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James Fetzer

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James H. Fetzer

James Henry Fetzer (born December 6, 1940 in Pasadena, California) is an American conspiracy theorist, philosopher, and professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota Duluth. He has written on the philosophy of science and on the theoretical foundations of computer science, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science. Two of his most recent books were on the evolution of intelligence and philosophical aspects of "the Christian Right's crusade against science". He is also an advocate of the 9/11 conspiracy and John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories. He has published three collections of studies on the death of JFK, co-authored another on the plane crash that took the life of Senator Paul Wellstone, and edited the first book from Scholars for 9/11 Truth, an organization he founded. Fetzer makes frequent appearances on radio and television.

Biography

James H. Fetzer was born in Pasadena, California, in 1940, and attended South Pasadena High School. He went on to study philosophy at Princeton University and graduated magna cum laude in 1962. After four years as a commissioned officer in the Marine Corps he resigned his commission as a Captain to begin graduate work at Indiana University. In 1970 he completed his PhD in the history and philosophy of science.

Fetzer taught at various schools including the University of Kentucky, the University of Virginia (twice) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before he received tenure at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he taught from 1987 until his retirement in June 2006. At the University of Kentucky, he received the first Distinguished Teaching Award from the UK Student Government.

Works

Fetzer has published more than 100 articles and 20 books on philosophy of science, computer science, artificial intelligence and cognitive science. He also founded the international journal, Minds and Machines, which he edited for eleven years, the professional library, Studies in Cognitive Systems, which includes thirty volumes, and the professional organization, The Society for Machines & Mentality.

Controversial views

Fetzer has written about the John F. Kennedy assassination and has been interviewed on his theories about the September 11, 2001 attacks, by Richard and Kate Mucci, hosts of Out There TV, and radio hosts such as Laura Ingraham, Jerry Springer, Donny Deutch and several hosts on Air America, among others. He has been interviewed on Hannity & Colmes (twice) and on The O'Reilly Factor as well as other television programs. Some have questioned his apparent endorsement of a military coup to overthrow the Bush administration, members of which he believes have betrayed the country and violated their oaths of office. From the fall of 2006 to November 2008 he co-hosted an internet radio program "The Dynamic Duo" on the Genesis Communications Network with Kevin Barrett.

September 11, 2001 attacks

Fetzer asserts that elements within the U.S. federal government orchestrated the September 11, 2001 attacks for political and economic gain, that World Trade Center One and Two were destroyed using a novel form of controlled demolition from the top down, wand that World Trade Center Seven was brought down by a conventional controlled demolition from the bottom.

On June 22, 2006, Fetzer was a guest on Fox News Channel's Hannity & Colmes where he discussed his stance on several 9/11 conspiracy theories. In July 2006, Fetzer discussed Bill O'Reilly's remark that, if Kevin Barrett had been at his alma mater, Boston University, "this guy'd be in the Charles River floating down, you know, toward the harbor", stating, "When public threats can be made to a citizen's life for expressing his opinions on a controversial topic and neither the government nor the media respond, that is a sure sign we are living in a fascist state."

Scholars for 9/11 Truth

Fetzer is founder and co-chair of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, "a non-partisan association of faculty, students, and scholars dedicated to exposing falsehoods and to revealing truths behind 9/11". Differences in attitude and approach toward the science and the politics of 9/11 research led to a split with Steven Jones, whom Fetzer had invited to be his co-chair, in December 2006, almost exactly one year after its creation. Many 9/11 activists support Jones over Fetzer. On August 3–5, 2007, he conducted the first conference sponsored by Scholars on "The Science and Politics of 9/11", and produced its first DVD. With Canadian journalist Joshua Blakeney, he has organized a second conference from Scholars, "The Vancouver Hearings", which will be held there 15-17 June 2012.

In his most recent work as a columnist for Veterans Today, "Seven Questions about 9/11" and "More Proof of 9/11 Duplicity", he has presented evidence that all four of the plane crashes on 9/11 were faked, where no planes crashed in Shanksville or at the Pentagon and one or another form of fakery was used in New York. In collaboration with T. Mark Hightower, a chemical engineer, he has challenged "the myth of nanothermite" by explaining that it does not have the gas-expansion properties of explosives and, with a detonation rate of 895 m/s, cannot have destroyed the concrete or the steel in the Twin Towers, which would require rates in excess of 3,200 m/s for concrete and 6,100 m/s for steel, which has contradicted perhaps the most widely held belief within the conspiracy community about how the towers were destroyed and accented his disagreements with Jones.

Death of Paul Wellstone

Fetzer has co-authored a book in which the authors collect and analyze public information and witness statements, arguing that Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone's death in an airplane crash was not accidental but resulted from a small-scale conspiracy to ensure Republican control of the Senate. He has co-authored a study of the documents on which the NTSB's report was based with John P. Costella, a PhD in physics with a specialization in electromagnetism, which was published in Michael Ruppert's "From the Wilderness" newsletter. He recently addressed this subject again in the context of an article inspired by the revelation of Seymour Hersh that Vice President Dick Cheney had been running an assassination operation from his office. According to Fetzer, "Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Karl Rove are the principal suspects" in the death of Wellstone. and in another article in Veterans Today, "Sen. Paul Wellstone: More Proof of Assassination".

