# Terence Parsons

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American philosopher (1939–2022)

For the Welsh snooker player, see [Terry Parsons](/source/Terry_Parsons).

Terence Parsons Born Terence Dwight Parsons 1939 (1939) Died 2022 (aged 82–83) Education Education Stanford University (Ph.D., 1966) Thesis The Elimination of Individual Concepts (1966) Doctoral advisor Jaakko Hintikka Philosophical work Era Contemporary philosophy Region Western philosophy School Analytic philosophy Doctoral students Edward N. Zalta Jim Waldo Main interests Metaphysics Notable ideas Nonexistent objects Dual property strategy

**Terence Dwight Parsons** (July 26, 1939 – 2022)[1] was an American philosopher, specializing in [philosophy of language](/source/Philosophy_of_language) and [metaphysics](/source/Metaphysics). He was emeritus professor of philosophy at [UCLA](/source/UCLA).

## Life and career

Parsons was born in [Endicott, New York](/source/Endicott%2C_New_York) and graduated from the [University of Rochester](/source/University_of_Rochester) with a BA in physics. He received his PhD from [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University) in 1966. He was a full-time faculty member at the [University of Illinois at Chicago](/source/University_of_Illinois_at_Chicago) from 1965 to 1972, at the [University of Massachusetts at Amherst](/source/University_of_Massachusetts_at_Amherst) from 1972 to 1979, at the [University of California at Irvine](/source/University_of_California_at_Irvine) from 1979 to 2000, and at the [University of California at Los Angeles](/source/University_of_California_at_Los_Angeles) from 2000 to 2012.[2] In 2007, he was elected to the [American Academy of Arts and Sciences](/source/American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Sciences).[3]

Parsons died in 2022 at the age of 82 or 83.[4]

## Philosophical work

Parsons worked on the [semantics](/source/Semantics) of [natural language](/source/Natural_language) to develop theories of truth and meaning for natural language similar to those devised for [artificial languages](/source/Artificial_language) by [philosophical logicians](/source/Philosophical_logic).[5] Heavily influenced by [Alexius Meinong](/source/Alexius_Meinong), he wrote *Nonexistent Objects* (1980), which dealt with [possible world](/source/Possible_world) theory in order to defend the reality of [nonexistent objects](/source/Nonexistent_object).

## Works

- *Nonexistent Objects*, Yale University Press, 1980.

- *Events in the Semantics of English*, MIT Press, 1990.

- *Indeterminate Identity*, Oxford University Press, 2000.

- *Articulating Medieval Logic*, Oxford University Press, 2014.

## See also

- [Philosophy portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Philosophy)

- [Round square copula](/source/Round_square_copula)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [In Memoriam: Terence Parsons](https://www.apaonline.org/news/612790/In-Memoriam-Terence-Parsons.htm)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [*Articulating Medieval Logic: Author Information*](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/articulating-medieval-logic-9780199688845?cc=us&lang=en&#). Oxford University Press. 10 May 2014. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-968884-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-968884-5). Retrieved 4 March 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Wolpert, Stuart (8 May 2017). ["Six UCLA faculty elected to academy"](http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/070508_fellows). *UCLA Newsroom*. Retrieved 4 March 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Ops, Web (2022-08-03). ["In Memoriam: Terence Parsons"](https://philosophy.ucla.edu/news/terence-parsons/). *Department of Philosophy - UCLA*. Retrieved 2025-12-17.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Laurels to Linguists Archive"](https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/laurels-linguists-archive). *Linguistic Society of America*. Retrieved 4 March 2018.

## External links

- [Parson's UCLA website](https://web.archive.org/web/20220820051403/http://philosophy.ucla.edu/person/terence-parsons/)

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