Michael Kremer

In This Section

Michael Kremer is the Mary R. Morton Professor of Philosophy and in the College, and the Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Philosophy. He received his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in 1986. Prior to joining the University of Chicago department he taught at the University of Notre Dame for sixteen years. His chief research interests are in logic, philosophy of language, and early analytic philosophy. He also has a strong interest in issues concerning the relationship between reason and religious faith.

Michael Kremer's Recorded Lectures - Link

Contact

office: Stuart Hall 224
Spring quarter: W 3-5 and by appointment
NOTE: no office hours April 3
Philosophy PhD students may sign up for an appointment Mondays 12:10 pm - 1:30 pm using this wiki page, for DGS-related matters.
office phone: 773/834-9884
email: kremer@uchicago.edu

Selected Publications

“The Whole Meaning of a Book of Nonsense: Introducing Wittgenstein’s Tractatus,” forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of the History of Analytic Philosophy, M. Beaney, ed. (Oxford University Press). (PDF)
“Russell’s Merit,” forthcoming in Wittgenstein’s Early Philosophy, J. Zalabardo, ed. (Cambridge University Press). (PDF)
“What is the Good of Philosophical History?”, forthcoming in The Historical Turn in Analytic Philosophy, E. Reck, ed. (Palgrave MacMillan). (PDF)
"Representation or Inference" in Reading Brandom, edited by Bernhard Weiss and Jeremy Wanderer, Routledge, 2010 (PDF)
“Logicist Responses to Kant: (Early) Russell and (Early) Frege,”Philosophical Topics 34 (2006), 163-188, 2008. (PDF)
Sense and reference: the origins and development of the distinction, The Cambridge Companion to Frege, T. Ricketts and M. Potter, eds. (PDF)
Soames on Russell’s logic: a reply in Philosophical Studies (2008) Link
The Cardinal Problem of Philosophy, in Wittgenstein and the Moral Life: Essays in Honour of Cora Diamond Ed. Alice Crary (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2007) Link
To What Extent is Solipsism a Truth?, in Post-Analytic Tractatus, B. Stocker, ed., 2004 (PDF)
How Not to Argue for Incompatibilism, Erkenntnis 60 (2004), 1-26. Link
Some Supervaluation-based Consequence Relations in Journal of Philosophical Logic Volume 32, Number 3 / June, 2003 Link
“/Intuitive/ Consequences of the Revision Theory of Truth,” /Analysis 62/ (2002), 330-336 (Link)
Mathematics and Meaning in the Tractatus, Philosophical Investigations 25 (2002), 272-303. Link
The Purpose of Tractarian Nonsense, Noûs 35 (2001), 3973. Link
Judgment and Truth in Frege, Journal of the History of Philosophy 38 (2000), 549-581. Link
Judgment and Truth in Frege in Journal of the History of Philosophy - Volume 38, Number 4, October 2000, pp. 549-581 Link
Wilson on Kripke's Wittgenstein in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 60, No. 3 (May, 2000), pp. 571-584 Link
"Contextualism and Holism in the Early Wittgenstein, from Prototractatus to Tractatus", Philosophical Topics, 1997 PDF
“Marti on Descriptions in Carnap's S2,” Journal of Philosophical Logic 26 (1997), 629-634. PDF
The Argument of 'On Denoting', Philosophical Review 103 (1994), pp. 249-297. Link
The Multiplicity of General Propositions in Noûs, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Dec., 1992), pp. 409-426 Link
Set-theoretic realism and arithmetic in Philosophical Studies, Volume 64, Number 3 / December, 1991 Link
Kripke and the Logic of Truth, Journal of Philosophical Logic 17 (1988), pp. 225-278. Link
Logic and Meaning: The Philosophical Significance of the Sequent Calculus
Mind, New Series, Vol. 97, No. 385 (Jan., 1988), pp. 50-72 Link
'If' is Unambiguous in Noûs, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Jun., 1987), pp. 199-217 Link
Frege's theory of number and the distinction between function and object, Philosophical Studies, Volume 47, Number 3 / May, 1985 Link

Please see my CV (PDF) for a complete list of publications.

