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    The McMaster Department of Philosophy has now put together the following notice commemorating Barry: Barry Allen: A Philosophical Life Barry…

In Memoriam: Zenon Pylyshyn (1937-2022)

Brian Leiter

MOVING TO FRONT FROM DECEMBER 6

A leading figure in cognitive science, whose work was quite important in philosophy as well, Professor Pylyshyn taught for many years at the University of Western Ontaro, before joining Rutgers psychology in 1991, which (with Jerry Fodor and Stephen Stich, among others, in philosophy) had become a powerhouse in cognitive science.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.  Remembrances from those who knew Professor Pylyshyn, or comments on the philosophical significance of his work, are welcome in the comments.

UPDATE:   The Globe and Mail obituary.

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4 responses to “In Memoriam: Zenon Pylyshyn (1937-2022)”

  1. Jonathan Cohen

    i was a student of Zenon's in the late 90s, and am saddened by the news. to state the obvious, Zenon was a towering figure, with important influence in many areas of philosophy, psychology, and cognitive science (and also, though less well known in the circles i run in, in the fields he started in: computer science and electrical engineering). he just saw through to the heart of problems and put forward important and novel ideas again and again — usually seeing things years or decades before others caught up with him.

    in the last several years i have repeatedly had the experience of rereading older papers of his to prepare for teaching and finding in them crystal clear articulations of ideas that had been published much more recently by others (in some cases by me!) with no apparent awareness that Zenon was there first. Zenon's reaction when i sent these to him was invariably just a chuckle.

    Zenon wore his considerable accomplishments with impressive grace and lightness, exuded warmth, and was just a fun guy to be around. he will be sorely missed.

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  2. Mohan Matthen

    Zenon was a prime architect of the neo-Fregean style of thinking about the mind. His clarity and honesty about basic ideas–images as representations, the non-descriptive identification of individuals, the grammar of thought, the perception-cognition divide–was both arresting and compelling. Ironically, though, these very qualities contributed to the weakening of the positions he held dear–a weakening at least as measured by numbers of adherents. Very few ultimately wanted to be saddled the conclusions he drew from his own basic tenets. (I am thinking in particular of his scepticism about mental images and his opposition to connectionism–though his work on "FINST"s was widely admired and accepted.) Everybody read Zenon's work and everybody sought him out. His company and conversation were always both warming and bracing. We will all miss him.

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  3. Ned Block

    From the Crestwood Funeral site: It is with deep sadness that we announce the end of the remarkable life of Zenon Walter Pylyshyn on December 6, 2022 in his 86th year. Zenon’s parents, Anna and Yuriy (George), immigrated to Canada from Ukraine in the 1920s. Yuriy was a tailor and both he and Anna worked in Montreal garment factories. Zenon did not have the benefit of books in his home or university graduates in his life

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  4. Randy Goebel

    I was a UBC Ph.D. student at UBC when I first met Zenon within the context of the Canadian AI community; he had a unique ability to treat researchers of any level experience with respect and always managed to make everyone feel comfortable about discussing their research passion. I had more frequent discussions with him when I became a junior faculty member at the University of Waterloo, and found a strong intersection of our views on the general framework for Artificial Intelligence, even with our different backgrounds (his in cognitive science, my in formal methods).

    I think Zenon made every person better by his positive respectful conversations, but that doesn't mean he didn't have passion. I found him extremely passionate about several discussions, where he rallied against prototype AI methods disguised as simple behaviourist models, which he believed did no justice to what cognitive scientists already knew about human cognition and its foundations.

    He will be missed.

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