Lawrence Sklar


Lawrence Sklar was an American philosopher. He was the Carl G. Hempel and William K. Frankena Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan.

Education and career

Sklar was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1938 and educated at Oberlin College and Princeton University where he worked with Hilary Putnam.
He worked at Swarthmore College from 1962 to 1966, first as an instructor and then as an assistant professor. He then worked as an assistant professor at Princeton University until 1968. After 1968, he worked at the University of Michigan, where he was a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus.
He held visiting professorships at the University of Illinois, the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, UCLA and Wayne State University.

Philosophical work

Sklar specialized in the philosophy of physics, approaching a wide range of issues from a position best described as highly skeptical of many of the metaphysical conclusions commonly drawn in the physical sciences. He advocated the 'MIMO' principle, claiming that much of the metaphysical content of interpreted theories in the special sciences arises from metaphysical assumptions made during their formulation.

Personal life and death

While at Swarthmore, Sklar met and married Swarthmore undergraduate Elizabeth Sherr Sklar, who would later become an English professor at Wayne State University. Their daughter is mathematician Jessica Sklar. Sklar died in 2024.

Awards and honors