Faculty

linda zagzebski

Linda Zagzebski Kingfisher College Chair of the Philosophy of Religion and Ethics; George Lynn Cross Research Professor
Ph.D., UCLA
Research areas: Philosophy of Religion, Ethics, Epistemology

(405) 325-6491
lzagzebski@ou.edu
office hours

I work in the philosophy of religion, epistemology, and virtue ethics, with a particular focus on the intersection of epistemology and ethical theory. In Virtues of the Mind (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996) I developed a virtue theory of ethics and epistemology, and applied it to problems in epistemology. My current project is my upcoming Wilde lectures, Epistemic Authority, in which I apply the important concepts of authority and autonomy to the norms of belief, including moral and religious belief. The eight lectures have the following tentative titles: Lecture 1: “The Value of Epistemic Self-reliance,” Lecture 2: “Self-trust,” Lecture 3: “Trust in Others,” Lecture 4: “Trust in Exemplars,” Lecture 5: “From Trust to Authority,” Lecture 6: “The Authority of Communities,” Lecture 7: “Moral Authority,” Lecture 8: “Religious Authority.” The book project will also include chapters on trust and epistemic conflict, and a concluding account of epistemic autonomy. A pilot paper for this project was “Ethical and Epistemic Egoism and the Ideal of Autonomy," in Episteme: A Journal of Social Epistemology, 2008. 

I also write on fatalism, the problem of divine foreknowledge and human free will, and issues in religious epistemology and religion and morality. “Omnisubjectivity” was recently published in Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion.

My most recent books are: Divine Motivation Theory (Cambridge University Press, 2004), Philosophy of Religion: An Historical Introduction (Blackwell, 2007), On Epistemology (Wadsworth, 2008), and Readings in Philosophy of Religion: Ancient to Contemporary, edited with Timothy Miller (Blackwell, 2009).

Recent courses:

3423 Ancient and Medieval philosophy of religion
3433 Modern philosophy of religion
4473/5473 Survey of contemporary philosophy of religion
4523/5523 Survey of contemporary epistemology
6473 Graduate seminar on fatalism
6523 Graduate seminar on epistemic authority and autonomy

Named lectureships:

Wilde Lectures in Natural Theology, Oxford University, spring 2010. Topic: Epistemic Authority. Abstract.
Bitar Lectures, Geneva College, April 2-3, 2008.
McCarthy Lectureship in Philosophy, Gregorian University, Rome, Feb-April 2006.
Romanell-Phi Beta Kappa Professorship of Philosophy, 2005-6.

Publications:

Click here for full CV (.doc)