10|journal=Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers|volume=23|issue=3|pages=356–361|doi=10.5840/faithphil200623328|s2cid=170924019 |issn=0739-7046}} Protestant philosopher William Lane Craig describes the work as an "acid bath for theism" and writes "I can think of no other treatment of theism, whether by theist or non-theist, comparable to it. Its combination of wide-ranging scope and penetrating analysis makes it a unique contribution to philosophical theology. The product of a lifetime of study, Logic and Theism is testimony to Howard Sobel’s remarkable mastery of this subject, for very few contemporary philosophers could have written so comprehensive and incisive a treatment."{{Cite web|title="Sobel's Acid Bath for Theism" Review Article: Logic and Theism {{!}} Reasonable Faith|url=http://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/scholarly-writings/the-existence-of-god/sobels-acid-bath-for-theism-review-article-logic-and-theism/|website=www.reasonablefaith.org|language=en|access-date=2020-05-07}}
Books
- Taking Chances: Essays on Rational Choice, Cambridge University Press (1994) {{cite web|url=http://philpapers.org/rec/SOBTC|title=Taking Chances|first=Jordan Howard|last=Sobel|date=12 December 1994|publisher=Cambridge University Press|via=PhilPapers}}
- Puzzles for the Will, University of Toronto Press (1998) {{cite web|url=http://philpapers.org/rec/SOBPFT|title=Puzzles for the Will|first=Jordan Howard|last=Sobel|date=12 December 1998|publisher=University of Toronto Press|via=PhilPapers}}
- Logic and Theism: Arguments for and against Beliefs in God, Cambridge University Press (2004) {{cite web|url=http://philpapers.org/rec/SOBLAT|title=Logic and Theism: Arguments for and Against Beliefs in God|first=Jordan Howard|last=Sobel|date=12 December 2017|publisher=Cambridge University Press|via=PhilPapers}}
- Walls and Vaults: A Natural Science of Morals, Wiley (2011) {{cite book|url=http://philpapers.org/rec/SOBWAV|title=Walls and Vaults: A Natural Science of Morals (Virtue Ethics According to David Hume)|first=Jordan Howard|last=Sobel|date=12 December 2017|publisher=Wiley|via=PhilPapers}}
Book manuscripts
At the time of his death, Sobel had been working on several book projects. With the exception of Walls and Vaults, which was published posthumously, all these books remain unpublished, but are available on the archived version of his website.
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060430041837/http://www.scar.utoronto.ca/~sobel/NoLightMatter No Light Matter: Socrates and Plato on Justice]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060430041837/http://www.scar.utoronto.ca/~sobel/Means_Ends Ends and Means: Aristotle on Happiness and Virtue]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060430041837/http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~sobel/Mystery_Glory The Mystery and The Glory: Immanuel Kant’s Philosophy of Morals]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060430041837/http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~sobel/Gd_Gld Good and Gold: a Judgmental History of Metaethics from G. E. Moore through J. L. Mackie]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060430041837/http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~sobel/Wds_Symbls Words and Symbols, Proofs and Invalidations]
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060430041837/http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~sobel/ Archived copy of Sobel's academic homepage]. Includes links to several papers and book manuscripts.
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Category:American people of Canadian descent
Category:21st-century American philosophers
Category:20th-century American philosophers