Selected Reviews by Michael Kremer

Review of Gottlob Frege, The Foundations of Arithmetic, Dale Jacquette (tr.), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (2008) Link
Review of Scott Soames, Philosophical Analysis in the Twentieth Century (2 volumes), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (2005) Link
“Review of Erich Reck, ed., From Frege to Wittgenstein: Perspectives on Early Analytic Philosophy,” Mind 114 (2005), 447-453. PDF
Reviewed Work(s): Logic and Language in Wittgenstein's "Tractatus" by Ian Proops in The Philosophical Review, Vol. 111, No. 2 (Apr., 2002), pp. 327-330 Link
Reviewed Work(s): Signs of Sense: Reading Wittgenstein's Tractatus by Eli Friedlander in The Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 209 (Oct., 2002), pp. 652-654 Link
“Review of Bertrand Russell, Foundations of Logic 1903-05,” Philosophia Mathematica 4 (1996), 294-297. PDF

Selected Responses to Michael Kremer's Work

Jeremy Heis, Review of Michael Potter and Tom Ricketts (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Frege, Cambridge University Press, 2010 - Link
Gavin Kitching, "Resolutely Ethical: Wittgenstein, the Dogmatism of Analysis, and Contemporary Wittgensteinian Scholarship," in his Wittgenstein and Society: Essays in Conceptual Puzzlement (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003). Link
Ian Proops, "The New Wittgenstein: A Critique," European Journal of Philosophy 9 (2001): 375–404. Link
Peter Sullivan, "On Trying to be Resolute: A Response to Kremer on the Tractatus," European Journal of Philosophy 10 (2002): 43–78. PDF
Kevin Cahill, "Ethics in the Tractatus: A Resolute Failure," Philosophy 79 (2004): 33-55. Link
Scott Soames, "No class: Russell on contextual definition and the elimination of sets," Philosophical Studies 139 (2008): 213-218 PDF
Kevin Klement, "The Functions of Russell's No Class Theory," The Review of Symbolic Logic (2010), 633-664. PDF
Giorgio Diotallevi, "Michael Kremer: leggere il Tractatus logico-philosophicus come esercizio spirituale," Dialegesthai. Rivista telematica di filosofia10 (2008) Link
James Levine, "Acquaintance, Denoting Concepts, and Sense," Philosophical Review 107 (1998): 415-445 Link
B. Brogaard, "The 'Gray's Elegy' Argument and the Prospects for the Theory of Denoting Concepts," Synthese 152 (2006): 47-79 Link
William Demopoulos, "On the Theory of Meaning of 'On Denoting'," Nous 33 (1999): 439-458 Link
Russell Wahl, "'On Denoting' and the Principle of Acquaintance," Russell 27 (2007): 7-23 Link
Benedikt Löwe, "Revision Forever!," in Conceptual Structures: Inspiration and Application, H. Schärfe, P. Hitzler, P. Øhrstrøm (eds.) (Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2006), 22-36. Link
Roy T. Cook, "Still counterintuitive: a reply to Kremer," Analysis 63 (2003): 257-61. PDF
Jan Heylen, "Carnap's Theory of Descriptions and its Problems," Studia Logica 94 (2010): 355-380 Link
Brandom, B. (2010), "Reply to Michael Kremer's 'Representation or Inference: Must We Choose? Should we?'" in Reading Brandom: On Making It Explicit, eds. B. Weiss and J. Wanderer (New York: Routledge, 2010). PDF

Recent Courses

50100. First-Year Seminar. PQ: Limited to first-year students in the Philosophy PhD program. This course introduces students to some classic works of analytic philosophy which are part of the lingua franca both of the discipline and of this department. The course also serves as an introduction to graduate-level work in philosophy, as well as to bring together the first-year class in a philosophical conversation. The course is graded pass/fail, and is run as a seminar. I expect extensive participation in discussion from all students in the class. Readings will include works by Carnap, Quine, Sellars, Davidson, Rorty, Kripke and McDowell. Autumn 2011, Winter 2012.

51790. The Problem of Evil. This course will consider recent work in philosophy of religion on the problem of evil, especially attempts at constructing theodicies or defenses responding to the problem of suffering (or natural evil). Authors to be discussed may include: Marilyn McCord Adams, Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God (1999); Peter van Inwagen, The Problem of Evil (2006); and Eleonore Stump, Wandering in Darkness: Narrative and the Problem of Suffering (2010). Requirements: Active participation in seminar discussion and a term paper. (I) Spring 2012.

20100/30000. Elementary Logic. Open to college and grad students. Course not for field credit. An introduction to the techniques of modern logic. These include the representation of arguments in symbolic notation, and the systematic manipulation of these representations in order to show the validity of arguments. If time permits there will be discussion of important early meta-theorems for these systems, including the Completeness Theorem for the predicate calculus, and the First Gödel Incompleteness Theorem. No prerequisites. Autumn 2004.

