The third recipient of the Lauener Prize for an Outstanding Oeuvre in Analytical Philosophy is Ruth Barcan Marcus, the Reuben Post Halleck Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Yale University (USA). The Lauener Prize 2008 is given for Barcan Marcus’ body of philosophical work.

Professor Barcan Marcus has been one of the leading exponents of analytical philosophy since the mid-20th century. She has done ground-breaking work in Philosophy of Logics, Philosophy of Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics as well as in Ethics. Her pioneering development of quantified modal logic and its interpretation, which goes back to the 1940's, has shaped various important philosophical debates about modalities concerning e.g. the relation of logical consequence, the necessity of identity, direct reference, sets and attributes, quantification, actualism, and essentialism. Furthermore she has been giving fresh impetus to significant ethical and epistemological issues such as moral dilemmas and consistency or belief and rationality. What is more, Barcan Marcus’ highly polished essays have often served as models for contemporary philosophical writing.