Maria Baghramian (born 21 March 1954) is an Irish philosopher who is the Professor of American Philosophy in the School of Philosophy,

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

(UCD).Academic profile at UCD School of Philosophy
/ref> She was elected a member of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...

(RIA) in 2010 and a member of the RIA Council from 2015 to 2018. Baghramian has published ten authored and edited books as well as articles and book chapters on topics in

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

and twentieth century American Philosophy. She was the Chief Editor of the ''

International Journal of Philosophical Studies ''International Journal of Philosophical Studies'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, ...

'' (IJPS) from 2003 to 2013.

Education and career

Baghramian graduated from

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

in Philosophy and Social Anthropology (1983) with a Double First. She received a PhD from

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

(TCD) in

Philosophy of Logic Philosophy of logic is the area of philosophy that studies the scope and nature of logic. It investigates the philosophical problems raised by logic, such as the presuppositions often implicitly at work in theories of logic and in their application ...

under the supervision of

Timothy Williamson Timothy Williamson (born 1955) is a British philosopher whose main research interests are in philosophical logic, philosophy of language, epistemology and metaphysics. He is the Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of Oxford, and fe ...

(1990). Baghramian has taught in TCD and since 1990 in UCD. Baghramian was the Head of the School of Philosophy (2011–2013, 2017–2019) and a co-director of the Post Graduate Programme in Cognitive Science at

, UCD (since 2000). She is the founder of the Society for Women in Philosophy (SWIP) – Ireland (2010) and was the president for two terms. She was a Fulbright Scholar in 2013–14 and been a visiting fellow in

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

, and Institut Jean Nicod,

École normale supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

, in Paris. She has also been a frequent visiting lecturer in China, where she was adviser to China Association of Philosophy of Language and in Armenia, where she also contributes to the Yerevan Academy of Linguistics and Philosophy. In 2018, Baghramian was elected to the Executive of the

International Federation of Philosophical Societies The International Federation of Philosophical Societies (French: ''Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie'', FISP) is a world organization for learned societies in philosophy. Its member-societies arguably include every country ...

.FISP
/ref> and in the 2019 to the Programme Committee of the 2023

World Congress of Philosophy The World Congress of Philosophy (originally known as the International Congress of Philosophy) is a global meeting of philosophers held every five years under the auspices of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP). First or ...

to be held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Philosophy

Baghramian's publications focus on topics from contemporary epistemology, including

relativism Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to objectivity within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assessed. Ther ...

and the problem of intractable disagreements, to topics on trust and expertise. She also publishes on contemporary American Philosophy, particularly on Quine, Putnam,

Davidson Davidson may refer to: * Davidson (name) * Clan Davidson, a Highland Scottish clan * Davidson Media Group * Davidson Seamount, undersea mountain southwest of Monterey, California, USA * Tyler Davidson Fountain, monument in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA * ...

and Rorty.

Research projects

Baghramian was the principal investigator of a research project on the American Voice in Philosophy with funding from the

Irish Research Council The Irish Research Council ( ir, An Chomhairle um Thaighde in Éirinn) was launched in 2012 and operates under the aegis of the Department of Education and Skills. The core function of the organisation is to support research across a number ...

and the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy. In 2015, she was awarded an Irish Research Council New Horizons funding for the interdisciplinary project on peer expert disagreement 'When Experts Disagree' (WEXD), where her co-investigator was the astrophysicist Luke Drury. Through her membership of the Royal Irish Academy, Baghramian has been an active participant of a

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

ALLEA All European Academies (ALLEA) is the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities. It was founded in 1994, and brings together more than 50 Academies of Sciences and Learned Societies from over 40 member countries of the Council o ...

working group on ''Truth, Trust and Expertise''. Three working papers by the groups were published in 2018 and 2019. She was also a member of a

SAPEA The Scientific Advice Mechanism is a service created by the European Commission which provides independent science advice directly to European Commissioners to inform their decision-making. The Mechanism consists of two parts: the Group of Chief ...

advisory group, responsible for a report to the European Commission's Science Advisory Mechanism on ''Making Sense of Science Under Conditions of Uncertainty and Complexity'' published in 2019. In July 2019, Baghramian was awarded three million euro grant by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

for a research project on "the role of science in policy decision making and the conditions under which people should trust and rely on expert opinion that shapes public policy." The project ''Policy, Expertise and Trust in Action'' (PEriTiA) runs from 2020 to 2023 and has partners from universities and academies in the UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Italy and Armenia.

