// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs Catherine Elgin an artist? She's a great draw.
Catherine Z. Elgin | |
|---|---|
 Elgin in 2017 | |
| Born | 1948 |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | Brandeis University |
| Philosophical work | |
| Institutions | Harvard University |
Main interests | epistemology and the philosophies of art and science |
Catherine Z. Elgin (born 1948) is a philosopher working in epistemology and the philosophies of art and science.[1] She is currently a professor of philosophy of education at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.
Education and career
[edit]She holds a Ph.D. from Brandeis University where she studied with Nelson Goodman. She has held tenure-track and visiting positions at many universities, including Michigan State University, Vassar College, Princeton University, and MIT.[2] In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.[3]
Philosophical work
[edit]Elgin's work has considered such questions as "what makes something cognitively valuable?" As an epistemologist, she considers the pursuit of understanding to be of higher value than the pursuit of knowledge.[1]
In Considered Judgment, Elgin argues for "a reconception that takes reflective equilibrium as the standard of rational acceptability."[4]
Works
[edit]- With Reference to Reference, Hackett, 1983
- Reconceptions in Philosophy and Other Arts and Sciences, with Nelson Goodman, Routledge, 1988
- German translation: Revisionen. Philosophie und andere Künste und Wissenschaften, 1993
- (ed.) The Philosophy of Nelson Goodman, v. 1. Nominalism, Constructivism, and Relativism, ISBN 0-8153-2609-2, v. 2. Nelson Goodman's New Riddle of Induction, ISBN 0-8153-2610-6, v. 3. Nelson Goodman's Philosophy of Art, ISBN 0-8153-2611-4, v. 4. Nelson Goodman's Theory of Symbols and its Applications, ISBN 0-8153-2612-2, 1997
- Between the Absolute and the Arbitrary Cornell University Press, 1997
- Considered Judgment, Princeton University Press, 1996
- (ed.) Philosophical Inquiry: Classic and Contemporary Readings, with Jonathan E. Adler. 2007
- "Begging to differ", The Philosophers' Magazine, December, 2012
- True Enough, MIT Press, 2017
- "Understanding in Science and Elsewhere": Interview with Catherine Z. Elgin about her philosophy and her intellectual biography, published 2019 on 3:AM Magazine and republished on 3:16
Awards
[edit]In 2023, Elgin was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 "Harvard: Catherine Elgin". Harvard University. Archived from the original on 15 December 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
- ↑ Curriculum vitae (Archived)
- ↑ "New Members". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
- ↑ "Considered Judgment". Princeton University Press. 21 February 1999. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
- ↑ "Catherine Z. Elgin | American Academy of Arts and Sciences". www.amacad.org. 12 December 2025. Retrieved 28 December 2025.
External links
[edit]- Catherine Z. Elgin's website
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