34110. Sellars Open to grad students and college students with consent of instructor. Prerequisites: Permission of instructor. Wilfrid Sellars was one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century. We begin with a brief survey of the positivist and empiricist background of his thought (C.I. Lewis, Carnap). We read some of his eminar papers, especially "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind," and discuss recent controversies surrounding his work (Rorty, Brandom, McDowell, and others). Co-taught with James Conant. Winter 2004. Syllabus

23011. Faith and Reason. Open to college students. Recently, a number of best-selling books, by professional philosophers like Daniel Dennett (Breaking the Spell), scientists like Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), and popular writers like Sam Harris (The End of Faith) have argued that modern science shows that religious faith is fundamentally irrational. This argument has not gone unanswered (for example by Francis Collins in The Language of God and by Pope Benedict XVI, in his Regensburg lecture). This course will examine the relationship between religious faith and reason. We will discuss four positions: (1) reason and faith are in conflict, and it is best to abandon science in favor of faith (religious fundamentalism); (2) reason and faith are in conflict, and it is best to abandon faith in favor of science (scientific atheism); (3) reason and faith do not make cognitive contact, and one can freely choose faith without conflict with reason ("non-overlapping magisteria," fideism); (4) reason and faith do make cognitive contact but are mutually supporting, not in conflict (harmonious compatibilism). We will focus on contemporary debates but also consider their historical roots (for example, Aquinas, Leibniz, Voltaire, Hume, William James). Among the topics to be discussed will be the nature of reason and faith, arguments for and against the existence of God, the problem of evil, evolution and intelligent design, cosmology and the origin of the universe, the rationality of belief in miracles and the supernatural, and evolutionary and neuroscientific explanations of religious belief and religious experience. Spring 2008. Syllabus

24600/34600. Analytic Philosophy: Frege to Late 20th Century. Open to college and grad students. Philosophy in the English language in the twentieth century has been dominated by questions of the "analysis of language," meaning, and logic. We survey the history of the analytic tradition, focusing as much on questions of philosophical method, fundamental presuppositions, and the nature of philosophical activity as on the specific philosophical issues that we discuss. Spring 2003.

24601/34601. Analytic Philosophy. Open to college and grad students. Philosophy in the English language in the 20th century has been dominated by questions of the "analysis of language," meaning, and logic. We will survey the history of the analytic tradition, focusing as much on questions of philosophical method, fundamental presuppositions, and the nature of philosophical activity as on the specific philosophical issues which we will discuss. We will begin with the historical background at the beginning of the 20th century: idealism in Britain (Bradley) and the development of new logical techniques (Frege). We will look at the use of these new logical techniques by Moore and Russell to argue against idealism, and their development of a classical paradigm of "analysis." We will consider the problematic place of Wittgenstein's early work in relation to this tradition, and its appropriation by the logical positivists (Carnap, Schlick). We will then examine the unraveling of this tradition in the diverse criticisms mounted by ordinary language philosophy (Ryle, Austin), later Wittgenstein, and American neo-positivist/neo-pragmatist philosophers (Quine, Sellars, Putnam, Davidson), ending with the question of the future of that tradition as it stands at what appears to be a crucial juncture in its history. Spring 2006, 2009. Syllabus

29000/39700. Intermediate Logic-II: Incompleteness. (=CHSS 34000, HIPS 20501). We study some more advanced topics in logic, building on Intermediate Logic I. Possible topics include: Gödel's incompleteness theorems; higher-order logics; Craig's interpolation theorem and Beth's definability theorem; natural deduction and normal form theorems; sequent calculus and cut-elimination theorems. Specific topics will be determined by student interest. Spring 2004. Syllabus

29400/39600. Intermediate Logic - I Open to college and grad students. This is a course in the science of logic. It presupposes a knowledge of the use of truth-functions and quantifiers as tools: such as the art of logic. Our principal task in this course is to study these tools in a systematic way. We cover the central theorems about first-order logic with identity: completeness, compactness, and Löwenheim-Skolem theorems. We introduce any necessary set-theoretic and mathematical apparatus as required. We also study the topic of definition in more detail than is customary in such courses, culminating with a proof of Beth's theorem on implicit and explicit definitions. Winter 2003. Winter 2012.

29400/39600. Intermediate Logic - I Open to college and grad students. Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.. _This is a course in the science of logic. It presupposes a knowledge of the use of truth-functions and quantifiers as tools: such as the art of logic. Our principal task in this course is to study these tools in a systematic way. We cover the central theorems about first-order logic with identity: completeness, compactness, and Löwenheim-Skolem theorems. We introduce any necessary set-theoretic and mathematical apparatus as required. We also study the topic of definition in more detail than is customary in such courses, culminating with a proof of Beth's theorem on implicit and explicit definitions. Spring 2005, Winter 2006, Winter 2007, Winter 2008, Winter 2012.. Syllabus