Personal life

Maria Baghramian was born in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, Iran, in an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

family but moved to Ireland in 1979 where she has continued to live with her husband, the composer and ethnomusicologist

Hormoz Farhat Hormoz Farhat ( fa, هرمز فرهت; 9 August 1928 – 16 August 2021) was a Persian-American composer and ethnomusicologist who spent much of his career in Dublin, Ireland. An emeritus professor of music, he was a fellow of Trinity College, ...

. Their son, Robert Farhat is a Talent Developer and Programme Manager with the London Jazz Festival.

Selected publications

* ''Relativism: New Problems of Philosophy''. With A. Coliva. (2019) Routledge. * ''The Virtues of Relativism''. Proceedings of the Aristotelean Society. Supplementary Volumes, XCIII. * ''From Trust to Trustworthiness'', (Ed.) (2019). Routledge. * ''Special Issues on Expertise and Expert Knowledge: Social Philosophy''. With Martini, C. (2018, 2019). Taylor and Francis Volume 32, Issue 6. Volume 33, Issue 2. * ''Divergent Perspectives on Expert Disagreement: Preliminary Evidence from Climate Science, Climate Policy, Astrophysics, and Public Opinion, Environmental Communication''. With Luke Drury, James R Beebe, Finnur Delsén. (2018). DOI:10.1080/17524032.2018.1504099. * ''Special Issue on Trust''. (2018). International Journal of Philosophical Studies 26(2):135-138. * ''Pragmatism and the European traditions: Encounters with analytical philosophy and phenomenology before the Great Divide''. With S. Marchetti (Eds.) (2017). Routledge. * ''Philosophy in the Twentieth Century: The Mingled Story of Three Revolutions''. With S. Marchetti. (2-17). Pragmatism and the European Traditions. 10–30. Routledge. * ''Comments on Annalisa Coliva, Extended Rationality: A Hinge Epistemology''. (2017). International Journal for the Study of Skepticism 2017(7):1-9. * ''Quine, Naturalised Meaning and Empathy''. (2016). Augmenta, 2(1):25-41. * ''Hilary Putnam'' and ''Relativism''. (2015). in James D. Wright (Ed). Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Wiley. * ''Richard Rorty''. (2015). With F. McHugh. In James D. Wright (Ed). Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Wiley. * ''Relativism''. (2015) with A. Carter. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. * ''Contemporary Pragamtism''. (2014–2019) (Eds). with John Shook. Volume 10–14. Brill. * ''The Depths and Shallows of Style in Philosophy''. (2014)/ Journal of Philosophical Research, 39:311-323. * ''The Many Faces of Relativism''. (Ed.)(2014) London/New York: Taylor and Francis. * ''Donald Davidson: Life and Words''. (Ed.) (2013) London/New York: Routledge. * ''Reading Putnam''. (Ed.) (2012) London/New York: Routledge. * ''Relativism: The Problems of Philosophy Series''. (2004) London/New York: Routledge. * ''Pluralism: The Philosophy and Politics of Diversity''. With Atracta Ingram. (Ed.) (2000) London/New York: Routledge. Translated into Chinese * ''Modern Philosophy of Language''. (1999) London: J.M. Dent 1998 and Washington: Counterpoint 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baghramian, Maria Living people Members of the Royal Irish Academy Irish women philosophers Iranian women philosophers 20th-century Irish philosophers 21st-century Irish philosophers Philosophers of language Philosophers of logic Women logicians Analytic philosophers Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Academics of Trinity College Dublin Academics of University College Dublin 1954 births Writers from Tehran Iranian emigrants to Ireland Iranian people of Armenian descent Irish people of Armenian descent Armenian philosophers