Henry Kyburg Jr., the Gideon W. Burbank Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy at the University of Rochester, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Kyburg's expertise is in the philosophy of science, which focuses on scientific reasoning and how theories relate to evidence. He is also a scholar in artificial intelligence who explores reasoning through computer models. Kyburg, who sees little distinction between philosophy and computer science, is as likely to be working at a computer keyboard as he is to be poring over a book.
"Everything that is a source of wonder or puzzlement or practical challenge is a fit subject for philosophical inquiry," Kyburg wrote in an essay published last year. "It seems to me that the only thing antithetical to philosophy is a narrow focus."
Kyburg joined the University of Rochester faculty in 1965. He was chair of the philosophy department from 1969 to 1981, was named Burbank professor in 1982, and received a joint appointment teaching computer science in 1986. He has written nine books and many articles.
Kyburg's election will make him one of eight University professors in the Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is one of only two philosophers inducted into the select academy this year.
Founded in 1780, the Academy is a 2,000-member, international organization based in Boston with a dual function: to honor achievement in science, scholarship, the arts, and public affairs, and to conduct a varied program that reflects the interests of its members and the intellectual community.
For more information, please contact the philosophy department at (585) 275-4105.