Henry E. Allison

Henry Edward Allison (April 25, 1937 – June 5, 2023) was an American scholar of Immanuel Kant, widely regarded as one of the most eminent English-language Kant scholars of the postwar era. He served as a professor and chair of the Philosophy Department at the University of California, San Diego, and later as a professor at Boston University. His academic career also included positions at the University of Florida, Pennsylvania State University, and the State University of New York at Potsdam. Allison earned his Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research under the guidance of Aron Gurwitsch. His notable contribution to philosophy is his "two aspect" or "two standpoint" interpretation of transcendental idealism, which he detailed in his influential 1983 book, *Kant's Transcendental Idealism: An Interpretation and Defense*. This reading offers a distinct perspective on Kant's *Critique of Pure Reason*, distinguishing between the human standpoint, which views objects relative to epistemic conditions, and the standpoint of an intuitive intellect. Allison's scholarship also encompassed the philosophies of Baruch Spinoza and German idealism, as well as 18th and 19th-century philosophy. He was a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2023, shortly before his passing.