William Frankena

William K. Frankena ( born June 21, 1908 in Manhattan, Montana, † October 22, 1994 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States) was an American analytic philosopher specializing in Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Frankena earned his B. A. in English and Philosophy in 1930 at Calvin College, an institution of the Christian Reformed Church, in the following year the MA at the University of Michigan, in 1935 a second MA and 1937, a Ph.D. at Harvard University. One of his teachers at Harvard was Alfred North Whitehead; a research visit as part of his dissertation, entitled Recent intuitionism Intuitionism in British Ethics led him to George Edward Moore and CD Broad at the University of Cambridge in England.

Frankena began his academic career in 1937 as an instructor at the University of Michigan and was there from 1947 until his retirement in 1978, Chair of the Department of Philosophy. Frankena was also from 1965-66 president of the Western Division of the American Philosophical Association. He was Guest professor at Harvard University, Columbia University, Princeton University, the University of Tokyo and the University of Washington.

Frankena was known by his first article in 1939 under the title The Naturalistic Fallacy ("the naturalistic fallacy ") in the British journal Mind appeared, as well as a brief but substantial introduction to the ethics and meta-ethics, from an analytical perspective from 1963 which has been translated into eight languages.

Writings (selection )

  • The Naturalistic Fallacy, in: Mind Vol 48, 1939, Ss. 464-477; German in: G. Grewendorf / Meggle G. (ed.): Seminar: Language and ethics. For the development of meta-ethics. Frankfurt am Main in 1974.
  • Ethics, 1963, 2nd edition 1973. German Translation: Analytical ethics. An Introduction. Eds and trans. by Norbert Hoerster. DTV, Munich 1972 ( dtv science 4640 ), ISBN 3-423-04640-6
  • German translation: Ethics and the environment. In: Angelika Krebs ( ed.): Natural ethics. Basic Texts of the current animal and ökoethischen discussion. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1997.
Analytic philosophy Bachelor's degree Intuitionistic logic C. D. Broad Name Authority File
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