Susan R. Wolf

Biography

• Born: 1952
• Current Position: Edna J. Koury Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Previous Teaching Positions:
  • Harvard University (1978-1981)
  • University of Maryland (1981-1986)
  • Johns Hopkins University (1986-2002), where she chaired the Philosophy Department
• Husband: Douglas MacLean, also a philosopher at UNC-Chapel Hill

Education

• BA: Yale University (Philosophy and Mathematics, 1974)
• PhD: Princeton University (Philosophy, 1978)
  • Thesis Advisor: Thomas Nagel

Philosophical Era and Region

• Era: Contemporary philosophy
• Region: Western philosophy
• School: Analytic philosophy

Main Interests

• Philosophy of action
• Free will
• Moral philosophy

Notable Ideas

• Moral Saints: Critique of the idea that a morally perfect person is an ideal

Key Contributions

• Relationship between freedom, morality, happiness, and meaningfulness
• Books:
  • Freedom Within Reason (1990): Discusses free will as the ability to do what one reasonably thinks is right, compatible with determinism
  • Meaning in Life and Why It Matters (2012)
  • The Variety of Values: Essays On Morality, Meaning, And Love (2014)
  • Understanding Love: Philosophy, Film, And Fiction (2013, editor)

Major Essays and Theories

• Moral Luck: Reconciling rationalist and irrationalist positions
• Happiness and Meaning: Proposes meaning in life arises from engagement with objectively worthwhile things

Honors and Awards

• Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1999)
• Fellow of the American Philosophical Society (2006)
• Mellon Distinguished Achievement Award in the Humanities (2002)
• Trustee of the National Humanities Center (since 2014)

External Links

• Susan Wolf's UNC homepage
• "Meaningfulness - A Conversation with Susan Wolf"