Paul Roth, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Philosophy, has been awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Fellowship—the most distinguished appointment in the Fulbright program. He will be at the University of Manchester for six months starting January 2024.
“The award is a great honor since it provides acknowledgement of the work that I have been doing for many years,” Roth said this week. The Fulbright Distinguished Scholar awards offer a unique opportunity to work closely with other researchers in one’s field.
“The two fields of interest—historical explanation and the history of analytic philosophy—are not widely taught in the US,” Roth said.
In studying at the University of Manchester, Roth is also embodying one of his core beliefs—that scholars should spend a semester or quarter at a different university if it provides special opportunities for study.
Roth will work with Professor Frederique Janssen-Lauret, a philosophical logician and historian of logic and analytic philosophy at the University of Manchester.
A very important but little-studied aspect in the history of analytic philosophy concerns how the conception of logic evolved in the 20th century, and the important changes in scientific explanation that came along with that evolution.
Roth’s project, “The Logic of History and the History of Logic” will look at this juncture of how formal models of reasoning relate to how we understand the natural world as well as our own history. This will broaden and develop themes that he explores in his 2020 book, The Philosophical Structure of Historical Explanation.
Knowing that he’s heading to Manchester soon, Roth is also preparing by becoming more knowledgeable about Premier League Soccer. “Manchester boasts two famous teams—Manchester United and Manchester City,” Roth said. “Hence, I plan to binge-watch "Ted Lasso” (a TV show about an underdog soccer team) before I leave.”
