Charles Dacre Parsons, 91

During a gathering of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on May 6, 2025, the following homage to the life and contributions of the late Charles Dacre Parsons was entered into the permanent records of the Faculty.

Charles Parsons was a logician and mathematician of significant insight, celebrated for elucidating complex topics, meticulously examining longstanding issues and their proposed solutions, as well as articulating judicious recommendations for progress and insightful critiques of the barriers that remained.

Parsons was raised in Belmont, Massachusetts. His father, Talcott Parsons, was a distinguished sociologist at Harvard, and Parsons grew up in an environment steeped in Harvard’s academic culture. He received his education at the University, graduating from the College in 1954 summa cum laude in mathematics and entering the philosophy Ph.D. program after a year studying in Cambridge, England, under a Henry Fellowship. In 1958 he became a member of the Society of Fellows and completed both his Ph.D. and the Junior Fellowship simultaneously in 1961. Following a three-year stint as an assistant professor at Harvard, he transitioned to Columbia University, where he instructed for 24 years. He returned to Harvard in 1989, becoming the Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy in 1991, and retired in 2005.

Parsons’s dissertation and initial research centered on mathematical logic, in which he achieved some remarkable outcomes through detailed investigations of the deductive power of various axiom systems pertinent to different branches of mathematics. Gradually, his focus shifted towards matters of lesser purely technical nature, and his writing became concentrated on the philosophy of logic and mathematics. In the 1960s and 1970s, he published highly influential essays within this domain, gathered in his inaugural book, aptly named “Mathematics in Philosophy” (1983). These works involved his meticulous studies of the foundations of set theory and explored the Liar Paradox, the seemingly contradictory implications of the statement that claims to be false. The latter, in particular, initiated a significant movement of proposed resolutions stemming from Parsons’s findings. Notably, what stood out during this phase of his career was his focus on Kant. Prior to Parsons’s contributions, Kant—whose interest in mathematics is integral to his entire philosophical framework—had been deemed irrelevant to modern philosophy of mathematics due to the advancements in contemporary logic, non-Euclidean geometry, and the theory of relativity. Parsons, largely single-handedly, revived Kant’s relevance in discussions surrounding modern philosophy of mathematics by highlighting aspects of his philosophical framework that might aid in addressing the dilemmas faced by contemporary philosophical thought on mathematics. To achieve this, Parsons also made significant contributions to pure Kant scholarship, particularly in his clarification of the role Kant’s concept of intuition plays in a critical segment of the “Critique of Pure Reason.”

Parsons’s revival of Kant operated in a manner consistent with all of his endeavors. He never outright declared “That perspective won’t work.” Instead, he meticulously identified which components of a viewpoint could contribute to an enhanced comprehension of current issues while gently indicating which aspects posed more significant challenges.

Parsons’s endeavor in the philosophy of mathematics, drawing inspiration from historical figures, was ongoing. Two additional compilations of his published essays subsequently emerged, entitled “From Kant to Husserl” (2012), featuring essays on Kant, Frege, Brentano, and Husserl, and “Philosophy of Mathematics in the 20th Century” (2014), which continued his dialogue linking Kant to modern philosophy of mathematics while also examining later thinkers, especially the groundbreaking logician Kurt Gödel and the Harvard philosopher W. V. Quine, who was among Parsons’s educators.

Parsons’s paramount contribution to contemporary philosophy of mathematics is encapsulated in his final articulation of his matured reflections, “Mathematical Thought and Its Objects” (2008). The initial portion of this volume emerged from his groundbreaking paper “Objects and Logic” (1982), which meticulously scrutinized what it could mean to be a mathematical object. The end result was a tempered defense of a viewpoint in the philosophy of mathematics referred to as “structuralism,” positing that inquiries should not concern what a mathematical entity is but rather the structural role it fulfills. Other contemporaneous voices have supported a similar view, yet they often inadvertently assume some notion of mathematical entity. Parsons’s work stood out by eschewing any such hidden assumptions, rendering his advocacy of structuralism the most rigorous and compelling. The latter half of the book delved into epistemological inquiries, concentrating on the function of reason and exploring possibilities for a Kantian-style intuition relevant to evidence across a wide spectrum of mathematical theories. Throughout the volume, Parsons drew upon his extensive historical work to formulate and assess various proposed solutions.

Parsons was a devoted educator for graduate students. Despite his initially somewhat stern demeanor, his dissertation candidates at both Columbia and Harvard quickly recognized his kindness and generous intellectual guidance, forging lasting friendships. Numerous students of Parsons emerged as significant figures in the philosophy of mathematics, Kant scholarship, Husserl scholarship, and the philosophy of logic and language. He was also known for a peculiar habit, both in lectures and casual conversation, of pausing mid-sentence, evidently contemplating whether his ensuing statement was indeed accurate, and after an interval of silence lasting to a minute (or even two), resuming that sentence at the exact moment he left off.

Parsons was preceded in death by his wife of 49 years, Marjorie (née Wood), in 2017. He is survived by their son, Dr. Jotham Parsons (Harvard College Class of 1990); their daughter, Dr. Sylvia Parsons (Harvard College Class of 1992); and two grandchildren.

Respectfully submitted,

Peter Koellner
Christine Korsgaard
Thomas M. Scanlon
Warren Goldfarb, Chair