Ruth Barcan Marcus
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Ruth Barcan Marcus (born 1921) is the philosopher and logician after whom the Barcan formula is named. A pioneering figure in the quantification of modal logic and the theory of direct reference, she was awarded a Ph.D. by Yale University in 1946.
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[edit] Family
Barcan Marcus was born in Bronx, New York. Her father Samual Barcan's promising career at the Yiddish Forward and in philanthropy work (Workman's Circle) was cut short by an early death. She was one of three sisters, the others being Hilda and Esther. Other Barcans include Seena Stein, real estate broker for Newmark Corporation and Helmsey in New Jersey, Neil Goldmacher, real estate broker in New York City for Newmark Corporation, Ruben Safir, founder of several Free Software groups, such as NYLXS in New York, David Fishback, prominent government attorney in Washington, DC, Rachel Heiman, anthropologist at The New School in NYC, among others.
[edit] Quantified Modal Logic
Ruth Barcan Marcus' first and perhaps most important work was the publication of portions of her doctoral thesis in two 1946 articles of the Journal of Symbolic Logic. These two ground-breaking articles were entitled "A Functional Calculus of First Order Based on Strict Implication" and "The Deduction Theorem in a Functional Calculus of First Order Based on Strict Implication." The former article was published in Vol. 11, No. 1 (March 1946), pages 1-16, the latter article in Vol. 11, No. 4 (December 1946), pages 115-118 of the Journal of Symbolic Logic. Both articles are published under Marcus' maiden name: Ruth C. Barcan. The works of 1946 created the first method of quantifying modal logic, which Marcus would entitle Quantified Modal Logic (QML). The QML system realized Clarence Irving Lewis' dream of quantifying modal logic. Contemporary modal logic was proposed in 1918 in C. I. Lewis' Survey of Symbolic Logic. In the course of this work, Lewis developed five rudimentary systems of the postulations and axioms of modal systems, which he denoted as S1-S5, in order of increasing complexity and presuppositions. Taking S2, the second system of Lewis' five original modal logics, Professor Marcus extended Lewis' system to quantification, a major feat of the development of 20th century logic. Lewis gives Marcus special recognition in "Notes on the Logic of Intension, originally printed in Structure, Method, and Meaning: Essays in Honor of Henry M. Sheffer (New York, 1951). Here Lewis contributes to Marcus her due recongition as the first logician to encompass propositional functions in terms of an intensional logic.
[edit] Direct Reference
Ruth Barcan Marcus was an early proponent of what came to be called "direct reference", which is a view in the philosophy of language according to which proper names are what Marcus terms mere "tags". These "tags" are used to denote an object (the bearer of the name), and the meaning of the name is regarded as exhausted by this referential function. This view contrasts with Bertrand Russell's description theory of proper names as well as John Searle's cluster theory of names. On these views, names are associated with definite descriptions that constitute the meaning of the name and determine its reference. On the direct reference view, names may be associated with such descriptions, but the descriptions play neither of these roles.
[edit] Academic appointments
- Professor of philosophy and founding department chair, University of Illinois at Chicago (1962-1970)
- Professor of philosophy, Northwestern University (1970-1973)
- Halleck professor of philosophy, Yale University (1973-1991)
- Professor emerita and senior research scholar, Yale University; visiting distinguished professor, University of California, Irvine (one quarter each year, 1991-present)
[edit] Awards and recognitions
- Guggenheim Fellow (l952)
- National Science Foundation (1963)
- Rockefeller Foundation (Bellagio, 1973 and 1990)
- Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (l979)
- University of Edinburgh Humanities Institute (1983)
- Wolfson College of Oxford University (1985 and 1986)
- Clare Hall of Cambridge University (1988)
- National Humanities Center (1992-93)
- Honors Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences(1977--)
- Medal of the College de France (1986)
- Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, University of Illinois at Chicago (1995) [1]
- Wilbur Cross Medal, Yale University (2000)
- Permanent Member of the Common Room, Clare Hall (1986--)
- Phi Beta Kappa (1941)
- Membre, Institut International de Philosophie
[edit] Professional offices and service
- Chair of the Board of Officers, American Philosophical Association (1977-83)
- President, Association for Symbolic Logic (1983-86)
- President, International Institut de Philosophie (1989-92) and Presidente Honoraire (continuing)
[edit] Books (written and edited)
- The Logical Enterprise, ed. with A. Anderson, R. Martin, Yale, 1995
- Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, VII, eds. R. Barcan Marcus et al., North Holland, 1986
- Modalities: Philosophical Essays, Oxford University Press, 1993. Paperback; 1995
