Laurence Jonathan Cohen, (7 May 1923 – 26 September 2006) was a British philosopher. He was Fellow and Praelector in Philosophy, 1957–90 and Senior Tutor, 1985–90 at The Queen's College, Oxford and was a British Academy Reader in Humanities, University of Oxford, 1982–84. He was educated at St. Paul's School, London and Balliol College, Oxford.
Career World War II: in Naval Intelligence in UK and SEAC, 1942–45, and Lieut (Sp.) RNVR Assistant in Logic and Metaphysics, Edinburgh University, 1947–50 Lecturer in Philosophy, St. Andrews University, 1950–57 Commonwealth Fund Fellow in Logic at Princeton and Harvard, 1952–53 Visiting Lecturer, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1952 Visiting Professor: Columbia University, 1967; Yale University, 1972; Northwestern University, 1988 Visiting Fellow, Australian National University, 1980. Fellow, The Queen's College, Oxford 1957–1990 Senior Tutor, The Queen's College, Oxford 1985–1990
Work The principal emphasis in his work was on the powers and use of reasoning and how reasoning should be used properly on professional assessment of evidence in legal and scientific trials. Initially a political philosopher, he published The Principles of World Citizenship in 1954. He then pursued the question "What do you mean by...?"", in The Diversity of Meaning (1962). This involved linguistic philosophy and sociology. His best-known book, The Probable and the Provable (1977), argued in favour of inductive reasoning when making decisions, such as when serving on a jury. The human ability to bring in all the relevant factors when arguing from known specifics to a general conclusion—the essence of inductive reasoning—was in his view far too complex to express in a logical equation. However, he argued that their methods of reasoning could still be held up to inspection and, to some extent, classified. In clinical and scientific work, he was also concerned with the nature of proof. Another book, Belief and Acceptance (1992), examined the bases of people's assumptions.
Honours He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1973 President, B'nai B'rith Oxford Lodge, 1974 British Academy Philosophical Lecturer, 1975 Fry Lecturer, Bristol University, 1976 Austin Lecturer, UK Association for Legal and Social Philosophy, 1982 Secretary, International Union of History and Philosophy of Science (Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science), 1975–83, Pres., 1987–91 President, British Society for the Philosophy of Science, 1977–79 Chairman, British National Committee for Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, 1987–91 Chairman, Section K (Philosophy), British Academy, 1994–96 General Editor, Clarendon Library of Logic and Philosophy, 1973–2006
Publications The Principles of World Citizenship, 1954 The Diversity of Meaning, 1962 The Implications of Induction, 1970 The Probable and the Provable, 1977 Applications of Inductive Logic, 1980 (Joint editor) Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, 1982 (Joint editor) The Dialogue of Reason, 1986 An Introduction to the Philosophy of Induction and Probability, 1989 An Essay on Belief and Acceptance, 1992 Knowledge and Language. Selected Essays of L. Jonathan Cohen, 2002
References Who's Who 2005 Adler, Jonathan (29 September 2006). "Obituary: Jonathan Cohen". The Guardian. Jewish Chronicle, 26 October 2006 (obituary) Levi, Issac (2008). "Laurence Jonathan Cohen 1923–2006". Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 153 Biographical Memoirs of Fellows, VII. British Academy. doi:10.5871/bacad/9780197264348.003.0008. ISBN 978-0-19-726434-8.
External links Jonathan Cohen obituary in The Daily Telegraph (archived by Wayback Machine)
