📣 The American Philosophical Quarterly (https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/apq/issue/63/1), founded by Nicholas Recher in 1964, has dedicated its latest issue to a memorial and special issue on the intellectual legacy of this distinguished philosopher who recently passed away.
Nicholas Recher (1928–2024) received his doctorate from Princeton University at the age of 22, which remains a record in the history of the philosophy department at that university. He was a polymath German-American philosopher and one of the most prolific philosophers of our time; he wrote more than 100 books and 400 articles in diverse fields, including logic, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, and even the logic of Islamic civilization. Recher has also served as president of several prestigious institutions, including the American Philosophical Association (APA), the Leibniz Society of North America, and the Charles Sanders Peirce Society.
His most important contribution to philosophy was the development of a system of "pragmatic idealism," in which he established a link between the traditions of continental idealism and American pragmatism.
During his long academic career, Nicholas Recher played a key role in founding and guiding several prominent journals and academic institutions. He taught at the University of Pittsburgh for many years and headed the university's "Center for the Philosophy of Science." Recher founded three prestigious philosophical journals, each dedicated to a specific field. In 1964, he founded the American Philosophical Quarterly. In the 1980s, he also founded two sister journals, the History of Philosophy Quarterly and the Public Affairs Quarterly. Rescher was also a member of the editorial board of Process Studies, a leading journal in the field of dynamic philosophy and theology.
Rescher was one of the first to join the philosophy department at the University of Pittsburgh in 1961, and along with colleagues such as Adolf Grünbaum, he expanded the department, serving as director and chair of the Center for the Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, making it one of the most powerful philosophical centers in the world.
In 2010, he established the Endowment for the Advancement of the Philosophy Department at the University of Pittsburgh, which awards the Nicholas Rescher Prize for Contributions to Systematic Philosophy. Past winners include Susa, Plantinga, Putnam, and Nagel. He himself has received awards and honors such as the Humboldt Prize in the Humanities and the Cardinal Mercier Prize in Philosophy.
🔸 Considering the important and influential position of this recently deceased philosopher, the Journal of Philosophy of Science welcomes the receipt and publication of articles that introduce, examine, and criticize various aspects of Nicholas Rascher's thoughts.
