{{Short description|American philosopher (1952–2020)}} {{for|the American airman|Quentin P. Smith}} {{More footnotes needed|date=January 2013}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}} {{Use American English|date=December 2022}}

'''Quentin Persifor Smith''' (August 27, 1952, Rhinebeck, New York – November 12, 2020, Kalamazoo, Michigan) was an American philosopher. He was professor emeritus of philosophy at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He worked in the philosophy of time, philosophy of language, philosophy of physics and philosophy of religion.

Smith published over 140 articles. Of his published books, he authored three, co-authored two, and co-authored and edited seven. He was an editor for Prometheus Books and was the chief editor for ''Philo'' from 2001 to 2007. He debated William Lane Craig over the existence of God.<ref>[http://leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/craig-smith0.html "Transcript of Debate with William Lane Craig"]. March 22, 1996.</ref><ref>[http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/craig-smith_harvard00.html "Second Debate With William Lane Craig"]. Harvard University. April 2003.</ref>

==Early life and education== Quentin Smith was born in Rhinebeck, New York. His father was a psychology professor at Bennington College and he spent most of his early life in Canada.

He received his bachelor's degree in philosophy from Antioch College, advancing to receive a PhD in philosophy from Boston College.

==Career== After college, he received a job as assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Kentucky. Smith found that he could not afford to lose the time he spent teaching, so he resigned from the university to become an independent scholar.

After accepting a position as a visiting professor at Antioch College, he took a position as professor of philosophy at Western Michigan University in 1993 and retired in 2015.

== Philosophical Work == Smith's work was across a wide range of disciplines. In the philosophy of religion; he was considered a leading defender of Atheism<ref>{{Cite news |last=Burgis |first=Ben |date=2021-01-03 |title=There Will Be Time |url=https://medium.com/arc-digital/there-will-be-time-9545ec4d36d8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007171940/https://medium.com/arc-digital/there-will-be-time-9545ec4d36d8 |archive-date=October 7, 2024 |access-date=2024-12-15 |work=Medium |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref> and was responsible for pioneering many different arguments against the existence of God from Quantum Cosmology,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Quentin |date=1997 |title=Quantum Cosmology's Implication of Atheism |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3328092 |journal=Analysis |volume=57 |issue=4 |pages=295–304 |doi=10.1093/analys/57.4.295 |jstor=3328092 |issn=0003-2638}}</ref> General Relativity,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Quentin |date=2000-01-01 |title=Problems With John Earman's Attempt To Reconcile Theism With General Relativity |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1005547412396 |journal=Erkenntnis |language=en |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=1–27 |doi=10.1023/A:1005547412396 |issn=1572-8420|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Big Bang Cosmology,<ref>{{Cite web |date=1969-12-31 |title=Quentin Smith Cosmology » Internet Infidels |url=https://infidels.org/library/modern/quentin-smith-cosmology/ |access-date=2024-12-15 |website=Internet Infidels |language=en-US}}</ref> Evil Natural Laws,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Quentin |date=1991 |title=An Atheological Argument From Evil Natural Laws |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/SMIAAA-3 |journal=International Journal for Philosophy of Religion |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=159–174 |doi=10.1007/bf00141329|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and Hartle-Hawking Cosmology. He engaged in many debates with leading theists such as William Lane Craig and Alvin Plantinga.

==Death== Smith died on November 12, 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://joldersma-klein.com/obituaries-archive/quentin-p-smith/1296/|title = Remembering Quentin P. Smith}}</ref>

==Published works== *''Epistemology: New Essays'' (Editor) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. {{ISBN|0-19-926494-5}} *''Einstein, Relativity and Absolute Simultaneity.'' (co-edited with William Lane Craig). New York: Routledge, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-415-70174-7}} *''Time, Tense and Reference'' (co-edited with A. Jokic, and contributing author). Cambridge MA: MIT Press, October 2003. {{ISBN|0-262-10098-3}} *''Consciousness: New Philosophical Perspectives'' (co-edited with A. Jokic, and contributing author). Oxford: Oxford University Press, January 2003. {{ISBN|0-19-924129-5}} *''Ethical and Religious Thought in Analytic Philosophy of Language''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997. Pp.&nbsp;264. {{ISBN|0-300-06212-5}} *''Time, Change and Freedom''. (co-authored with L. Nathan Oaklander). New York: Routledge, 1995, pp.&nbsp;218. {{ISBN|0-415-10249-9}} *''The New Theory of Time''. (co-authored and co-edited with L. Nathan Oaklander). New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994. Pp.&nbsp;378. {{ISBN|0-300-05796-2}} *''Theism, Atheism and Big Bang Cosmology''. (co-authored with William Lane Craig). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. Pp.&nbsp;357. {{ISBN|0-19-826383-X}} *''Language and Time''. First Edition. New York. Oxford University Press. 1993. pp.&nbsp;259. {{ISBN|0-19-515594-7}} *''The Felt Meanings of the World: A Metaphysics of Feeling''. Purdue University Press :West Lafayette, 1986 (Paperback 2010). {{ISBN|0-911198-76-8}}

==See also== *American philosophy *List of American philosophers *List of nontheists (philosophy)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20100128052051/http://qsmithwmu.com/ Official website] *Quentin Smith's "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvkghIrF7XY Real Atheology]" interview on Natural Evils and Immaterial Minds (2017). *Quentin Smith's [https://web.archive.org/web/20150228105545/http://wmich.edu/philosophy/directory/smith faculty page] for Western Michigan University. * Quentin Smith's "Closer To Truth" (PBS) [http://www.closertotruth.com/contributor/quentin-smith/profile interviews] with Robert Lawrence Kuhn (2008). * Quentin Smith's [http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/quentin_smith/ collection of essays] at Infidels.org. * The Sci Phi Show: "Outcast (#26)": [https://archive.org/download/tspsoc26-a/tspsoc26-a.mp3 "Interview with Dr. Quentin Smith"] (00:37:09 minutes long) (2006). * {{YouTube|dXWTr0QjCoM|Video of Veritas Forum-sponsored discussion on "Science and Religion"}} featuring Quentin Smith, William Lane Craig, Alvin Plantinga, and Richard Gale at California Polytechnic State University (2004). * [http://neale.commons.gc.cuny.edu/files/2014/09/Neale_Kripke.pdf Stephen Neale] and [http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/Archive/whose.html Jim Holt] on the Saul Kripke plagiarism controversy.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Quentin}} Category:1952 births Category:2020 deaths Category:20th-century American philosophers Category:21st-century American philosophers Category:American atheists Category:American book editors Category:Antioch College alumni Category:Atheist philosophers Category:American philosophy academics Category:Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences alumni Category:People from Rhinebeck, New York Category:Philosophers from Michigan Category:Philosophers from New York (state) Category:American philosophers of language Category:American philosophers of religion Category:Philosophy journal editors Category:Prometheus Books Category:University of Kentucky faculty Category:Western Michigan University faculty