Alan White (born 1951) is an American philosopher and Mark Hopkins Professor of Philosophy at

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

. He was a president of the

Metaphysical Society of America The Metaphysical Society of America (MSA) is a philosophical organization founded by Paul Weiss in 1950. As stated in its constitution, "The purpose of the Metaphysical Society of America is the study of reality." The society is a member of the ...

(2014).

Education and career

Alan White received his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

in 1972, followed by a

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

in 1976 and 1980 respectively under the direction of Stanley H. Rosen and Thomas Seebohm. He then took up

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

positions at

Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan� ...

and

East Tennessee State University East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is a public research university in Johnson City, Tennessee. Although it is part of the State University and Community College System of Tennessee, the university is governed by an institutional Board of Tr ...

before joining the faculty of

The New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSSR ...

in 1982 as Assistant Professor of Philosophy. In 1986, White moved to Williams College, holding the position of Assistant Professor of Philosophy. White was promoted to

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

in 1990,

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

in 1993, and was granted an

endowed professorship A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are of ...

in 2000, becoming the Mark Hopkins Professor of Philosophy. In 2014, White served a one-year term as president of the Metaphysical Society of America.

Books

*''Absolute Knowledge: Hegel and the Problem of Metaphysics''. Series in Continental Thought, Vol. 4. Ohio University Press, 1983. *''Schelling: An Introduction to the System of Freedom''. Yale University Press, 1983. *''Within Nietzsche’s Labyrinth''. Routledge, 1990. *G. W. F. Hegel. ''The Philosophy of Right''. Translator and Editor. Focus Publishing, 2002. *''Structure and Being. A Theoretical Framework for a Systematic Philosophy''. Lorenz B. Puntel (Munich). Translated by and in collaboration with Alan White. Penn State University Press, 2008. *''Being and God. A Systematic Approach in Confrontation with Heidegger, Levinas, and Marion''. Lorenz B. Puntel (Munich). Translated by and in collaboration with Alan White. Northwestern UP, 2011. *''Nothing Matters. A Philosophical Romance''. A novel self-published in Kindle format, 2011. *''Revenge''. A novel self-published in Kindle format, 2011. *''Toward a Philosophical Theory of Everything''. Contributions to the Structural-Systematic Philosophy. Bloomsbury (formerly Continuum), 2014. *''Rumo a Uma Teoria Filosófica de Tudo''. Edições Loyola (Buenos Aires). (Portuguese version of 9.) Forthcoming. *''In Richtung einer Philosophischen Theorie von Allem''. (German version of 9.) In progress.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Alan 20th-century American philosophers Continental philosophers Philosophy academics 1951 births Living people Presidents of the Metaphysical Society of America Williams College faculty Pennsylvania State University alumni Tulane University alumni