Israel Scheffler

Israel Scheffler was an American philosopher of science and education. He was born on November 25, 1923, in New York City, and died on February 16, 2014, in Newton, Massachusetts. Scheffler earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees in psychology from Brooklyn College. He also received an M.H.L. and an honorary D.H.L. from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He defended his doctoral thesis, "On Quotation," at the University of Pennsylvania in 1952, where he studied under Nelson Goodman. Scheffler began his academic career at Harvard University in 1952, where he taught until his retirement in 1992. His primary intellectual interests included the philosophical interpretation of language, symbolism, science, and education. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a founding member of the National Academy of Education, and a former president of both the Philosophy of Science Association and the Charles S. Peirce Society.