Paul Boghossian

Paul Boghossian giving the Gottlob Frege Lectures in Theoretical Philosophy 2008 in Tartu, Estonia.

Paul Boghossian is professor of philosophy at New York University, where he held the chair for ten years (1994–2004). His research interests include epistemology, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language.

Boghossian earned his B.S. in physics at Trent University in 1978, and his Ph.D. at Princeton University in 1987. In addition to his current position at NYU, he has been a professor at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and a visiting professor at Princeton University. He has previously held research fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Magdalen College, Oxford, the University of London, and the Australian National University. He is a fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities. He is on the editorial board of the journals Philosophical Studies and Philosophers' Imprint. In postmodern circles, Boghossian is known for his response to the Sokal hoax.

In his article 'Blind Reasoning', Boghossian argues that we are blind to our reasons for justifying our methods of inference (the epitome of a method of inference is taken to be modus ponens.) 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 on-going correspondence between Boghossian and Crispin Wright, is part of a project to defend against epistemic relativism. Epistemic relativism claims that knowledge and reason are fundamentally cultural or subjective rather than objective. His book Fear of Knowledge won a Choice Award as an outstanding Academic Book of 2006.

He is member of the World Knowledge Dialogue Scientific Board. He is of Armenian origin.

Selected works

• "Content and Justification: Philosophical Papers". Oxford University Press. 2008. http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Philosophy/Epistemology/?view=usa&ci=9780199292165. 
• New Essays on the A Priori (co-edited with Christopher Peacocke), Oxford University Press 2000.
• "Fear of Knowledge: Against Relativism and Constructivism". Oxford University Press. 2006. http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Philosophy/Epistemology/~~/dmlldz11c2EmY2k9OTc4MDE5OTI4NzE4NQ==. 
• "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 Louis Menand's The Metaphysical Club), The New Republic, September 2001.
• "What is Social Construction?" in Times Literary Supplement, February 23, 2001, pp. 6–8.
• "Knowledge of Logic," in New Essays on the A Priori, ibid.
• "Analyticity," in Bob Hale and Crispin Wright (eds.): The Philosophy of Language (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1997), pp. 331–368.