Willard Van Orman Quine, Pierce professor of philosophy emeritus, was named the winner of the 1996 Inamori Foundation's Kyoto Prize in Creative Arts and Moral Sciences last Friday.

The prize, which is presented annually by the Inamori Foundation, includes a diploma, a gold medal and 50 million yen (approximately $460,000), to be presented in November in Kyoto, Japan.

Quine has published 20 books, including A System of Logistics, Mathematical Logic, Word and Object and Quiddities, An Intermittently Philosophical Dictionary.

Quine, who graduated from Oberlin College in 1930, received his master's degree and his doctorate from Harvard.

The professor could not be reached for comment.

Harvey C. Mansfield Jr. '53, Kenan professor of government, said he was pleased to hear about his colleague's award.

"This is by no means the first prize he's received," said Mansfield, a political philosopher. "He's one of the most distinguished professors here."

The Kyoto Prizes are given in three areas: Advanced Technology, Basic Sciences, and Creative Arts and Moral Sciences. Each year these general areas are narrowed to more specific subfields. This year the subfields are the information sciences, life sciences and philosophy.

In a statement of the philosophy of the Kyoto Prizes, Kazuo Inamori, president of the Inamori Foundation, explained the qualities the foundation seeks to recognize.

"Recipients of the Kyoto Prizes must be...people who are sensitive to their own human fallibility, and who have a deeply rooted reverence for the universal spirit," wrote Inamori.

"Their achievements will have contributed significantly to mankind's scientific, cultural, and spiritual betterment; and, perhaps most importantly, they must be people who have been sincerely motivated to improve the human condition," Inamori continued.

Once nominated for the Kyoto Prize, a candidate must undergo a rigorous two-and-a-half year selection process with four tiers of committees.

According to Jay C. Scovie, spokesperson for the Foundation, "the goal of the Inamori Foundation is to recognize outstanding life long achievements that have served to advance society or contribute to the betterment of human kind."

The other recipients of the Kyoto Prize this year are Dr. Mario Renato Capecchi in the field of life sciences and Dr. Donald Ervin Knuth in the field of information sciences.

This is the first year since the awards were created in 1984 that all three laureates have been from the United States