Paul Artin Boghossian (; born 1957) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

. He is Silver Professor of

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, where he is chair of the

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

(having also held the position from 1994 to 2004). His research interests include

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 ...

, the

philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the ontology and nature of the mind and its relationship with the body. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a number of other issues are addre ...

, and the

philosophy of language In analytic philosophy, philosophy of language investigates the nature of language and the relations between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of meaning, intentionality, reference, ...

. He is also director of the New York Institute of Philosophy and Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy at the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

Education and career

Boghossian is of

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 ...

ancestry. Boghossian earned his B.S. in physics at

Trent University Trent University is a public liberal arts university in Peterborough, Ontario, with a satellite campus in Oshawa, which serves the Regional Municipality of Durham. Trent is known for its Oxbridge college system and small class sizes.

in 1976, and his Ph.D. in philosophy at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1987. In addition to his position at NYU, he was a professor of philosophy at the

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1984 until 1992, and has also been a visiting professor at Princeton University. He has held research fellowships from the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, and the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

, and is a fellow of the

New York Institute for the Humanities The New York Institute for the Humanities (NYIH) is an academic organization founded by Richard Sennett in 1976 to promote the exchange of ideas between academics, writers, and the general public. The NYIH regularly holds seminars open to the publ ...

. He is on the editorial board of the journals ''Philosophical Studies'' and ''Philosophers' Imprint''. As chair of the NYU philosophy department from 1994 to 2004, Boghossian built the NYU program into one of the top philosophy programs in the world. In

postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

circles, Boghossian is known for his response to the

Sokal hoax The Sokal affair, also called the Sokal hoax, was a demonstrative scholarly hoax performed by Alan Sokal, a physics professor at New York University and University College London. In 1996, Sokal submitted an article to '' Social Text'', an acad ...

. Boghossian also serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the World Knowledge Dialogue Foundation. His book ''Fear of Knowledge'' won a Choice Award as an outstanding Academic Book of 2006. In 2012, he was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

Philosophical work

In his early work, Boghossian criticized naturalistic theories of content. Much of his later work, including his book ''Fear of Knowledge,'' criticizes various forms of

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 ...

, especially epistemic relativism, which claims that

knowledge Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distinc ...

and

reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...

are fundamentally cultural or subjective rather than objective. In his article "Blind Reasoning", Boghossian argues that we are blind to our reasons for justifying our methods of

inference Inferences are steps in reasoning, moving from premises to logical consequences; etymologically, the word '' infer'' means to "carry forward". Inference is theoretically traditionally divided into deduction and induction, a distinction that in ...

(the epitome of a method of inference is taken to be ''

modus ponens In propositional logic, ''modus ponens'' (; MP), also known as ''modus ponendo ponens'' (Latin for "method of putting by placing") or implication elimination or affirming the antecedent, is a deductive argument form and rule of inference. ...

''). Rejecting both Simple Inferential Externalism for its inconsistency and Simple Inferential Internalism because it is difficult to accept, he opts for a third and new form of "rational insight". This paper, in conjunction with an ongoing correspondence between Boghossian and

Crispin Wright Crispin James Garth Wright (; born 21 December 1942) is a British philosopher, who has written on neo-Fregean (neo-logicist) philosophy of mathematics, Wittgenstein's later philosophy, and on issues related to truth, realism, cognitivism, skep ...

, is part of a project to defend against epistemic relativism.

Selected publications

Books

''Content and Justification: Philosophical Papers''

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2008.
''Fear of Knowledge: Against Relativism and Constructivism''
Oxford University Press, 2006.Blackburn, S. (2006). PHILOSOPHY - Fear of Knowledge - Against relativism and constructivism - Paul Boghossian. ''Times Literary Supplement'', January 1, 5396, 23

Articles

*"How Are Objective Epistemic Reasons Possible?" in ''Philosophical Studies'', Dec 2001, pp. 340–380. *"Inference and Insight," in ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'', November, 2001, pp. 633–641. *"On Hearing the Music in the Sound," in ''The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism'' (2002). *"The Gospel of Relaxation" (review of ''

The Metaphysical Club The Metaphysical Club was a name attributed by the philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce, in an unpublished paper over thirty years after its foundation, to a conversational philosophical club that Peirce, the future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wend ...

'' by

Louis Menand Louis Menand (; born January 21, 1952) is an American critic, essayist, and professor, best known for his Pulitzer-winning book ''The Metaphysical Club'' (2001), an intellectual and cultural history of late 19th and early 20th century America. L ...

), ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...

'', September 2001. *"What is Social Construction?" in ''Times Literary Supplement'', February 23, 2001, pp. 6–8. *''New Essays on the A Priori'' (co-edited with

Christopher Peacocke Christopher Arthur Bruce Peacocke (born 22 May 1950) is a British philosopher known for his work in philosophy of mind and epistemology. His recent publications, in the field of epistemology, have defended a version of rationalism. His daught ...

), Oxford University Press 2000. *"Knowledge of Logic," in ''New Essays on the A Priori'', Oxford University Press 2000. *"Analyticity," in Bob Hale and

(eds.): ''The Philosophy of Language'' (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1997), pp. 331–368.

Media

*
The Secrets of the World
: Debate with philosophers

Rebecca Roache Rebecca Roache is an alt-left British philosopher and Senior Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, known for her work on the philosophy of language, practical ethics and philosophy of mind. She is particularly noted for her work on sw ...

and

Hilary Lawson Hilary Lawson is an English philosopher and founder of the Institute of Art and Ideas. His theory of "closure" puts forward a non-realist metaphysics arguing that people close the openness of the world with thought and language. Lawson has also ...

, and author

Rupert Sheldrake Alfred Rupert Sheldrake (born 28 June 1942) is an English author and parapsychology researcher who proposed the concept of morphic resonance, a conjecture which lacks mainstream acceptance and has been criticized as pseudoscience. He has worke ...

.
'The Word and the World'
Debate with philosopher

Ray Monk Ray Monk (born 15 February 1957) is a British biographer who is renowned for his biographies of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Bertrand Russell, and J. Robert Oppenheimer. He is emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Southampton, where he ...

and novelist Joanna Kavenna.
'Strange New Worlds'
Debate with literary critic

Terry Eagleton Terence Francis Eagleton (born 22 February 1943) is an English literary theorist, critic, and public intellectual. He is currently Distinguished Professor of English Literature at Lancaster University. Eagleton has published over forty books, ...

and '' Chocolat'' author

Joanne Harris Joanne Michèle Sylvie Harris (born 3 July 1964) is an English-French author, best known for her novel '' Chocolat'' (1999), which was adapted the following year for the film '' Chocolat''. Early life Harris was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, t ...

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boghossian, Paul 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American philosophers 20th-century births 20th-century educational theorists 20th-century essayists 20th-century social scientists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American philosophers 21st-century educational theorists 21st-century essayists 21st-century social scientists Academics of the University of Birmingham Academics of the University of London Action theorists American ethicists American logicians American male essayists American male non-fiction writers American writers of Armenian descent Analytic philosophers Australian National University faculty Critics of postmodernism Epistemologists Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Literacy and society theorists Living people Metaphysicians Metaphysics writers Moral philosophers New York University faculty Ontologists Philosophers of art Philosophers of culture Philosophers of education Philosophers of ethics and morality Philosophers of language Philosophers of logic Philosophers of mind Philosophers of science Philosophers of social science Philosophy academics Philosophy teachers Philosophy writers Princeton University alumni Princeton University faculty Rationalists Rationality theorists Stanford University alumni Trent University alumni University of Michigan faculty Year of birth missing (living people)