Kurt Baier (26 January 1917 – 7 November 2010) was an Austrian moral philosopher who taught for most of his career in Australia and the United States.
Life and career
Born in Vienna, Austria, Baier studied law at the University of Vienna. In 1938, after the Anschluss he had to abandon his studies, and went to the United Kingdom as a refugee, where he was interned as a "friendly enemy alien" and sent to Australia on the Dunera. There he began studying philosophy. Baier received his B.A. from the University of Melbourne in 1944, and his M.A. in 1947. In 1952, he received his D.Phil. at Oxford University. He joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh in 1961, and became Chair of the Department in 1967, and remained at Pitt until his retirement in 1996. In 2001, Kurt was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the Karl Franzen University of Graz. He was also honored by the Humanist Society.
Baier died at his home in Dunedin, New Zealand.