Frank Ebersole
Encyclopedia
Frank B. Ebersole was an American philosopher who developed a unique form of ordinary language philosophy
.
, an advocate of process philosophy and a theorist of physiological psychology. Ebersole received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1947 (and won the 1945 Fiske Poetry Prize).
Ebersole taught philosophy at colleges and universities, including Carleton, Oberlin, San Jose State, Stanford, and Alberta, but most of his academic career was at the University of Oregon
, where he was department chairman and director of graduate studies. He published essays in a number of journals, however, many of his essays were not accepted for journal publication and are available only in his three self-published books: Things We Know, Meaning and Saying, and Language and Perception.
Besides his involvement with philosophical issues, he was a photographer, and author of two books of poetry (Many Times of Year and Song of the Crow).
, Alfred North Whitehead
, and Charles Hartshorne, for example). He also was influenced by ideas of logical analysis (especially as practiced by his teacher Rudolph Carnap). In the early 1950s he read Ludwig Wittgenstein
's Blue Book and Philosophical Investigations, and this changed his direction considerably:
By the later 1950s Ebersole found a new way in philosophy, partly stimulated by the thinking of Wittgenstein and the writings of other early ordinary language philosophers. In 1957 he read his first paper based on his new thinking; it was about Descartes' dream argument
.
Ebersole's work from his mature period (available in his three books) "requires—and often succeeds in producing—a radical reorientation of one's thinking". Ebersole's essays give form to his personal struggles with philosophical problems. In most of the essays he attempts to remove crustations from traditional philosophical ideas so that he can identify and address the central issues underlying a philosophical problem from his own personal point of view. Often he contrasts the philosophical conception of words that are central to a philosophical problem with examples of how these same words are used in the context of ordinary (non-philosophical) discourse. Using examples, he reveals significant differences between the ways we think when we are in the grip of a philosophical problem and when we are not so gripped. Ebersole concludes that philosophical problems often arise from philosophers' tendency to think in terms of philosophy.
He has written mainly on topics in epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of language. Ebersole is generally taken to be part of the school of ordinary language philosophy and he argues in several essays that two main critics of ordinary language philosophy (Paul Grice
and John R. Searle) pose questions raised by the robust form of ordinary language philosophy he practiced. For an appraisal of Ebersole's work, see Don S. Levi's paper Ebersole's Philosophical Treasure Hunt. His writing is unconventional in style and content, as he acknowledges in this excerpt from one of his poems:
"People stopped and puzzled when I talked,
wondered what to make of
anything I said.
And if I made them ask themselves
What of heads or tails to make
of a philosopher's talking,
that was a good thing I did,
I would say.
Yes, I would say that."
Ordinary language philosophy
Ordinary language philosophy is a philosophical school that approaches traditional philosophical problems as rooted in misunderstandings philosophers develop by distorting or forgetting what words actually mean in everyday use....
.
Biography
Frank B. Ebersole was born in Indiana. He majored in zoology at Heidelberg College. After years as a philosophy graduate student at Yale University, he transferred to the University of Chicago, where he worked with Rudolph Carnap, one the founders of logical analysis, and with Charles HartshorneCharles Hartshorne
Charles Hartshorne was a prominent American philosopher who concentrated primarily on the philosophy of religion and metaphysics. He developed the neoclassical idea of God and produced a modal proof of the existence of God that was a development of St. Anselm's Ontological Argument...
, an advocate of process philosophy and a theorist of physiological psychology. Ebersole received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1947 (and won the 1945 Fiske Poetry Prize).
Ebersole taught philosophy at colleges and universities, including Carleton, Oberlin, San Jose State, Stanford, and Alberta, but most of his academic career was at the University of Oregon
University of Oregon
-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...
, where he was department chairman and director of graduate studies. He published essays in a number of journals, however, many of his essays were not accepted for journal publication and are available only in his three self-published books: Things We Know, Meaning and Saying, and Language and Perception.
Besides his involvement with philosophical issues, he was a photographer, and author of two books of poetry (Many Times of Year and Song of the Crow).
Philosophy
Initially Ebersole was interested in philosophers who brought a zoological perspective to their philosophy (Henri BergsonHenri Bergson
Henri-Louis Bergson was a major French philosopher, influential especially in the first half of the 20th century. Bergson convinced many thinkers that immediate experience and intuition are more significant than rationalism and science for understanding reality.He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize...
, Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead, OM FRS was an English mathematician who became a philosopher. He wrote on algebra, logic, foundations of mathematics, philosophy of science, physics, metaphysics, and education...
, and Charles Hartshorne, for example). He also was influenced by ideas of logical analysis (especially as practiced by his teacher Rudolph Carnap). In the early 1950s he read Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...
's Blue Book and Philosophical Investigations, and this changed his direction considerably:
Like many another I was once committed to a certain type of philosophical endeavor—a type that goes under the names of "linguistic analysis" or "conceptual analysisPhilosophical analysisPhilosophical analysis is a general term for techniques typically used by philosophers in the analytic tradition that involve "breaking down" philosophical issues. Arguably the most prominent of these techniques is the analysis of concepts...
".... Then I read Wittgenstein. My first reaction was to add footnotes to the things I had been writing. Then I added appendices. Finally I tore the things up; and I have been trying in various ways ever since to overcome a state of paralysis, without success.
By the later 1950s Ebersole found a new way in philosophy, partly stimulated by the thinking of Wittgenstein and the writings of other early ordinary language philosophers. In 1957 he read his first paper based on his new thinking; it was about Descartes' dream argument
Dream argument
The dream argument is the postulation that the act of dreaming provides preliminary evidence that the senses we trust to distinguish reality from illusion should not be fully trusted, and therefore any state that is dependent on our senses should at the very least be carefully examined and...
.
Ebersole's work from his mature period (available in his three books) "requires—and often succeeds in producing—a radical reorientation of one's thinking". Ebersole's essays give form to his personal struggles with philosophical problems. In most of the essays he attempts to remove crustations from traditional philosophical ideas so that he can identify and address the central issues underlying a philosophical problem from his own personal point of view. Often he contrasts the philosophical conception of words that are central to a philosophical problem with examples of how these same words are used in the context of ordinary (non-philosophical) discourse. Using examples, he reveals significant differences between the ways we think when we are in the grip of a philosophical problem and when we are not so gripped. Ebersole concludes that philosophical problems often arise from philosophers' tendency to think in terms of philosophy.
He has written mainly on topics in epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of language. Ebersole is generally taken to be part of the school of ordinary language philosophy and he argues in several essays that two main critics of ordinary language philosophy (Paul Grice
Paul Grice
Herbert Paul Grice , usually publishing under the name H. P. Grice, H...
and John R. Searle) pose questions raised by the robust form of ordinary language philosophy he practiced. For an appraisal of Ebersole's work, see Don S. Levi's paper Ebersole's Philosophical Treasure Hunt. His writing is unconventional in style and content, as he acknowledges in this excerpt from one of his poems:
"People stopped and puzzled when I talked,
wondered what to make of
anything I said.
And if I made them ask themselves
What of heads or tails to make
of a philosopher's talking,
that was a good thing I did,
I would say.
Yes, I would say that."