Gregory Lavers (1974-2025): ‘He was smitten by philosophy while doing his BA at Concordia and excelled at it’

Gregory Lavers, BA 98, Concordia professor of philosophy, died in Montreal on May 10 after a battle with cancer. He was 50.

Lavers was much admired and beloved by his students. He developed a distinctive reputation, with unbounded academic curiosity and an enjoyment of the absurd and unexpected.

Lavers studied philosophy as an undergraduate at Concordia before heading to the University of Western Ontario — now Western University — where he earned an MA and PhD in philosophy. He returned to his first alma mater to join the Department of Philosophy in 2005, and twice led the department as its interim chair.

An active faculty member, Lavers focused his teaching and research on issues at the intersection of the history of analytic philosophy, the philosophy of language and the philosophy of mathematics.

His most recent research explored the relation between philosophical analysis and the identification of mathematical axioms, to better understand the special place of mathematics among the sciences. Much of Lavers’s work in this area focused on Gottlob Frege and Rudolf Carnap.

In his recently published Mathematics Is (mostly) Analytic (2025), part of the Cambridge Elements in Philosophy of Mathematics series, Lavers sharply defends Carnap’s view against Willard Van Orman Quine’s.

He contributed many other articles, book chapters and encyclopedia entries. Stewart Shapiro, co-editor of the Cambridge Elements Philosophy of Mathematics series, writes that with his passing, “We have lost a great scholar.”

Lavers was involved in the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC)-funded Groupe de recherche interuniversitaire de Montréal en histoire et en philosophie de la logique et des mathématiques, and received FRQSC funding for his own research project.

Unique unicyclist

“Greg was highly regarded as a researcher, teacher and a quietly generous person who helped students and colleagues,” says David Morris, chair of and professor in the Department of Philosophy.

“He was smitten by philosophy while doing his BA at Concordia and excelled at it, earning our W.R. Fraser Medal in Philosophy in 1998, leading to an MA and PhD at the University of Western Ontario,” Morris says. “He specialized in the history of analytic philosophy and was known for historical rigour, famously conjuring a book of Gottlob Frege, in German, from his bag at a conference, to correct a mistaken claim.”

He notes that Lavers’s students appreciated his dedication to teaching — especially one quirk. “Students knew him as a passionate teacher of formal logic, a challenging topic he made easy by emphasizing that it takes practice. He demonstrated the importance of practice by lecturing, with ease, while pedalling on his unicycle,” Morris reports.

“His love of logic also led him to create our online course, PHIL 210 Critical Thinking, which is taken by about a thousand students each year. He also loved biking, cooking and cutting a figure in custom suits.”

Morris relates that, after his studies at Western, Lavers enjoyed coming back to Concordia, with which he shared a birthday. “Greg was happy to return to his hometown and alma mater in 2005,” he says.

“During Concordia’s 50th anniversary celebrations, he proudly noted that he, too, was 50,” Morris adds.

“It is with profound sadness and gratitude for his contributions to the department that his colleagues carry his memory forward beyond Greg’s 50th.”