Michael Kremer is the Mary R. Morton Distinguished Service Professor of Philosophy Emeritus. He received his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in 1986; prior to joining the University of Chicago he taught at the University of Notre Dame. His research focuses on the history of analytic philosophy, especially Frege, Russell, and the early Wittgenstein. His current project is on the philosophy of Gilbert Ryle, with special reference to the knowing how/knowing that debate. He also has long-standing interests in logic and the philosophy of language, as well as the relationship between reason and religious faith.
Selected Publications
“Margaret MacDonald and Gilbert Ryle: A Philosophical Friendship,” British Journal of the History of Philosophy (online first DOI: 10.1080/09608788.2021.1932409).
“Cora Diamond on Wittgenstein’s Unbearable Conflict,” Teorema 40 (2021): 199-213.
(https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/7871321.pdf)
“Gilbert Ryle on Skill as Knowledge-How,” in The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Skill and Expertise, C. Pavese and E. Fridland, eds. (London: Routledge, 2020)
“Definitions in the Begriffsschrift and the Grundgesetze,” in Essays on Frege’s Basis Laws of Arithmetic, M. Rossberg and P. Ebert, eds. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019)
"Ryle's 'Intellectualist Legend' in Historical Context," The Journal of the History of Analytical Philosophy 5(5) (2017): 16-37. DOI 10.15173/jhap.v5i5.3204
"'One of my feet was still pretty firmly encased in this boot': Behaviorism and The Concept of Mind," in Analytic Philosophy: An Interpretive History, Aaron Preston, ed. (Routledge, 2017)
"A Capacity to Get Things Right: Gilbert Ryle on Knowledge," European Journal of Philosophy (2016) - online first. DOI 10.1111/ejop.12150
“Acquaintance, Analysis, and Knowledge of Persons in Russell,” in Acquaintance, Knowledge, and Logic: New Essays on Bertrand Russell’s The Problems of Philosophy, B. Linsky and D. Wishon, eds. (Stanford: CSLI Publications, 2015)
“The Whole Meaning of a Book of Nonsense: Introducing Wittgenstein’s Tractatus,”Oxford Handbook of the History of Analytic Philosophy, M. Beaney, ed. (Oxford University Press 2013)
“What is the Good of Philosophical History?”, in The Historical Turn in Analytic Philosophy, E. Reck, ed. (Palgrave MacMillan, 2013)
“Russell’s Merit,” in Wittgenstein’s Early Philosophy, J. Zalabardo, ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012)
Media
Michael Kremer's Recorded Lectures
Recent Courses
PHIL 23508 Pascal’s Pensees in Context
This course will center on a close reading of significant parts of Blaise Pascal’s Pensées, a famous set of meditations on knowledge, faith, and human nature, culminating in his famous “wager” for Christian religious faith. In the first half of the course, we will begin by providing some intellectual context, with selections from Montaigne’s essays (“That to philosophize is to learn how to die,” “Of physiognomy,” and excerpts from “Apology for Raymond Sebond”) and Descartes’s Discourse on Method (Parts 1-4). We will also briefly consider the writings of Pascal’s sister Jacqueline (“On the Mystery of the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ”) together with Pascal’s “Memorial” to understand Pascal’s own religious conversion, followed by a discussion of his “Discussion with Monsieur Saucy” and “The Art of Persuasion” to contrast his method in philosophy with that of Descartes. The second half of the course will then be devoted to a close reading of selections from the Pensées, chosen to emphasize the themes most important for a proper critical understanding of the wager argument.
Open to students who have been admitted to the Paris Humanities Program. This course will be taught at the Paris Humanities Program.
PHIL 21620 The Problem of Evil
"Epicurus's old questions are yet unanswered. Is he [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil?" (Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion)This course will consider the challenge posed by the existence of evil to the rationality of traditional theistic belief. Drawing on both classic and contemporary readings, we will analyze atheistic arguments from evil, and attempts by theistic philosophers to construct "theodicies" and "defenses" in response to these arguments, including the "free-will defense," "soul-making theodicies," and "suffering God theodicies." We will also consider critiques of such theodicies as philosophically confused, morally depraved, or both; and we will discuss the problem of divinely commanded or enacted evil (for example the doctrine of hell). (A)
PHIL 24603/34603 History of Analytic Philosophy
This course will be an introduction to the history of analytic philosophy from its beginnings in the development of modern logic, and the realist reactions to British idealism, through philosophies of logical and metaphysical analysis, to logical positivism and ordinary language philosophy. We will read “canonical figures but also more neglected authors who helped to shape the tradition. Figures to be discussed will include Gottlob Frege, F H Bradley, G E Moore, Bertand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein (early and late), Susan Stebbing, Moritz Schlick, Rudolf Carnap, Margaret MacDonald, and Gilbert Ryle. Readings will be from primary sources. (B) (IV)
Recommend at least one of History II or History III for undergraduates.
For full list of Michael Kremer's courses back to the 2012-13 academic year, see our searchable course database.