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    124 views3 pages

    William Alston

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    Biography

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 3

    William Alston

    For other people named William Alston, see William nal Faith and Philosophy.[6] With Plantinga, Wolterstor,
    Alston (disambiguation).
    and others, Alston was also responsible for the development of "Reformed epistemology" (a term that Alston, an
    William Payne Alston (November 29, 1921 Septem- Episcopalian, never fully endorsed), one of the most important contributions to Christian thought in the twentieth
    ber 13, 2009) was an American philosopher. He made
    [7]
    inuential contributions to the philosophy of language, century. Alston was president of the American Philoin 1979, the Society for Philosophy
    epistemology, and Christian philosophy. He earned his sophical Association
    and
    the Society of Christian Philosoand
    Psychology,
    PhD from the University of Chicago and taught at the
    phers,
    which
    he
    co-founded.
    He was widely recognized
    University of Michigan, Rutgers University, University of
    as
    one
    of
    the
    core
    gures
    in
    the
    late twentieth-century reIllinois, and Syracuse University.
    vival of the philosophy of religion.[8] He was elected a
    Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    in 1990.[9]

    Early life and education

    Alston was born to Eunice Schooleld and William Al- 3 Death


    ston on November 29, 1921, in Shreveport, Louisiana.
    He graduated from high school when he was 15 and went
    Alston died in a nursing home in Jamesville, New York,
    on to Centenary College of Louisiana, graduating in 1942
    on September 13, 2009, at the age of 87.[2]
    with a Bachelor of Music in piano. During World War
    II, he played clarinet and bass drum in a military band in
    California. During this time, he became interested in philosophy, sparked by W. Somerset Maugham's book The 4 Bibliography
    Razors Edge. After this, he engrossed himself in works
    Beyond Justication": Dimensions Of Epistemic
    by well-known philosophers such as Jacques Maritain,
    Evaluation, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press,
    Mortimer J. Adler, Francis Bacon, Plato, Ren Descartes,
    [1]
    2005. ISBN 978-0-8014-7332-6
    and John Locke. After being discharged, he entered
    a graduate program for philosophy at the University of
    Illocutionary Acts and Sentence Meaning, Ithaca,
    Chicago, even though he had never formally taken a class
    NY: Cornell University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0on the subject.[2][3] While he was there, he learned more
    8014-3669-7
    about philosophy from Richard McKeon and Charles
    Hartshorne, and he received his PhD in 1951.[1]
    A Realist Conception of Truth, Ithaca, NY: Cornell
    University Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0-8014-8410-0

    Epistemic Justication: Essays in the Theory of


    Knowledge, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press,
    1996. ISBN 978-0-8014-9544-1

    Career

    From 1949 until 1971, Alston was a professor at the


    University of Michigan, and he became professor of philosophy in 1961.[4] He then taught at Rutgers University for ve years, followed by the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign from 1976 to 1980 and then
    Syracuse University from 1980 to 1992.[1]

    The Reliability of Sense Perception, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-80148101-7
    Perceiving God: The Epistemology of Religious Experience, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.
    ISBN 978-0-8014-8155-0

    His views on foundationalism, internalism versus externalism, speech acts, and the epistemic value of mystical experience, among many other topics, have been very
    inuential. Like most American philosophers, Alston is
    counted among the analytic philosophers.[5]

    Divine Nature and Human Language: Essays in


    Philosophical Theology. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8014-9545-8
    Philosophy of Language, Englewood Clis, Prentice
    Hall, 1964

    Together with Alvin Plantinga, Nicholas Wolterstor,


    and Robert Adams, Alston helped to found the jour1

    7 FURTHER READING

    See also
    American philosophy
    List of American philosophers

    References

    [1] Howard-Snyder, Daniel (2005). Alston, William Payne


    (1921 )". In Shook, John R. Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers 1. Continuum. pp. 5661. ISBN 9781-84371-037-0. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
    [2] William Payne Alston Obituary. The Post-Standard.
    September 20, 2009. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
    [3] Emeritus professor of philosophy William Payne Alston
    dies. Syracuse University. September 18, 2009. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
    [4] The Aquinas Lecture in Philosophy i. Marquette University Press. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
    [5] Oppy, Graham; Trakakis, Nick, eds. (2009). History
    of Western Philosophy of Religion. Acumen Publishing,
    Limited. ISBN 978-1-84465-679-0. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
    [6] Plantinga, Alvin (2009). In Memoriam: William
    J. Alston. Faith and Philosophy 26 (4): 359360.
    doi:10.5840/faithphil200926434. ISSN 0739-7046.
    [7] Meeker, Kevin (April 1994). William Alstons Epistemology of Religious Experience: A 'Reformed' Reformed
    Epistemology?". International Journal for Philosophy
    of Religion 35 (2): 89110. doi:10.1007/bf01318327.
    JSTOR 40036246.
    [8] William P. Alston. Centenary College of Louisiana. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
    [9] Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A. American
    Academy of Arts and Sciences. p. 11. Retrieved December 9, 2013.

    Further reading
    Battaly, Heather D.; Lynch, Michael Patrick (2005).
    Perspectives on the Philosophy of William P. Alston.
    Rowman & Littleeld. ISBN 978-0-7425-1424-9.
    Feneuil, Anthony (2012). Percevoir Dieu? Henri
    Bergson et William P. Alston [Perceiving God?
    Henri Bergson and William P. Alston]. ThoRmes
    (in French) (2). doi:10.4000/theoremes.310. ISSN
    1664-0136.

    Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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