Michael Bratman
{{short description|American philosopher}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox philosopher
|region = Western philosophy
|era = Contemporary philosophy
|image =
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|name = Michael Bratman
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1945|7|25|mf=yes}}
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|death_date =
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|school_tradition =
|main_interests = Philosophy of action, moral philosophy
|notable_ideas = Intentionality as planning
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|doctoral_students = {{ubl|Mark Davis}}
|alma_mater = Rockefeller University}}
Michael E. Bratman (born July 25, 1945) is an American philosopher who is Durfee Professor in the School of Humanities & Sciences and Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University.{{cite web|url=https://philosophy.stanford.edu/people/michael-bratman|title=Michael E. Bratman - Philosophy|website=philosophy.stanford.edu}}
Education and career
Bratman graduated from Haverford College in 1967 and earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at Rockefeller University in 1974, where he worked with Donald Davidson. He joined the faculty at Stanford University in 1974, where he has taught ever since.{{cite web |url=https://philosophy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/bratman_cv_2015.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-08-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620061811/https://philosophy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/bratman_cv_2015.pdf |archive-date=June 20, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}
He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012.{{cite web|url=http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/april/aaas-awards-list-041912.html|title=American Academy of Arts and Sciences elects nine Stanford professors to 2012 class of members|date=April 19, 2012 }} In 2014, Oxford University Press published a collection of essays on Bratman's work by colleagues and former students, Rational and Social Agency: The Philosophy of Michael Bratman.{{cite book|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/rational-and-social-agency-9780199794515?cc=us&lang=en&|title=Rational and Social Agency: The Philosophy of Michael Bratman|date=May 6, 2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-979451-5 }} A review in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews remarked that, "Our very understanding of what it is to form a plan or shared intention is owed in no small part to Michael Bratman's massively influential body of work."{{cite journal|url=https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/56815-rational-and-social-agency-the-philosophy-of-michael-bratman/|title=Review of Rational and Social Agency: The Philosophy of Michael Bratman|first=Sarah K.|last=Paul|date=March 30, 2015|via=Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews}}
Philosophical work
Bratman works in philosophy of action and moral philosophy and is best known for his development of the idea that "intention is a distinctive practical attitude marked by its pivotal role in planning for the future."{{cite book|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2015/entries/intention/|title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|first=Kieran|last=Setiya|editor-first=Edward N.|editor-last=Zalta|date=March 30, 2018|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|via=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy}} His work in those areas led him to the Belief-Desire-Intention model that is used in many areas, including artificial intelligence, today. Bratman's theory of intentions as plans has also led to a distinctive and widely discussed account of "collective intentionality."{{cite book|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2013/entries/collective-intentionality/|title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|first1=David P.|last1=Schweikard|first2=Hans Bernhard|last2=Schmid|editor-first=Edward N.|editor-last=Zalta|date=March 30, 2018|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|via=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy}}
Selected bibliography
- {{cite book |first=M. E. |last=Bratman |title=Intention, Plans, and Practical Reason |publisher=CSLI Publications |year=1999 |orig-year=1987 |isbn=1-57586-192-5 |url=http://csli-publications.stanford.edu/site/1575861925.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060830201118/http://csli-publications.stanford.edu/site/1575861925.html |archive-date=August 30, 2006 |df=mdy-all }}
- {{cite book |first=M. E. |last=Bratman |title=Faces of Intention |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999 |id= 978-0-521-63131-0 |url=http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521631319|isbn=0521631319 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://historicalsociety.stanford.edu/publications/bratman-michael-e Michael E. Bratman: An Oral History], Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program, 2018
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Category:20th-century American philosophers
Category:21st-century American philosophers
Category:Analytic philosophers
Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Category:Stanford University Department of Philosophy faculty
Category:Haverford College alumni
Category:Rockefeller University alumni
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