Philosophy Dept. Tenures Visiting Prof.

Peter Godfrey-Smith, a philosopher of biology and mind, has joined the philosophy department as a full-time tenured professor this year after several semesters as a visiting professor. He had been splitting his time between the Australian National University and Harvard.

Godfrey-Smith is teaching Philosophy 156, “Philosophy of Mind” this spring. Next year, he will teach courses on philosophy of biology and pragmatism, another of his principal interests.

Warren D. Goldfarb ’69, Pearson professor of modern mathematics and mathematical logic, said that Godfrey-Smith’s arrival is a major step in improving the University’s faculty in the areas of philosophy of mind and philosophy of science.

“He is the leading philosopher of biology of his generation,” Goldfarb said.

Godfrey-Smith will join a number of new faces in the fields of philosophy of mind and philosophy of science, including Professors of Philosophy Susanna C. Siegel and Edward J. Hall, both recently granted tenured positions. Godfrey-Smith and Siegel will be active participants in the Mind, Brain, and Behavior track, Goldfarb said.

Philosophy captured Godfrey-Smith’s attention while he was an undergraduate at Sydney University. A book by Fred I. Dretske, “Knowledge and the Flow of Information,” sparked his interest in philosophy of mind in particular.

“Philosophy of mind was a huge area in the 1980s,” Godfrey-Smith said. “Around that time, people began to think that evolutionary theory might help with philosophy of mind problems.”

After earning his PhD from the University of California at San Diego, Godfrey-Smith taught for 12 years at Stanford University. He was a visiting professor at Harvard in 2000, and for the last two years, he worked part-time for both the Australian National University and Harvard.

The philosopher said that he decided to come to Harvard because it is “the best intellectual environment” compared to Stanford, where “the stereotype of Californian people as more relaxed has some application.”

“Harvard is just a more intense place,” he added.

Godfrey-Smith had several tips for aspiring philosophers.

“I think young philosophers should follow their nose,” he said. “It’s good for philosophers to be interested in all kinds of neighboring disciplines and what’s going on around philosophy, not just what’s going on inside philosophy.”

Rosen D. Kralev ’09 said he has enjoyed taking “Philosophy of Mind” this semester.