Publications

Philosophy of Science:

  • Principles of Philosophical Reasoning. Rowman & Littlefield. 1984. p. 292 p. ISBN 0-8476-7341-3. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • edited by James H. Fetzer. (1985). Sociobiology and Epistemology. Springer. p. 296 p. ISBN 90-277-2005-3. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Definitions and Definability: Philosophical Perspectives. 1991. ASIN B000IBICGK.
  • James H. Fetzer (1992). Philosophy of Science (Paragon Issues in Philosophy). Paragon. p. 197 p. ISBN 1-55778-481-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • ed. by James H. Fetzer (1993). Foundations of Philosophy of Science: Recent Developments (Paragon Issues in Philosophy). Paragon. p. 512 p. ISBN 1-55778-480-9. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Charles E. M. Dunlop; James H. Fetzer. (1993). Glossary of Cognitive Science (A Paragon House Glossary for Research, Reading, and Writing). Paragon. p. 288 p. ISBN 1-55778-567-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • James H. Fetzer. (1997). Philosophy and Cognitive Science (Paragon Issues in Philosophy). Paragon. p. 191 p. ISBN 1-55778-739-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Minds and Machines: Journal for Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy, and Cognitive Science, Vol. 7, No. 4. Kluwer. 1997. ASIN B000KEV460. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • edited by James H. Fetzer. (2000). Science, Explanation, and Rationality: The Philosophy of Carl G. Hempel. Oxford. p. 384 p. ISBN 0-19-512137-6. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • James H. Fetzer. (2001). Artificial Intelligence: Its Scope and Limits. Springer. p. 364 p. ISBN 0-7923-0548-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Computers and Cognition: Why Minds are Not Machines. Springer. January 8, 2002. p. 352 p. ISBN 1-4020-0243-2.
  • ed. by James H. Fetzer (2002). Consciousness Evolving (Advances in Consciousness Research). John Benjamins. p. 251 p. ISBN 1-58811-108-3. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • James H. Fetzer (2005). The Evolution of Intelligence: Are Humans the Only Animals With Minds?. Open Court. p. 272 p. ISBN 0-8126-9459-7.
  • James H. Fetzer. (August 9, 2006). Scientific Knowledge: Causation, Explanation, and Corroboration. Springer. p. 348 p. ISBN 90-277-1335-9.
  • James H. Fetzer (December 28, 2006). Render Unto Darwin: Philosophical Aspects of the Christian Right's Crusade Against Science. Open Court. p. 288 p. ISBN 0-8126-9605-0.

Conspiracy Research:

  • edited by James H. Fetzer. (1997). Assassination Science: Experts Speak Out on the Death of JFK. Open Court. p. 480 p. ISBN 0-8126-9366-3. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • ed. by James H. Fetzer. (2000). Murder in Dealey Plaza: What We Know Now that We Didn't Know Then. Open Court. p. 496 p. ISBN 0-8126-9422-8. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • ed. by James H. Fetzer (2003). The Great Zapruder Film Hoax: Deceit and Deception in the Death of JFK. Catfeet Press. p. 480 p. ISBN 0-8126-9547-X. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Four Arrows (aka Don Trent Jacobs) & James H. Fetzer. (2004). American Assassination: The Strange Death Of Senator Paul Wellstone. Vox Pop. p. 188 p. ISBN 0-9752763-0-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • ed. by James H. Fetzer. (March 28, 2007). The 9/11 Conspiracy. Open Court. p. 450 p. ISBN 0-8126-9612-3. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)

References

  1. ^ Lederer, Sarah (February 2009). "James Fetzer's Home Page". Duluth: University of Minnesota. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  2. "We're all conspiracy theorists at heart". BBC News. February 16, 2007. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  3. Pope, Justin (August 6, 2006). "9/11 Conspiracy Theories Persist, Thrive". Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  4. Curriculum Vitae (special)
  5. Scholars for 9/11 Truth - Past Events
  6. John Gravois, "Professors of Paranoia?: Academics give a scholarly stamp to 9/11 conspiracy theories", The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 23, 2006.
  7. Narain, Jaya (6 September 2006). "Fury as academics claim 9/11 was 'inside job'". London Daily Mail, Associated Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
  8. Scholars for 9/11 Truth - Who Are We
  9. Scholars for 9/11 Truth - The Science and Politics of 9/11 Ordering Information
  10. 911 Vancouver Hearings | One step closer to the truth!
  11. Inside Job: Seven Questions About 9/11 | Veterans Today
  12. Inside Job: More Proof of 9/11 Duplicity | Veterans Today
  13. Is "9/11 Truth" Based Upon a False Theory? | Veterans Today
  14. Dameron, Eva (October 31, 2005). "Author makes case for murder". Daily Lobo (University of New Mexico).
  15. The NTSB Failed Wellstone
  16. OpEdNews - Article: Has Cheney been Murdering Americans?
  17. Sen. Paul Wellstone: More Proof of Assassination | Veterans Today

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