John Martin Fischer

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John Martin Fischer
Born (1952-12-26) 26 December 1952 (age 72)
Philosophical work
Era Contemporary philosophy
Region Western philosophy
School Analytic
Main interests Philosophy of action, free will, moral philosophy
Notable ideas Semicompatibilism

John Martin Fischer (born 26 December 1952) is an American philosopher. He is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Riverside and a leading contributor to the philosophy of free will and moral responsibility. [1]

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Education and career

Fischer received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1982. He began his teaching career at Yale University, where he taught for almost a decade before joining the faculty at the University of California, Riverside. In 2017 he was appointed by the Regents of the University of California as one of 22 University Professors, the first and only philosopher since the inception of this program.

In June 2011, Fischer was elected vice-president of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association and became president of the Pacific Division in 2013. [1] In 2024, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. [2]

Philosophical work

While Fischer's work centers primarily on free will and moral responsibility, where he is particularly noted as a proponent of semicompatibilism (the idea that regardless of whether free will and determinism are compatible, moral responsibility and determinism are), [3] [4] he also has worked on the metaphysics of death and philosophy of religion and led a multi-year, multi-pronged research project on "immortality," funded in 2012 by the John Templeton Foundation. [5]

Books

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "John M. Fischer". philosophy.ucr.edu. Archived from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  2. "2024 New Member List | American Academy of Arts and Sciences".
  3. John Martin Fischer, "Semicompatibilism and Its Rivals", The Journal of Ethics16 (2):117–143 (2012)
  4. Kane, R. (2005) A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will, New York: Oxford UP. ISBN   978-0-19-514970-8
  5. Radio, Southern California Public (20 June 2014). "Researchers ponder life after death in 'Immortality Project'". Southern California Public Radio.