Robert F. Almeder

Robert Almeder

Full name	Robert Almeder
Born	December 11, 1939(1939-12-11) Boston Massachusetts, USA
Influenced by Charles Sanders Peirce, Ian Stevenson, W.O. Quine

Robert F. Almeder worked as an American Professor of Philosophy at Georgia State University until his retirement in 2005 and has written extensively on the Philosophy of Science, Epistemology, and Ethics. Books by Almeder include Beyond Death (1987), Death and Personal Survival (1992), Blind Realism (1996), Harmless Naturalism (1998), and Human Happiness and Morality (2000).

Background

Almeder completed his PhD on "The Metaphysical and Logical Realism of Charles Peirce" at the University of Pennsylvania in 1969. Since then he has been the president of the Charles S. Peirce Society as well as president of the Georgia Philosophical Association. In 1973 Almeder received the Outstanding Educator of America Award and then the Georgia State University Alumni Distinguished Professor Award for teaching and research in 1984 and 1995. Almeder was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship in 1992 and then again in 2005. Georgia State University instituted a student award in honour of Almeder upon his retirement in 2005, the Robert F. Almeder Prize, awarded to the student who writes the best paper at the annual Georgia State Student Philosophy Symposium. He was the inaugural McCullough Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Hamilton College ( 2005–2007) where he taught courses in human rights and biomedical ethics and the law. He is currently working on a book manuscript on the science of Global Warming.

Views on minds

Almeder was strongly influenced by Charles Sanders Peirce, Ian Stevenson, and W.O. Quine and subscribes to Cartesian dualism, broadly rejecting scientism and materialism. Stevenson's reincarnation research work on children who claimed to remember past lives convinced Almeder that minds are irreducible to the brain or brain states. He argued that human minds are of a different order to normal physical objects which rely on a more primitive causality to enable interactions with physical entities. Almeder is critical of the academic and scientific community for not taking Stevenson's work seriously because of a mistaken understanding of the nature of his work and confusing it with the diminished respect for religion that has been associated with the rise of scientism.

Selected books

Almeder has authored and co-authored 24 books, including: Truth and Scepticism: ( Rowman and Littlefield, 2010, 275 pages); Blind Realism: An essay on human knowledge and natural science ( Rowman and Littlefield, 1991. 261 pages); Harmless Naturalism: ( Open Court, 1998.260 pages)

• Biomedical Ethics and the Law (co-edited with J. Humber), 2nd edition revised (New York: Plenum Press, 1979), 700 pages.
• The Philosophy of Charles S. Peirce: A Critical Introduction (The American Philosophical Quarterly Library. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1980; and Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1980), 218 pages.
• Praxis and Reason: Studies in the Philosophy of Nicholas Rescher (New York: The University Press of America, 1982).
• Beyond Death: The Evidence for Life After Death. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C Thomas, (1987) Translated into Japanese (1991).
• Death and Personal Survival. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, (Spring 1992), 291 pages.
• Glossary of Epistemology and Philosophy of Science (co-authored with James Fetzer) New York: Paragon Press (1992).
• Business Ethics: Corporate Values and Society (co-edited with M. Snoeyenbos and J. Humber), Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Press, (revised edition 1992)
• Human Happiness and Morality: A Brief Introduction to Ethics. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Press (Dec. 2000)
• Biomedical Ethics Reviews (new edition each year from 1983–2004) (co-edited with James Humber) ( New York:Humana Publishing Corporation, 1983).

Editorial roles

Almeder served as the Editor of The American Philosophical Quarterly from 1998–2003, and been co-edited the annual book series Biomedical Ethics Reviews from 1983 to 2004. He has also served on several editorial board,including:

• The American Philosophical Quarterly (1978–1998)
• The History of Philosophy Quarterly (1983–1994)
• The Journal of Business Ethics (1983–1996)
• Journal of Philosophical Research. (1980–present)
• The Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society:A Quarterly Journal of American Philosophy (1980–present)
• The International Journal of Applied Philosophy (1982–present)
• The Journal of Value Inquiry (1991–present)
• Public Affairs Quarterly (1995–present)

External links

• Interview with Almeder about Stevenson's reincarnation research