Kurt Baier

Kurt Baier (January 26, 1917 – November 7, 2010) was an Austrian moral philosopher who taught for most of his career in Australia and the United States.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Baier studied law at the University of Vienna. In 1938, after the Anschluss he had to abandon his studies, and went to the United Kingdom as a refugee, where he was interned as a "friendly enemy alien" and sent to Australia on the Dunera. There he began studying philosophy. Baier received his B.A. from the University of Melbourne in 1944, and his M.A. in 1947. In 1952, he received his DPhil at Oxford University.

Baier taught at the University of Melbourne and the Australian National University. He met and married Annette Baier in 1958. He joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh in 1961, and became Chair of the Department in 1967, and remained at Pitt until his retirement in 1996. He became president of the Eastern Division and chair of the National Board of Officers of the American Philosophical Association, Both Baiers gave the Paul Carus lectures. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1974. In 2001, Kurt was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the Karl Franzen University of Graz. He was also honored by the Humanist Society.