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In Memoriam: William J. Talbott (1949-2023)

Brian Leiter

MOVING TO FRONT FROM MAY 19, 2023:  UPDATED

Professor Talbott was a longtime faculty member at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he was emeritus.   His initial work was in epistemology, but he then wrote influentially in moral, political, and legal philosophy.   I met him many years ago; he was a first-rate intellect.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Talbott, or those who want to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to Matt Lister and Colin Marshall for information.)

UPDATE:  Professor Talbott's year of birth was 1949 (not 1950 as I originally had it); my thanks to his UW colleague Professor Jamie Mayerfield (in Political Science) for the correction.

ANOTHER UPDATE:   An obituary at the Seattle Times.  And a podcast with Professor Talbott on naturalized epistemology.  (Thanks to Professor Mayerfield for the pointer.)

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10 responses to “In Memoriam: William J. Talbott (1949-2023)”

  1. Colin Marshall

    Bill was a wonderful philosopher and a wonderful person. He would say that he was interested in "anything normative," and he meant it. As a colleague, he helped me better understand epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, metaethics, and metaphilosophy. Bill was also a truly dedicated teacher and mentor, and was almost supernaturally good at intellectually empowering students who were otherwise marginalized. It's hard to find the words to express how much he will be missed.

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  2. Adrian Bardon

    In the early 90's I was a grad student at UW philosophy and a TA for Bill. He was one of the smartest people I have ever met. Bill took teaching very seriously. He was extremely conscientious as a supervisor of grad student teaching assistants. His philosophy and social science grad seminar was terrific–I still use ideas from that course in my own teaching today. I'm very sorry to hear of his passing.

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  3. Steve Groth

    I am sorry to hear of his passing. After graduate school, I moved to Seattle to work in the tech industry, and I would occasionally drop by his office to discuss some book or to just talk philosophy for while. He was always very friendly and cordial. I would also drop by the department on Friday afternoons when some visitor came to give a paper. His ability to quickly summarize the argument and to point out both its strengths and weaknesses was very impressive. I will always fondly remember Bill and his willingness to spend time with me,

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  4. elliott sober

    Bill and I were friends in grad school at Harvard. He was an inspiration — curious, argumentative, funny, upbeat, and creative. I read his last book while he was finishing it. It wowed me. We correspond about the book, rekindling our friendship from long ago. In doing so I realized what a mistake it was that we lost contact with each other for decades. I miss him.

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  5. Scott Clifton

    I TA'd for Bill twice when I was in grad school at UW ten or twelve years ago. He was always very involved in how his TAs handled discussion sections and assignment grading, usually meeting with us for about an hour each week. I was struck then by the concern he had for the students in the class, wanting to ensure that each TA demonstrated the same level as his, as well as the great care he took in preparing for each week's classes. It was a course he taught every year and had taught countless times, but he never seemed to go into auto-pilot mode. I find myself recalling some of my observations of his approach to teaching even now, as I teach my own classes, and applying the insights I learned from him. I am so sorry to hear he is gone.

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  6. Edwin McCann

    I got to know Bill Talbott when he was in his last year or two of grad school. He was a great guy–unassuming, pleasant, often smiling, and warmhearted. He was working primarily with Bob Nozick on his dissertation, but also discussing with Bob at great length and to good effect on Bob's manuscript that later became The Nature of Rationality. (See the acknowledgements in the published book.) It takes a nimble-minded and dedicated student to do dissertation work with Bob, and real philosophical insight to be in a position to contribute as much to a project as Bill did to Bob's book. It was no surprise to hear the accolades from former students of Bill's; they're entirely in line with my own experience of Bill in his graduate days and in several meetings over the years.

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  7. Samuel W Cantor

    Professor Talbott taught my first proper philosophy class. His encouragement for close careful reading and his infectious glee for discussing arguments in detail had a massive impact on my life. His course (early modern political philosophy) was the first in my life I felt rewarded in the classroom for patiently and slowly reading the course material (especially Hobbes, who made a massive impression on me as well). I came to UW to study music and chemistry, with a passive interest in philosophy, but after Bill's course (and a wonderful intro to logic) the dawning began that I'd end up a philosophy major.

    A year or two later I took Bill's upper division epistemology course, and I remember vividly the sheer joy we all had coming together and discussing those dry old paper together. He had a way of bringing us together as one in discussion; and he was good as making us feel like adults who were responsible for our preparation and contribution. He was great at making students feel rewarded, intellectually, for being diligent and sharp (but not clever — he could be quite harsh –to everyone else's amusement — when someone tried to be too clever). In that way he was the kind of teacher you wish you had all throughout your education, the kind of teacher who really pushed his students to take responsibility for their intellectual development, but by showing how fun and rewarding the process is or can be. We had great laughs, and the reverence with which he spoke about the philosophers, including his generational peers, was affecting as well.

    I knew he was sick for some time, and I did intend to write him and tell him the impact he had on me as a teacher, but I never got around to it. Hopefully others here can recognize from their own experience elements in my account of being his student, and we can together appreciate the impact he had on our lives.

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  8. Hilary Kornblith

    I received a note from Bill out of the blue some time in the mid to late 1980's. (I'm away from home now and don't have access to my notes.) He sent me a long paper, connecting the work he had done in his thesis with subsequent work in epistemology. It was a terrific piece of work, and I asked him to send me the thesis. I could hardly believe what I read in it. Bill had ideas in the 1970's which, had they been published at the time, would have made him known then and there as one of the most creative epistemologists around. I met Bill in person for the first time a few years later and I was delighted to find that he was also a warm, funny human being as well. We got together with each other on and off ever since. I remember one particularly enjoyable occasion when I went out to Washington to give a paper, and Bill had the entire department over for a relaxed dinner at his home after the talk, where we were all able to continue our discussions.

    I was so pleased when Bill sent me the manuscript for his recent book, which put together the ideas he had been working on for so long. It's a wonderful contribution to epistemology, and a fitting tribute to Bill's life-long thought about the issues.

    I talked with Bill on Zoom a couple of times when he knew that there was nothing more that could be done to treat his illness. I was so glad to hear that he could attend his daughter's wedding and dance with her there. I know it meant the world to him.

    My condolences to his wife and daughters.

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  9. Sara Goering

    We are deeply feeling the loss of our cherished colleague Bill Talbott. Not only was Bill a talented, insightful and wide-ranging philosopher — at ease in epistemology, normative theory, human rights and more — he was a wonderful mentor, award-winning teacher, and hilarious and caring departmental poet. Thanks to everyone for your kind words and sharing your fond memories of Bill.

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  10. Gabriel Siegel

    Dr. Talbott was hands down one of the greatest professors I’ve ever had. Brilliant, kind and inspiring. He was certainly one of my inspirations for applying to graduate school in philosophy. Huge loss to the UW and the philosophical community at large. My sincere condolences to his family.

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