Allan Gibbard

Professor Gibbard’s book Meaning and Normativity is due to be published in December 2012; it develops a theory of meaning as a normative concept.  His two previous books, Wise Choices, Apt Feelings (1990) and Thinking How to Live (2003) develop a general theory of moral judgments and judgments of rationality. Wise Choices draws on psychology, anthropology, and evolutionary theory, and Thinking How to Live draws further consequences for how normative concepts work. Besides writing widely in ethical theory, he has made important contributions to the theories of conditionals, identity, and voting.  He has held ACLS, Guggenheim, NEH, and Rockefeller research fellowships, and has been elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Member of the American Philosophical Society, Fellow of the Econometric Society, and member of the National Academy of Sciences. He has been President of the Central Division of the American Philosophical Association.

Field(s) of Study

• Ethics, Social Choice Theory, Decision Theory, Metaphysics, Language