Quick Facts
Biography
Jean George Pierre Nicod (1 June 1893, in France – 16 February 1924, in Geneva, Switzerland) was a French philosopher and logician.
Biography
In his best known work, he showed that the classical propositional calculus could be derived from one axiom and one rule, both expressed using the Sheffer stroke. He also proposed the Nicod's axiom and developed Nicod's criterion, which proposed that any positive case of a hypothesis corroborates a theory.
Nicod died at the age of 30 from tuberculosis.
See also Carl Hempel's raven paradox.
Legacy
The Institut Jean Nicod (Paris) — a branch of the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) -- is research laboratory at the interface betweencognitive science and the social sciences — was named in honour of Nicod's memory. Jean Nicod's name is also commemorated by the prestigious Jean Nicod Lectures, which are delivered annually in Paris by a leading philosopher of mind or philosophically oriented cognitive scientist. The lecturer is awarded the Jean Nicod Prize by the CNRS, which sponsors the lectures to develop the field of cognitive science in France.
Main works
- 1917, "A Reduction in the Number of Primitive Propositions of Logic", Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 19: 32–41.
- 1921, "La géométrie des sensations de mouvement", Revue de métaphysique et de morale 28: 537–43.
- 1922, "Les tendances philosophiques de M. Bertrand Russell", Revue de métaphysique et de morale 29: 77–84.
- 1922, "Mathematical Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics" in Encyclopædia Britannica: The New Volumes, vol. 3, 12th ed. 874–76.
- 1923. La géométrie dans le monde sensible. Thèse, Univ. de Paris.
- 1923. Le problème logique de l'induction. Thèse complémentaire, Univ. de Paris.
- 1924. "Les relations des valeurs et les relations de sens en logique formelle", Revue de métaphysique et de morale 31: 467–80.
- 1924, "Freedom of Association and Trade Unionism: An Introductory Survey", International Labor Review 9: 467–80.
- 1930. Foundations of Geometry & Induction, Containing Geometry in a Sensible World and the Logical Problem of Induction, with prefaces by Bertrand Russell and André Lalande. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co. Reprinted 2000, London: Routledge.