Richard Taylor (philosopher)

Short description: American philosopher

Richard Taylor

Born| November 5, 1919

Charlotte, Michigan, U.S.[1]

Died| October 30, 2003(2003-10-30) (aged 83)

Trumansburg, New York, U.S.

Nationality| American
Education| Brown University (PhD)
Era| 20th-century philosophy
Region| Western philosophy
School| Analytic philosophy
Institutions| Brown University, Columbia University, University of Rochester
Doctoral advisor| Roderick Chisholm
Notable students| Norman Bowie, Myles Brand, Keith Lehrer, Peter van Inwagen

Main interests

| Metaphysics

Richard Clyde Taylor[2] (November 5, 1919 – October 30, 2003)[3] was an American philosopher renowned for his contributions to metaphysics. He was also an internationally known beekeeper.

## Contents

* 1 Biography
* 2 Death
* 3 Publications
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 Further reading
* 7 External links

## Biography

Taylor received his PhD at Brown University, where his supervisor was Roderick Chisholm. He taught at Brown University, Columbia and the University of Rochester, and had visiting appointments at about a dozen other institutions. His best-known book was Metaphysics (1963). Other works included Action and Purpose (1966), Good and Evil (1970) and Virtue Ethics (1991). Professor Taylor was also the editor of The Will to Live: Selected Writings of Arthur Schopenhauer.[4][5] He was an enthusiastic advocate of virtue ethics.[6] He also wrote influential papers on the meaning of life, which, like Albert Camus, he explored through an examination of the myth of Sisyphus.

Taylor's 1962 essay "Fatalism"[7] was the subject of David Foster Wallace's undergraduate thesis at Amherst College, published in 2011 together with Taylor's essay and contemporary responses under the title Fate, Time, and Language: An Essay on Free Will.[8]

Taylor made significant contributions to beekeeping. He owned three hundred hives of bees and, from 1970, produced mostly comb honey. He explained his management techniques in several books, including The Comb Honey Book and The Joys of Beekeeping.[9]

In 1993, he debated William Lane Craig over the subject 'Is The Basis For Morality Natural or Supernatural?'.[10]

Notable philosophers who studied under Taylor as graduate students include Norman Bowie, Myles Brand, Keith Lehrer, and Peter van Inwagen.[11]

## Death

Taylor died at the age of 83 on October 30, 2003, in his home in Trumansburg, New York due to complications ensuing from lung cancer.[11]

## Publications

Included among Richard Taylors publications are the following texts:[12]

* The Will to Live: Selected Writings of Arthur Schopenhauer. Ed. Richard Tayler.(1962)[13]
* Metaphysics by Richard Taylor (1963)[14]
* On the Basis of Morality by Arthur Schopenhauer, Richard Taylor, E. F. J. Payne (1965)[15]
* Action and Purpose by Richard Taylor (1966)[16]
* Freedom and Determinism. Ed. Richard Taylor (1966)[17]
* Good and Evil: A New Direction by Richard Taylor (1970)[18]
* Freedom, Anarchy, and the Law: An Introduction to Political Philosophy by Richard Taylor (1973)[19]
* On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason. Arthur Schopenhauer. Introduction by Richard Taylor (1974) [20]
* Ethics, Faith and Reason by Richard Taylor (1985)[21]
* Restoring Pride: The Lost Virtue of Our Age (1996) by Richard Taylor

## See also

* American philosophy
* List of American philosophers

## References

1. ↑ Bee Culture Magazine, "Richard Taylor (1919-2003)", January 2004, Vol 132, No 1, p 64.
2. ↑ Shook, John R. (2005-05-15) (in en). Dictionary Of Modern American Philosophers. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 2393. ISBN 978-1-84714-470-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=DsKvAwAAQBAJ.
3. ↑ "Richard Taylor Remembered - Issue 44 - Philosophy Now". http://www.philosophynow.org/issue44/44taylor.htm.
4. ↑ Anchor Books A266: 1962.
5. ↑ Richard Taylor's publications on Philpapers.org
6. ↑ Virtue Ethics: An Introduction. Taylor Richard. Prometheus Books, 2002 Astract on Philpapers.org
7. ↑ Philosophical Review, Vol. 71, No. 1 (1962).
8. ↑ New York: Columbia University Press (ISBN 978-0-231-15156-6)
9. ↑ the Joys of Beekeeping by Richard Taylor on Worldcat.org
10. ↑ "Is the Basis of Morality Natural or Supernatural? - Reasonable Faith". http://www.reasonablefaith.org/is-the-basis-of-morality-natural-or-supernatural-the-craig-taylor-debate.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Holmes, Robert (2004). "Richard Taylor Remembered". Philosophy Now. https://philosophynow.org/issues/44/Richard_Taylor_Remembered.
12. ↑ Richard Tayler's publications on Worldcat.org
13. ↑ https://www.worldcat.org/title/887321 The Will to Live: Selected Writings of Arthur Schopenhauer. Ed. Richard Tayler. F. Unger Publishing Co., New York 1967 & 1962 on worldcat.org
14. ↑ https://www.worldcat.org/title/374702 Metaphysics. Taylor, Richard. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1963 on worldcat.org
15. ↑ On the basis of Morality. Schopenhauer, Arthur & Richard Taylor & E. F. J. Payne. Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis, 1965 on Worldcat.org
16. ↑ Action and Purpose. Taylor, Richard. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1966 on worldcat.org
17. ↑ Freedom and Determinism \- Ed. Richard Taylor , Random House, New York 1966 on worldcat.org
18. ↑ Good and Evil: A New Direction. Taylor, Richard. Macmillan, New York, 1970 on Worldcat.org
19. ↑ Freedom, Anarchy, and the Law: An Introduction to Political Philosophy. Taylor, Richard. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1973 on worldcat.org
20. ↑ On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason Introduction by Richard Taylor, Open Court, La Salle, Illinois, 1974 on worldcat.org
21. ↑ Ethics, Faith and Reason. Taylor, Richard. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1985 on worldcat.org

## Further reading

* Donnelly, John (2007), Reflective Wisdom, Prometheus Books, ISBN 978-0-87975-522-5
* LaScola, Russell (1992), "A Common Sense Approach to the Mind-body Problem: A Critique of Richard Taylor", Journal of Philosophical Research 17: 279–286, doi:10.5840/jpr_1992_24

## External links

* Ryerson, James (12 December 2008). "Consider the Philosopher". The New York Times Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/magazine/14wwln-Wallace-t.html. — Article on David Foster Wallace's analysis of Taylor's fatalism.
* Richard Taylor's publications on JSTOR.org
* Richard Taylor's publications on Philpapers.org

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