Paul Boghossian

Background

Paul Boghossian is a philosopher of Armenian ancestry whose research spans epistemology, analyticity, content, rule-following, relativism, and the philosophy of music. His work engages with foundational questions about the nature of knowledge, truth, inference, and meaning. He has held major academic leadership roles, including Director of the New York Institute of Philosophy and Director of NYU’s Global Institute for Advanced Study.

Education

Boghossian completed his undergraduate studies in physics, earning a Bachelor of Science degree from Trent University in 1976. He later pursued graduate work in philosophy at Princeton University, where he received his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in 1987. His transition from physics to philosophy deeply shaped his approach to questions of knowledge, reasoning, and the structure of thought.

Career

Paul Boghossian is Silver Professor of Philosophy at New York University and Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham. He directs the New York Institute of Philosophy and NYU’s Global Institute for Advanced Study.

From 1994 to 2004, he served as Chair of NYU’s Philosophy Department. Before joining NYU, he taught at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (1984–1992) and later served as a visiting professor at Princeton University.

He has held research fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Magdalen College at Oxford, the School of Advanced Study at the University of London, and the Australian National University. He was a Visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, a Fulbright Senior Specialist, and is a Fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities.

Boghossian has published extensively on epistemology, the a priori, normativity of content, color, self-knowledge, inference, relativism, and the aesthetics of music. His article “Blind Reasoning” proposes “rational insight” as an alternative to internalist and externalist accounts of inferential justification. He also gained recognition for his critique of postmodernism in connection with the Sokal affair.

In 2012, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Paul Boghossian's works include extensive publications across the fields of a priori knowledge, analyticity, aesthetics, content, epistemic justification, genocide studies, inference, intuitions, the philosophy of logic, relativism, rule-following, self-knowledge, and numerous book reviews.

Achievements

• His book Fear of Knowledge received a Choice Award as an Outstanding Academic Title of 2006.
  
  His works have been translated into numerous languages, including German, French, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Chinese, and Albanian.
  
  He significantly advanced debates on relativism, analyticity, the a priori, content, and epistemic normativity.
  
  As department chair, he helped elevate NYU’s philosophy program to global prominence.

Works

More photos

• book

  • New Essays on Normative Realism

    (9780198915119: Boghossian, Paul, Peacocke, Christopher)

  • Fear of Knowledge: Against Relativism and Constructivism

    (eBook : Boghossian, Paul: Kindle Store)

  • Angst vor der Wahrheit: Ein Plädoyer gegen Relativismus und Konstruktivismus

    (9783518296592: Boghossian, Paul: Books)

  • Content and Justification: Philosophical Papers

    (eBook : Boghossian, Paul A.: Kindle Store)

Views

Boghossian is a leading critic of epistemic relativism, defending the objectivity of knowledge and rational norms. His work argues that understanding and inquiry require standards not reducible to cultural or subjective frameworks. Through exchanges with philosophers such as Crispin Wright and Timothy Williamson, he has developed influential positions on analyticity, logical knowledge, and the normativity of meaning.

His responses to the Sokal hoax emphasize the dangers of extreme constructivism. In “Blind Reasoning,” he defends the idea of “rational insight” to account for how we justify fundamental inferential rules such as modus ponens.

Membership

Elected Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2012).

Fellow, New York Institute for the Humanities.

Member, Scientific Advisory Board, World Knowledge Dialogue Foundation.

Member, Strategic Advisory Board, School of Advanced Study, University of London.

Member, Global Citizenship Commission chaired by former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

References

• New York University, Arts & Science school