SC Talk: Cheryl Misak, Philosophy, U of T; Munk School, “Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers”
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September 29, 2021 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Cheryl Misak, Philosophy, U of T; Munk School
Introducer: Brian Corman; Host: Linda Hutcheon
Title: Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers
Abstract: I will talk about Frank Ramsey, the Cambridge philosopher, mathematician, and economist who died in 1930 at the age of 26 after transforming each of these disciplines. He founded a branch of pure mathematics (Ramsey Theory) and two branches of economics (optimal savings theory and optimal taxation theory). He was the only person who could stand up to Wittgenstein both intellectually and personally. I will give a flavour of this extraordinary life and mind, drawing on my Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers, complete with sound bites from those who knew him. The book was chosen by Tom Stoppard in the Times Literary Supplement and Alan Ryan in the New Statesman as their 2020 book of the year.
Bio: Cheryl Misak is University Professor and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. She works on American pragmatism, the history of analytic philosophy, ethics and political philosophy, and the philosophy of medicine. Her books include Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers; Cambridge Pragmatism; The American Pragmatists; Truth and the End of Inquiry; Truth, Politics, Morality.
She has had visiting fellowships or temporary posts at the Goethe University in Frankfurt; the Free University in Berlin; Trinity College, Cambridge; St. John’s College, Cambridge; and New York University. She is an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford and a has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a recipient of a Humboldt Research Prize.
In 2013 she completed a long run in academic administration at the University of Toronto, culminating as Vice-President and Provost.
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