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In Memoriam: Michael Friedman (1947-2025)

Brian Leiter

Emeritus at Stanford University, Professor Friedman wrote widely and influentially in philosophy of science (esp. on scientific explanation), philosophy of physics, Kant, and the history of 20th-century analytic and Continental traditions in philosophy.  During his long career, he taught at Harvard, Penn, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Indiana University at Bloomington and, finally, at Stanford.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Friedman or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

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8 responses to “In Memoriam: Michael Friedman (1947-2025)”

  1. Daniel Swaim

    I never met Michael, but he was a significant part of the education of several of the people who advised me, and his paper "Explanation and Scientific Understanding" was one of a small handful of papers that me hooked on philosophy of science as a young graduate student. Truly one of the bright lights of philosophy of science.

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  2. mark bernstein

    Michael and I overlapped as undergraduates at Queens college, yet only met once- much later- at a conference. One quick story that may easily be a false memory, so someone please correct me if I'm mistaken. One year, a philosophy prize (honor) was given to the 'best' philosophy student. Michael did not win, But his mother did.(I assume that she went back to school, but that's just a guess). Again, some 57 years ago, so my confidence is not high.

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  3. story

    Mark: couldn't find evidence of your story, but this is from his APA address in 2019: "… both my father (then a professor of English at Queens) and my mother had serious philosophical interests. (Indeed, my mother finally completed her BA in philosophy at Queens at the same time that I did.)."

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  4. mark bernstein

    Thanks, story. I'll consider that as very weak confirmation.

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  5. Ayokunle

    I thought to mention that Professor Michael Friedman was featured in the Philosopher's Annual a whopping six times! That says something about the philosophical acuity of his mind! Personally, I loved his Carnap's Aufbau Reconsidered. But even more than that, he was equally at home with both the analytic tradition and the continental tradition. Quite knowledgeable and talented! He will be sorely missed!

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  6. Hanwen Zhu

    I never had the opportunity to interact with Prof. Friedman personally, but his work has profoundly influenced me. His Dynamics of Reason helped me understand how Kantianism continues to shape contemporary philosophy, while his Kant and the Exact Sciences showed me new avenues for interpreting Kant. His research on logical positivism and neo-Kantianism offered me fresh insights into the history of twentieth-century philosophy. As a Kantian, I feel his passing as a deep and unexpected loss—I had hoped for many opportunities to engage with him. I will always remember his contributions and remain grateful for the impact he had on me.

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  7. Janet Raman

    This is Michael Friedman's younger sister Janet. I am seven years younger than Michael and all I remember is that all I heard for all those years when my mother was in school with Michael was "Philosophy Talk" at the dinner table! I just asked our mother about the "philosophy prize" and she said "they both won it" and "it was a publicity stunt for Queens College". Mother seems "sharp as a tack" but she is approaching 100 years old. I hope that this helps.

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  8. mark bernstein

    Thanks, Janet. It's good to know the definitive truth.

    Mark

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