L. Nathan Oaklander

BA 1967
MA 1970
PhD 1973
Philosophy

Professor L. Nathan Oaklander came to The University of Iowa in 1967 as an undergraduate.  He received his BA in philosophy and then spent a year at Ohio State before returning for his MA and PhD studies.  As a graduate student, he worked closely with Professor Gustav Bergmann, a major voice in the development of logical positivism and the philosophy of language.  Professor Oaklander was Bergmann’s last PhD student, and over the years his own work has both challenged and extended Bergmann’s ideas, especially in the study of the philosophy of time.  Professor Oaklander is the editor of the four-volume collection, The Philosophy of Time:  Critical Concepts in Philosophy. He has written and edited numerous other books and collections, articles, and reviews, in several different areas of philosophy and for audiences ranging from other philosophers to undergraduates.  He is the David M. French Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan, Flint, and has served as chair of his department and has lectured as a visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge.  He has won many awards for his scholarship and his teaching has been recognized by the Student Government Council at Flint.  He is currently the president of the Society for the Philosophy of Time and of the Flint chapter of the American Association of University Professors.