Max Black papers

Philosopher, Professor of Philosophy at Cornell University.

Max Black received two doctoral degrees from the University of London. He taught at the University of London from 1936 to 1940 and at the University of Illinois from 1940 to 1946. He joined the faculty at Cornell in 1946, becoming the Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy in 1954. In 1965, Black became the first director of Cornell's Society for the Humanities, a position he held until 1971. Since 1971, he was a member of the Cornell program on Science, Technology and Society and academic head of its Unit on Humanities, Science and Technology. His first publication was a discussion of Jeremy Bentham's theory of definition. He has written numerous works on philosophical subjects, including books on mathematics, Wittgenstein, and the nature of the university.