Lipton lived with his wife Diana and two sons Jonah and Jacob. He was a self-confessed "religious atheist"; he held that he could follow the customs and culture of a Jewish lifestyle, and use the teachings of Judaism to help him tackle moral problems in life, without simultaneously believing in the metaphysics of such a religion. On 25 November 2007, Lipton suffered a fatal heart attack after playing a game of squash. He was succeeded in his capacity as Head of Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge by Professor John Forrester.
Selected publications
"Wouldn't It Be Lovely: Explanation and Scientific Realism", Metascience 14, 3 331-361.
"Science and Religion: The Immersion Solution", in Andrew Moore & Michael Scott Realism and Religion: Philosophical and Theological Perspectives.
"Waiting for Hume", in Marina Frasca-Spada & P.J.E. Kail Impressions of Hume, Oxford University Press, 2005, 59-76.
"What Good is an Explanation?", in G. Hon & S. Rackover, Explanation: Theoretical Approaches, Kluwer, 2001, 43-59. Reprinted in J. Cornwell Understanding Explanation, Oxford University Press, 2004, 1-22.
"Genetic and Generic Determinism: A New Threat to Free Will?", in D. Rees and S. Rose Perils and Prospects of the New Brain Sciences.
"The Reach of the Law", Philosophical Books, 43, 4, October 2002, 254-260.
"Quests of a Realist", Metascience, 10, 3, 347-353.
"Is Explanation a Guide to Inference?", in G. Hon and S. Rackover, Explanation: Theoretical Approaches, Kluwer, 2001, 93-120.
"Inference to the Best Explanation", in W.H. Newton-Smith, A Companion to the Philosophy of Science, Blackwell, 2000, 184-193.
"Tracking Track Records", Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume LXXIV, 179-205.
"The Epistemology of Testimony", Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science 29A, 1-31.
"All Else Being Equal", Philosophy 74, 155-168.
"Binding the Mind", in J. Cornwell, Consciousness and Human Identity, Oxford University Press, 1998, 212-224.
"Cambridge Contributions to the Philosophy of Science", in S. Ormrod, Cambridge Contributions, Cambridge University Press, 1998, 122-142.
"Is the Best Good Enough?", Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society XCIII, 89-104; reprinted in D. Papineau, Philosophy of Science, Oxford Readings in Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 1996.
"Popper and Reliabilism", in A. O"Hear, Karl Popper: Philosophy and Problems, Royal Institute of Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, 1995, 31-43.
"Making a Difference", Philosophica, Vol. 51, No. 1, 1993, 39-54. Reprinted in Revue Roumaine de Philosophie, 38, 3.4, 1994, 291-303.
"Contrastive Explanation", in D. Knowles, Explanation and its Limits, Cambridge University Press, 1990, 247-266; reprinted in D. Ruben, Explanation, Oxford Readings in Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 1993.
"Causation Outside the Law", in H. Gross & T.R. Harrison, Jurisprudence: Cambridge Essays, Oxford University Press, 1992, 127-148.
