William Newton-Smith

William Herbert Newton-Smith (May 25, 1943 – April 8, 2023) was a Canadian philosopher of science.

Biography Newton-Smith's undergraduate degree from Queen's University was in Mathematics and Philosophy, in 1966. He took an MA from Cornell University in Philosophy, in 1968, and a DPhil in philosophy from Balliol College, Oxford, in 1974. His working life before retirement was mainly as a fellow of Balliol.

Newton-Smith's 1980 book The Structure of Time focuses on the philosophy of time. In the 1980s he led a small team of British philosophers, including Kathy Wilkes and Roger Scruton, who travelled to Czechoslovakia to give unauthorized philosophy lectures.

Newton-Smith led Central European University from its foundation in 1991 until Alfred Stepan was elected rector in 1993.

Newton-Smith had two daughters with his first wife Dorris Heffron. His daughter Rain Newton-Smith is an economist who became the Director General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in April 2023.

In 2003, Newton-Smith and his second wife Nancy Durham were the first to grow lavender on a field scale in Wales. They became the sole distillers of lavender oil in Wales. Their company, Welsh Lavender Ltd, produces face and body creams.

Newton-Smith died of throat cancer on April 8, 2023, at the age of 79.

Works The Structure of Time (1980) The Rationality of Science (1981) Logic (1984) Modelling the Mind (1990), editor with K. V. Wilkes Popper in China (1992), editor with J. Tianji Chapter 1 — "Popper, ciência e racionalidade". In Karl Popper: Filosofia e problemas (1997), organized by Anthony O'Hear, translated to Portuguese by Luiz Paulo Rouanet. Editora Unesp. Cambridge University Press. The Companion to the Philosophy of Science (2000)