Laurence Jonathan Cohen, FBA (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

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Work

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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

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Publications

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  • 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

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  • 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.
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Jonathan Cohen obituary in The Daily Telegraph (archived by Wayback Machine)

Academic offices
Preceded by President of the DLMPST/IUHPST
1987–1991
Succeeded by