Harry McFarland Bracken

Harry McFarland Bracken (March 12, 1926^[1] – December 15, 2011^[2]) was an American philosopher, a specialist in Descartes and friend of Noam Chomsky. His academic career was framed in relation to his anti-Vietnam War activism.

Bracken received a BA in philosophy from Trinity College of Connecticut (1949), an MA in philosophy from The Johns Hopkins University (1954), and a PhD in philosophy from University of Iowa (1956). He held the position of assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Iowa (1957–62); Associate Professor of philosophy at University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (1961–63) and then Arizona State University (1963–64); and finally Professor of philosophy at McGill University (1966–91). He was a visiting professor at Trinity College of Dublin; University of California, San Diego; National University of Ireland; Erasmus University of Rotterdam; and University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Bracken nominated Noam Chomsky for the 1969 Nobel Peace Prize.^[3]

In addition to many articles and reviews, Bracken's published books are:

• The Early Reception of Berkeley's Immaterialism: 1710–1733, The Hague: Nijhoff, 1959;^[4] revised ed., 1963. According to WorldCat, the book is held in 484 libraries ^[5]
• Berkeley, London: Macmillan, 1974^[6] According to WorldCat, the book is held in 597 libraries ^[7]
• Mind and Language: Essays on Descartes and Chomsky, Dordrecht: Foris, 1983 ^[8]
• Freedom of Speech: Words Are Not Deeds, Westport CT: Praeger [Greenwood], 1994.^[9] According to WorldCat, the book is held in 648 libraries ^[10]
• Descartes.^[11] Oxford: Oneworld, 2002