Below is the biography of Quentin Smith to be printed
and read at his initiation into the national Phi Betta Kappa as 2002's "Honorary
Member". No more than one person per year is allowed to be voted to be an
"The Honorary Member of Phi Betta Keppa for the year 2002 of Phi Betta Kappa."
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Dr. Quentin Smith received his
Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy at Antioch College and his Ph.D. degree
in Philosophy at Boston College. After spending several years as an
independent scholar and serving on the faculties at the University of
Kentucky, Purdue University, Case Western University, and Antioch College he
joined the faculty of the Department of Philosophy here at Western Michigan
University in 1993 and was promoted to Professor two years later. Dr. Smith
has been recognized by the international community of philosophers as the
world's most influential contemporary philosopher of time and the leading
contemporary philosopher of atheism and humanism. Philosophy books are rarely
declared masterpieces until many decades or centuries after they are
published. Dr. Smith holds the unique distinction of having his 1993 book,
Language and Time, declared a "masterpiece" by a prestigious philosophy
journal when it was first published. Dr. Smith's first book, his 1986 book
The Felt Meanings of the World, was declared by several reviewers in
different philosophy journals to be the best book ever written by an American phenomonological philosopher. In 1994 he was voted to be the "philosopher of
the year" by the American Council of Learned Societies, with a $20,000 prize.
He also won two Rockefeller Awards in the 1980s for the best article published
in the relevant year. He is the author or co-author of 112 journal articles
and of nine books on the philosophies of language, religion, time and
cosmology. He is the editor of a major scholarly journal on Philosophy and is
the philosophy editor for Prometheus Press. He has garnered media attention
and has been featured in four PBS television and radio programs in recent
years. In 2001 he was named the Western Michigan University Distinguished
Faculty Scholar.
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