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Argumentation (2010) 24:527530
DOI 10.1007/s10503-010-9188-1
Erik C. W. Krabbe
Published online: 14 August 2010 The Author(s) 2010. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Arne Dekke Eide Nss was a Norwegian philosopher, who was born in Aker (now part of Oslo) on January 27, 1912; he died in Oslo on January 12, 2009. Arne Nss was one of the key inuences that shaped present day theory of argumentation, but has in his long and very active life also contributed in many ways to a number of other areas. Perhaps he is now best known for his ecological philosophy and his concern for the planet. The obituaries that appeared shortly after his death had the same focus and were generally not very informative about his contributions to the theory of argumentation. This may be comprehensible in the light of the great public interest in environmental issues and Nsss prominent position in that discussion. Yet, it will be appropriate to try, in the present piece, to compensate a little for this one-sidedness and to stress what Arne Nss did for the development of theory of argumentation. Other matters will be mentioned briey.
Arne Nss studied philosophy with astronomy and mathematics at the University of Oslo and also at the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1933 he took an M.A. at the University of Oslo, being the youngest person ever to take that degree. In 19341935, when he studied in Vienna, he got into touch with the logical empiricists of the Vienna Circle. In 1936 he earned his doctorate at the University of Oslo by a dissertation contributing to an empirical and pragmatic philosophy of science: Erkenntnis und wissenschaftliches Verhalten [Knowledge and Scientic Behavior]. The empirical and pragmatic approach was conrmed in his Truth as Conceived by Those Who Are Not Professional Philosophers (1938). In 19381939 he did psychological postdoctoral research in Berkeley and in 1939 he was offered the chair of philosophy at the University of Oslo. At that time he was the youngest professor of Norway, and the countrys only professor of philosophy. He held the chair until an early retirement in 1970, which was about midway in his career.
E. C. W. Krabbe (&)
University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands e-mail: e.c.w.krabbe@rug.nl
Arne...