Nicholas Rescher Medal for Contributions to Systematic Philosophy

The University of Pittsburgh established the Nicholas Rescher Medal for Contributions to Systematic Philosophy in 2010. Awarded biennially, it recognizes major lifetime contributions to systematic philosophy and broad foundational questions, countering modern hyper-specialization.

The award is named in honor of Nicholas Rescher, Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, who was on Pitt's Philosophy faculty from 1961 until his death in 2024. He was the President of the American Philosophical Association, the American Catholic Philosophy Association, the American G. W. Leibniz Society, the C. S. Peirce Society, and the American Metaphysical Society, and Secretary General of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Sciences. Author of some hundreds of books, Rescher received eight honorary degrees from universities on three continents. He was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Prize for Humanistic Scholarship in 1984, the Belgian Prix Mercier in 2005, and the Aquinas Medal of the American Catholic Philosophical Association in 2007. In 2011, he received the Bundesverdienstkreuz (the Order of Merit) of the Federal Republic of Germany for his contributions to philosophy. In 2016, the German Academy of Sciences awarded the Helmholtz Medal to Rescher, praising him as “among the most prominent philosophers of our time” and “a bridge builder who systematically connects various philosophical traditions.”