29901. Senior Seminar I Open to college students. Prerequisites: PQ: Consent of director of undergraduate studies. . _All students writing a B.A. Essay in the Philosophy Department must register for Philosophy 29901 ("Senior Seminar I") and Philosophy 29902 ("Senior Seminar II"). Philosophy 29901 is offered in both Autumn and Winter, and Philosophy 29902 is offered in both Winter and Spring. However: B.A. writers must EITHER register for Phil 29901 in the Autumn and Philosophy 29902 in the Winter, OR register for Phil 29901 in the Winter and Philosophy 29902 in the Spring. Students may not register for both courses in the Winter.
*Special note: B.A. writers must attend all meetings of the work-in-progress workshop, which meets periodically over all three quarters. Contact the director of undergraduate studies for details. Autumn 2005, Winter 2006, Autumn 2006, Winter 2007.

26000. History of Philosophy II: Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy. (=HIPS 26000) PQ: Completion of the general education requirement in humanities required; PHIL 25000 recommended. This course introduces the metaphysical thought of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Topics include the concept of substance, the mind-body problem, the part-whole relation, the principle of sufficient reason, causation, time, skepticism, the nature and existence of God, and free will. Readings include texts by Ibn-Sina, Maimonides, Aquinas, Suarez, Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. Winter 2009. Syllabus

29902. Senior Seminar II Open to college students. Prerequisites: PQ: Consent of director of undergraduate studies.. _All students writing a B.A. Essay in the Philosophy Department must register for Philosophy 29901 ("Senior Seminar I") and Philosophy 29902 ("Senior Seminar II"). Philosophy 29901 is offered in both Autumn and Winter, and Philosophy 29902 is offered in both Winter and Spring. However: B.A. writers must EITHER register for Phil 29901 in the Autumn and Philosophy 29902 in the Winter, OR register for Phil 29901 in the Winter and Philosophy 29902 in the Spring. Students may not register for both courses in the Winter.
*Special note: B.A. writers must attend all meetings of the work-in-progress workshop, which meets periodically over all three quarters. Contact the director of undergraduate studies for details. Winter 2006, Spring 2006, Winter 2007. Spring 2007.

52500. Truth and Paradox Open to grad students. Prerequisites: Intermediate Logic (29400/39600) or equivalent.. _Since Epimenides the Cretan asserted that all Cretans are liars, the semantic paradoxes have been a persistent problem for philosophical reflection on truth. Theories of truth and the paradoxes were brought to a new level of logical sophistication with Kripke's "Outline of a Theory of Truth" (1975). Kripke's work has engendered a rapid growth of competing approaches to the problem of paradox. In this course we will study several such approaches. We begin with Tarski's classic papers on truth. We then move on to a careful study of Kripke's "fixed point" approach, and some of its descendants, particularly Gupta and Belnap's "revision" theory of truth and perhaps McGee's "vagueness" approach. The course presupposes only the level of logical sophistication acquired in Intermediate Logic (29400/39600). Additional logical material required to understand the theories to be presented (e.g. the theory of transfinite ordinal numbers) will be introduced as needed. Spring 2003. Syllabus

53000. Frege Open to grad students. Gottlob Frege was a mathematician by training, whose philosophical work was not widely known during his lifetime. His main philosophical project, the logicist reduction of arithmetic, collapsed at the height of his career with the discovery of Russell's paradox. Yet Michael Dummett credits Frege with a revolution in philosophy comparable to Descartes's. His innovations in logic and the philosophy of language have had a lasting influence on analytic philosophy, shaping thinkers as diverse as Russell, Wittgstein, Carnap, and Ryle. Recent years have seen attempts to revive his logicist project, fueled by careful attention to the details of his technical achievements in logic. We will study closely Frege's major writings: his innovative logic (Begriffsschrift, 1879); his logicist manifesto (Foundations of Arithmetic, 1884); his mature philosophy of logic and language ("Function and Concept," "On Sense and Meaning," "On Concept and Object," 1891-2); the final form of his logicist project (Basic Laws of Arithmetic, 1893, 1903); and his post-paradox writings (Logical Investigations, 1918-26) - supplemented from minor published works, correspondence, and unpublished writings. While major interpretations of Frege's thought will be discussed, the emphasis will remain on Frege's writings throughout. Time permitting, there may be a brief discussion of Frege's influence on the development of analytic philosophy.
*Special note: The requirement for the course will be a term paper. Interpretative and critical essays, as well as essays developing some aspect of Frege's thought in relation to contemporary issues, will be accepted. Spring 2007., Spring 2011 Syllabus

53900. Workshop: Wittgenstein Open to grad students. Prerequisites: Consent of instructor. This Workshop meets over three quarters. Co-taught with Jim Conant. Autumn 2006, Winter 2005.