Michael Dummett

Sir Michael Dummett
Sir Michael Dummett in 2004
Born	(1925-06-27)27 June 1925 London, England, UK
Died	27 December 2011(2011-12-27) (aged 86) Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford (1947–50; BA, 1950)
Awards	Rolf Schock Prizes in Logic and Philosophy (1995)

Era	Contemporary philosophy
Region	Western Philosophy
School	Analytic
Institutions	All Souls College, Oxford New College, Oxford
Main interests	Philosophy of mathematics Philosophy of logic Philosophy of language Metaphysics
Notable ideas	Metaphysical debates are properly understood as debates about logical laws,anti-realist defence of mathematical intuitionism, Gödel–Dummett logic, criticism of truth-value link realism
Influences Gottlob Frege · Peter Geach · G. E. M. Anscombe · Ludwig Wittgenstein · Gilbert Ryle · L. E. J. Brouwer · Donald Davidson
Influenced Gareth Evans · Crispin Wright · Christopher Peacocke · Timothy Williamson · Ian Rumfitt · Luciano Floridi · Carlo Penco · Hans Sluga · Barry Smith

Sir Michael Anthony Eardley Dummett, FBA (27 June 1925 – 27 December 2011) was a British philosopher, described as "among the most significant British philosophers of the last century and a leading campaigner for racial tolerance and equality." He was, until 1992, Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of Oxford. He wrote on the history of analytic philosophy, most notably as an interpreter of Frege, and has made original contributions to the subject, particularly in the philosophies of mathematics, logic, language and metaphysics. He was known for his work on truth and meaning and their implications for the debates between realism and anti-realism, a term he helped popularize. He devised the Quota Borda system of proportional voting, based on the Borda count. In mathematical logic, he developed an intermediate logic, already studied by Kurt Gödel: the so-called Gödel–Dummett logic.

Dummett was the son of a merchant of silks. He studied at Sandroyd School and was a First Scholar at Winchester College, later winning a Major Scholarship to study History at Christ Church, Oxford in 1943. He was called up that year and served, initially as a private in the Royal Artillery before joining the Intelligence Corps in India and Malaya. He was also awarded a fellowship to All Souls College, Oxford.