Media Releases

Philosopher Ian Hacking to receive honorary degree

June 8, 2010

TORONTO, ON. – The Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to will award Ian Hack­ing, world-renowned philoso­pher and win­ner of sev­er­al pres­ti­gious nation­al and inter­na­tion­al prizes, on Mon­day, June 14, 2010, at 10 a.m. with an hon­orary doc­tor of laws degree in recog­ni­tion of his ground­break­ing schol­ar­ly con­tri­bu­tions to phi­los­o­phy, and to the human­i­ties, sci­ences, and social sci­ences more broad­ly.

Hack­ing, whose lengthy and dis­tin­guished career has includ­ed posts at UBC, Cam­bridge, Stan­ford, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to, and the Col­lege de France in Paris, is wide­ly rec­og­nized for his pio­neer­ing inter­dis­ci­pli­nary schol­ar­ship. His research, writ­ing, and teach­ing range across the phi­los­o­phy of sci­ence, the log­ic and his­to­ry of sta­tis­tics and prob­a­bil­i­ty, the his­to­ry of phi­los­o­phy, and the phi­los­o­phy of lan­guage.  In addi­tion, he has pub­lished work on physics, autism, race, free will, and obe­si­ty.  In 2008, the Social Sci­ences and Human­i­ties Research Coun­cil award­ed him their Gold Medal for Achieve­ment in Research. One year lat­er, he won the pres­ti­gious Hol­berg Inter­na­tion­al Memo­r­i­al Prize, award­ed annu­al­ly for out­stand­ing schol­ar­ly con­tri­bu­tions to the fields of the arts and human­i­ties, social sci­ences, law and the­ol­o­gy.

Mem­bers of the media are invit­ed to attend the con­vo­ca­tion cer­e­mo­ny, but seat­ing is very lim­it­ed and advance con­fir­ma­tion of atten­dance is required. Please RSVP to U of T media rela­tions at 416–978-0100 no lat­er than 5 p.m. on Fri­day, June 11.

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WHAT:          Dis­tin­guished philoso­pher Ian Hack­ing to receive hon­orary degree at spring con­vo­ca­tion.

WHEN:          Mon­day, June 14, 2010 at 10 a.m. Media need to RSVP in advance and should arrive no lat­er than 9:45 a.m. to ensure seat­ing.

WHERE:        Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to, Con­vo­ca­tion Hall, 31 King’s Col­lege Cir­cle.

For more infor­ma­tion and to RSVP
con­tact media rela­tions at 416–978-0100