Guide to the Isaac Levi Papers, 1949-2014, ASP.2016.04

Arrangement

Repository
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Title
Isaac Levi Papers
Creator
Levi, Isaac
Collection Number
ASP.2016.04
Extent
51.25 Linear Feet (41 record center boxes)
Date
1949-2014
Abstract
The Isaac Levi Papers documents the professional career of American Philosopher Isaac Levi from 1949-2014. Over the course of his career, Levi made important contributions to areas such as epistemology, philosophy of science, decision theory, and the philosophy of Charles Sanders Peirce. Fruitful debate between Levi and one of his colleagues and former students, Henry E. Kyburg Jr, resulted in an approach to certain philosophical questions that has come to be known as formal epistemology. He served as doctoral advisor to numerous prominent formal philosophers, among them Horacio Arló-Costa and Teddy Seidenfeld.
Language
English .
Author
Jon Klosinski.
Publisher
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Address
University of Pittsburgh Library System
Archives & Special Collections
Website: library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
Business Number: 412-648-3232 (Thomas) | 412-648-8190 (Hillman)
Contact Us: www.library.pitt.edu/ask-archivist
URL: http://library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Jon Klosinski in 2018.

Acqusition Information

Gift of Isaac Levi in 2016.

Copyright

The University of Pittsburgh holds the property rights to the material in this collection, but the copyright may still be held by the original creator/author. Researchers are therefore advised to follow the regulations set forth in the U.S. Copyright Code when publishing, quoting, or reproducing material from this collection without the consent of the creator/author or that go beyond what is allowed by fair use.

Preferred Citation

Isaac Levi Papers, 1963-2015, ASP.2016.04, Archives of Scientific Philosophy, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System

Scope and Content Notes

The Isaac Levi Papers document the academic career of American philosopher Isaac Levi, who was John Dewey Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Columbia University. The papers contain correspondence, scholarly articles, drafts, speeches, notes, reviews and photographs related to Levi's intellectual body of work, including his contributions to decision theoretic reconstruction of epistemology and formal epistemology.

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Arrangement

The Isaac Levi Papers are arranged in four series:

Series I. Correspondence

Series II. Lectures and Speeches

Series III. Research and Reviews

Series IV. Photographs

Biography

Isaac Levi was an American philosopher who held the John Dewey Professor of Philosophy chair at Columbia University. Levi was born June 30, 1930, the son of a military chaplain whose career took the family to postings around the world; during his childhood Levi lived in many places in the United States as well as abroad; these postings included New York State, Canada, Australia, and Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Levi attended New York University as an undergraduate and received a B.A. in 1947. He then went on to earn an M.A. at Columbia which was granted in 1953. Levi was a doctoral student of Ernst Nagel at Columbia University, completing a Ph.D. entitled, Positivism and Realism in the Epistemology of Moritz Schlick in 1957 under Nagel's supervision. He also was given a Ph.D. Honorus Causa by Lund University in 1988. After spending time on the faculties of the City College of New York and Case-Western Reserve University, Levi returned to Columbia University in 1970 where he would serve for nearly four decades as a professor in the Philosophy department.

Levi's first book Gambling with Truth developed the decision theoretic reconstruction of epistemology in close relation to important 19th century pragmatist philosophers such as William James and Charles Sanders Pierce. Publishing seven books and many scholarly articles and book chapters during his career, Levi also became known for his groundbreaking work in belief revision and imprecise probability. Over the course of his career Levi made important contributions to areas such as epistemology, philosophy of science, decision theory and the philosophy of Charles Sanders Peirce. Fruitful debate between Levi and one of his colleagues and former students, Henry E. Kyburg Jr, resulted in an approach to certain philosophical questions that has come to be known as formal epistemology. Levi served as doctoral advisor to numerous academically trained philosophers, among them Horacio Arló-Costa and Teddy Seidenfeld. Levi was married to Judith Rubins for 67 years and had two sons, Jonathan and David. Isaac Levi died on December 25, 2018.

Related Material

Ernest Nagel Papers, 1925-1985, ASP.2020.01, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.

Subjects

    Personal Names

    • Levi, Isaac
    • Arlo-Costa, Horatio
    • Seidenfeld, Teddy

    Genres

    • Personal correspondence
    • Correspondence

    Other Subjects

    • Decision-making
    • Probabilities
    • Knowledge, Theory of
    • Science -- Philosophy
    • Statistics
    • Pragmatism
    • Epistemology

Container List