Goodman, Nelson (1906-1998)

US philosopher who tried to dispel the confusions of everyday language by the use of formal logic. His alleged ‘new riddle of induction’ (Goodman's paradox) posits the lack of justification for the way in which we prefer one of the many conceivable characteristics of a set of things we have observed to other, less obvious ones when we generalize about the set as a whole. In aesthetics, he attacked the idea that art represents reality by resembling it.

Goodman was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, and initially worked as an art dealer after graduating. He taught at Harvard for most of his career, before becoming a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

His most important work is The Structure of Appearance 1951.