George M. Wilson, philosopher of aesthetics who spent 28 years at Johns Hopkins, dies

George M. Wilson, renowned philosopher of aesthetics who was a professor in the Department of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University for 28 years, until 2000, has died.

Image caption: George M. Wilson

Image credit: UC Davis

Specializing in philosophy of film, theory of action, philosophy of language, and the work of Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, Wilson was especially known for his "Imagined Seeing Thesis," which considers what is meant when viewers of films "see" elements of a fictional world. Narration in Light: Studies in Cinematic Point of View (1986) and Seeing Fictions in Film: The Epistemology of Movies (2011) explored how we should understand what is most important about the audio and visual narration of stories in film. Earlier works covered the knowledge individuals have of their own actions, and Wittgenstein's rule-following considerations and Saul Kripke's reconstruction of them.

Richard Bett, professor of philosophy at Johns Hopkins, first met Wilson in 1991. "He worked initially in philosophy of action and philosophy of language, which were (and still are) mainstream areas of philosophy in the broadly analytic tradition," Bett said. "But he was notable for also giving serious attention to philosophy of film at a time when few philosophers in that tradition thought of this as within their purview, and it came to occupy more and more of his attention.

"I mainly remember him as department chair during much of my time as a junior faculty member. He was always a reassuring presence, with judgment I knew I could trust. The department parties at his house in Ruxton, with a large grassy area outside, were always happy occasions."

Peter Achinstein, professor in the philosophy department, knew Wilson throughout his Hopkins career. "Philosophers love to criticize the work of other philosophers. A few are really good at it," Achinstein said. "George was one of those, although he did not love to do it, or if he did, he did it more gently than most. I know, because I was one of the grateful recipients."

A gentle and kind man who sometimes personified the absent-minded professor, Wilson is remembered as a brilliant and elegant philosopher with passion for his work. "His teaching, like his writing, was often subtle and meticulous. The thoughts and ideas assembled in the early part of the action theory seminar, for instance, rewarded you in quite a profound way if you put the work in with George throughout," Daniel Callcut MA '02, PhD '03 wrote in memory of Wilson on the Leiter Reports website. "He had a great, often slightly rueful smile, and an expressive face that saw the light and dark of life."

Born and raised in Oregon, Wilson earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Kansas in 1964 and a PhD at Cornell in 1970. Before arriving at Hopkins in 1972, he taught at the University of Pittsburgh. In 2000, he moved to the University of California, Davis, and then to the University of Southern California in 2005, as professor of philosophy and cinematic arts, where he was named emeritus. At Hopkins, he held a joint appointment in the Department of Cognitive Science beginning in 1989.

Wilson was a fellow of the Council for Humanities at Princeton in 2008-09, and a fellow at the National Humanities Center in 1994-95. He was a member of the American Philosophical Association and the American Society of Aesthetics.