Margaret Dauler Wilson
Encyclopedia
Margaret Dauler Wilson was an American philosopher
and a professor of philosophy at Princeton University
between 1970 and 1998. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, Wilson earned an A.B. from Vassar College
in 1960 and received her Ph.D. in philosophy
from Harvard University
five years later. While at Harvard, At Harvard, she was a student of Burton Dreben
. Wilson was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Harvard in 1960-61 and then studied at Oxford University in 1963-64. Wilson spent the early years of her career as an assistant professor of philosophy at Columbia University
(1965-1967), and went on to teach at the Rockefeller Institute between 1967 and 1970.
In 1970, she joined the Princeton faculty as associate professor of philosophy. Wilson was promoted to full professor in 1975, and in 1998 was finally named Stuart Professor of Philosophy. During her tenure at Princeton she shared a department with other prominent philosophers including David Lewis
, Saul Kripke
, Harry Frankfurt
, Gil Harman
, Bas van Fraassen, Paul Benacerraf
and Richard Jeffrey
. Wilson taught courses in Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz, Locke
, Berkeley
and other early modern philosophers as well as the Philosophy of Religion
. In her scholarship, Wilson focused on the history of early modern philosophy, the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of mind
, and the theory of perception. Author of Descartes (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978), as well as of many articles on 17th and 18th-century metaphysics and epistemology, some of which are collected in her, Ideas and Mechanism (1999), Wilson was also editor of The Essential Descartes (1969) and coeditor (with D. Brock and R. Kuhns) of Philosophy: An Introduction (1972).
Over the course of her distinguished career, Margaret Dauler Wilson was awarded many honors, and was among only a handful of prominent female philosophers in a field overwhelmingly dominated by men. Wilson won a Guggenheim fellowship in 1977 and an American Council of Learned Societies
fellowship in 1982. She was also a Centennial Medalist of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1989, and was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in 1992. In 1994, Wilson received Princeton University's Howard T. Behrman Award for distinguished achievement in the humanities.
Active in professional organizations, Wilson served as vice-president of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association
(APA) for 1993-94 and for 1994-95. She also served on a number of APA committees, including the Subcommittee on the Status of Women in the Profession. President of the Leibniz Society of North America
from 1985-90, she was a member of numerous other associations, such as the Hobbes Society, the Hume Society, the North American Spinoza Society and the British Society for the History of Philosophy. Wilson served as a juror for the Arts and Humanities for the 1997 Heinz Foundation awards. Wilson died at the age of 59 on August 27, 1998. Since 2002, the Margaret Dauler Wilson Biennial Philosophy Conference have been held in her honor. Several of her students are prominent philosophers today, including: Janet Broughton, Rae Langton, Christia Mercer, and Lisa Downing.
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and a professor of philosophy at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
between 1970 and 1998. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Wilson earned an A.B. from Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
in 1960 and received her Ph.D. in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
five years later. While at Harvard, At Harvard, she was a student of Burton Dreben
Burton Dreben
Burton Spencer Dreben was an American philosopher specializing in mathematical logic. A Harvard graduate who taught at his alma mater for most of his career, he published little but was highly influential as a teacher and as a critic of the work of his colleagues .-The logician:Dreben was a rare...
. Wilson was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Harvard in 1960-61 and then studied at Oxford University in 1963-64. Wilson spent the early years of her career as an assistant professor of philosophy at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
(1965-1967), and went on to teach at the Rockefeller Institute between 1967 and 1970.
In 1970, she joined the Princeton faculty as associate professor of philosophy. Wilson was promoted to full professor in 1975, and in 1998 was finally named Stuart Professor of Philosophy. During her tenure at Princeton she shared a department with other prominent philosophers including David Lewis
David Kellogg Lewis
David Kellogg Lewis was an American philosopher. Lewis taught briefly at UCLA and then at Princeton from 1970 until his death. He is also closely associated with Australia, whose philosophical community he visited almost annually for more than thirty years...
