Timothy Smiley
Timothy Smiley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Timothy John Smiley 13 November 1930 London, England |
| Died | 19 October 2026 (aged 95) |
| Education | |
| Education | Clare College, Cambridge |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| Analytic philosophy | |
| Institutions | Clare College, Cambridge |
Main interests | Mathematical logic Philosophical logic |
Notable ideas | Multiple-conclusion logic, plural logic |
Timothy John Smiley (13 November 1930 – 19 October 2026) was a British philosopher and logician who served as Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at Clare College, Cambridge (1980–1998) until his retirement as emeritus. He specialised in mathematical logic and philosophical logic.
Life and career
Timothy Smiley was born in London, the son of M. T. Smiley and T. M. Smiley (née Browne). He was educated at Ardwyn Grammar School, Aberystwyth, followed by Ampleforth College (1943–1948). He then spent the year of 1948–1949 at the University of Fribourg, where his interest in logic was inspired by I.M. Bocheński. He then went up to Clare College, Cambridge to read Mathematics in 1949. He obtained his BA degree in 1952 followed by a PhD in 1956 on "Natural Systems of Logic".
After completing his PhD, he remained at Cambridge on a Research Fellowship at Clare (1955–59), then as a tutor and lecturer in philosophy. He also qualified as a pilot in the Air Ministry and was called to the bar at Gray's Inn.
In 1980 he was appointed Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy, a post he held until his retirement in 1998. In 1982–83 he was President of the Aristotelian Society and in 1984 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.
Smiley died on 19 October 2026, aged 95.
Work
Smiley published in a wide range of philosophical areas, including Aristotle, definite descriptions, modal logic, multiple conclusion logic, negation and denial, plurals, set-theoretic foundations for mathematics and validity. He collaborated on a number of articles and, ultimately, a book on plural descriptions and plural logic with Alex Oliver.
His doctoral students included Thomas Baldwin, Chris Brink, Susan Haack and Neil Tennant.
Published works
A full bibliography of works published between 1959 and 2009 is included in the Festschrift, The Force of Argument: Essays in Honor of Timothy Smiley (2010).
Books
- Studies in the Philosophy of Logic and Knowledge, (co-edited with Thomas Baldwin.)
- Mathematics and Necessity: Essays in the History of Philosophy.
- Philosophical Logic.
- Philosophical Dialogues: Plato, Hume, Wittgenstein. Dawes Hicks Lectures on Philosophy.
- Smiley and D. J. Shoesmith, Multiple-Conclusion Logic (1978).
- Smiley and Alex Oliver, Plural Logic (2013). (2nd ed. 2016)
Selected papers
- Sense Without Denotation. Analysis 1960; 20 (6): 125–135. doi: 10.1093/analys/20.6.125
- What is syllogism?. Journal of Philosophical Logic 1973 (2): 136–154.
- The Theory of Descriptions. (1981) In T. J. Smiley & Thomas Baldwin (eds.), Studies in the Philosophy of Logic and Knowledge. Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press. pp. 131–61.
- Aristotle's completeness proof. Ancient Philosophy. 1994 (14): 25–38.
References
- ↑ "Smiley, Prof. Timothy John, (born 13 Nov. 1930), Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy, University of Cambridge, 1980–98; Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, since 1955", Who's Who, Oxford University Press, 1 December 2007, doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U35204, retrieved 21 October 2026 / Who's who 2018. Bloomsbury. 2017. pp. 2261. ISBN 978-1-4729-3501-4.
- 1 2 3 Oliver, Alex (2005). "Smiley, Timothy (1930–)". In Brown, Stuart (ed.). The Dictionary of Twentieth Century British Philosophers. Thoemmes Press. pp. 970–974.
- 1 2 Gabbay, Dov M.; Woods, John, eds. (2009). "Smiley, Timothy John". The International directory of logicians: who's who in logic. London: College Publications. pp. 330–332. ISBN 978-1-904987-90-1.
- ↑ "Professor Timothy Smiley FBA". The British Academy. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
- ↑ "Obituaries - Cambridge University Reporter 6841". www.admin.cam.ac.uk. 28 October 2026. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- ↑ "Tim Smiley (Fellow) has died at the age of 95". www.clare.cam.ac.uk. 21 October 2026. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- 1 2 Cook, Roy T. (2012). "Review of The Force of Argument: Essays in Honor of Timothy Smiley". Analysis. 72 (1). Oxford University Press: 175. ISSN 0003-2638.
- ↑ Nicolas, David A. (24 February 2014). "Review of Plural Logic". Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. ISSN 1538-1617.
- ↑ Lear, Jonathan; Oliver, Alex, eds. (2010). The Force of Argument: Essays in Honor of Timothy Smiley. Routledge. pp. 259–260. ISBN 9781138868496.
- ↑ Studies in the Philosophy of Logic and Knowledge, (co-edited with Thomas Baldwin.) Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 2005 Archived 29 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 December 2010
- ↑ "Mathematics and Necessity: Essays in the History of Philosophy". The British Academy. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
- ↑ "Philosophical Logic". The British Academy. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
- ↑ "Philosophical Dialogues: Plato, Hume, Wittgenstein". The British Academy. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
- ↑ Harrop, Ronald (1981). "D. J. Shoesmith and T. J. Smiley. Multiple-conclusion logic. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge etc. 1978, xiii + 396 pp". Journal of Symbolic Logic. 46 (1): 161–163. doi:10.2307/2273268. ISSN 0022-4812.
- ↑ Andreas Blass "Review: D. J. Shoesmith and T. J. Smiley, Multiple-conclusion logic," Bulletin (New Series) of the American Mathematical Society, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. (N.S.) 2(1), 242-246, (January 1980)
- ↑ Brouwer, Thomas; Hansen, Casper Storm (2015). "Review of Plural Logic" (PDF). Studia Logica: An International Journal for Symbolic Logic. 103 (5). Springer: 1095–1100. ISSN 0039-3215. JSTOR 43649750.
- ↑ Rieppel, Michael (2015). "Pluralities and Plural Logic" (PDF). Analysis. 75 (3). [The Analysis Committee, Oxford University Press]: 504–514. ISSN 0003-2638. JSTOR 24671361.