, Saul Kripke
Saul Kripke
Saul Aaron Kripke is an American philosopher and logician. He is a professor emeritus at Princeton and teaches as a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center...
, Harry Frankfurt
Harry Frankfurt
Harry Gordon Frankfurt is an American philosopher. He is professor emeritus of philosophy at Princeton University and has previously taught at Yale University and Rockefeller University. He obtained his B.A. in 1949 and Ph.D. in 1954 from...
, Gil Harman
Gilbert Harman
Gilbert Harman is a contemporary American philosopher, teaching at Princeton University, who has published widely in linguistics, semantics, cognitive science, philosophy of mind, ethics, moral psychology, epistemology, statistical learning theory, and metaphysics. He and George Miller...
, Bas van Fraassen, Paul Benacerraf
Paul Benacerraf
Paul Joseph Salomon Benacerraf is an American philosopher working in the field of the philosophy of mathematics who has been teaching at Princeton University since he joined the faculty in 1960. He was appointed Stuart Professor of Philosophy in 1974, and recently retired as the James S....
and Richard Jeffrey
Richard Jeffrey
Richard C. Jeffrey was an American philosopher, logician, and probability theorist. He was a native of Boston, Massachusetts....
. Wilson taught courses in Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz, Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
, Berkeley
George Berkeley
George Berkeley , also known as Bishop Berkeley , was an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism"...
and other early modern philosophers as well as the Philosophy of Religion
Philosophy of religion
Philosophy of religion is a branch of philosophy concerned with questions regarding religion, including the nature and existence of God, the examination of religious experience, analysis of religious language and texts, and the relationship of religion and science...
. In her scholarship, Wilson focused on the history of early modern philosophy, the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of mind
Philosophy of mind
Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind-body problem, i.e...
, and the theory of perception. Author of Descartes (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978), as well as of many articles on 17th and 18th-century metaphysics and epistemology, some of which are collected in her, Ideas and Mechanism (1999), Wilson was also editor of The Essential Descartes (1969) and coeditor (with D. Brock and R. Kuhns) of Philosophy: An Introduction (1972).
Over the course of her distinguished career, Margaret Dauler Wilson was awarded many honors, and was among only a handful of prominent female philosophers in a field overwhelmingly dominated by men. Wilson won a Guggenheim fellowship in 1977 and an American Council of Learned Societies
American Council of Learned Societies
The American Council of Learned Societies , founded in 1919, is a private nonprofit federation of seventy scholarly organizations.ACLS is best known as a funder of humanities research through fellowships and grants awards. ACLS Fellowships are designed to permit scholars holding the Ph.D...
fellowship in 1982. She was also a Centennial Medalist of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1989, and was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
in 1992. In 1994, Wilson received Princeton University's Howard T. Behrman Award for distinguished achievement in the humanities.
Active in professional organizations, Wilson served as vice-president of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association
American Philosophical Association
The American Philosophical Association is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarly activity in philosophy, to facilitate the professional work...
(APA) for 1993-94 and for 1994-95. She also served on a number of APA committees, including the Subcommittee on the Status of Women in the Profession. President of the Leibniz Society of North America
Leibniz Society of North America
The Leibniz Society of North America is a philosophical society whose purpose is to promote the study of the philosophy of Gottfried Leibniz. The society publishes the Leibniz Society Review.- External links :**...
from 1985-90, she was a member of numerous other associations, such as the Hobbes Society, the Hume Society, the North American Spinoza Society and the British Society for the History of Philosophy. Wilson served as a juror for the Arts and Humanities for the 1997 Heinz Foundation awards. Wilson died at the age of 59 on August 27, 1998. Since 2002, the Margaret Dauler Wilson Biennial Philosophy Conference have been held in her honor. Several of her students are prominent philosophers today, including: Janet Broughton, Rae Langton, Christia Mercer, and Lisa Downing.