Linda T. Zagzebski, a University of Oklahoma professor emerita and pioneer in the field of virtue epistemology – a branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge – has been named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences honors excellence and convenes leaders to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and advance the public good.
Zagzebski is a George Lynn Cross Research Professor Emerita and the Kingfisher College Chair of the Philosophy of Religion and Ethics emerita in the Department of Philosophy in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences. Her research has consisted of such topics as the intersection of ethics and epistemology, religious epistemology, religious ethics, virtue theory and the varieties of fatalism. She is a past president of the American Philosophical Association Central Division, the American Catholic Philosophical Association and the Society of Christian Philosophers. She was a 2011-12 Guggenheim Fellow.
For more than 240 years, the academy has been electing and engaging exceptional individuals. This year’s election of 261 new members continues a tradition of recognizing accomplishments and leadership in academia, the arts, industry, public policy and research.
“Membership is an honor and also an opportunity to shape ideas and influence policy in areas as diverse as the arts, democracy, education, global affairs and science,” said David Oxtoby, president of the American Academy. “These individuals excel in ways that excite us and inspire us at a time when recognizing excellence, commending expertise and working toward the common good is absolutely essential to realizing a better future.”
“We are thrilled that Professor Zagzebski has been recognized with this highly prestigious honor. As a member of our faculty, she held the Kingfisher College Chair and the George Lynn Cross Professorship and her work in the fields of epistemology, philosophy of religion, and ethics is both extensive and highly influential. Professor Zagzebzki’s election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is a fitting capstone to a truly remarkable career,” said David Wrobel, Dean of the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences.
The new members join a distinguished group of individuals elected to the academy before them, including Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton in the 18th century; Ralph Waldo Emerson, Maria Mitchell and Charles Darwin in the 19th; Albert Einstein, Robert Frost, Margaret Mead, Milton Friedman, Martin Luther King, Jr., Stephen Jay Hawking and Condoleezza Rice in the 20th; and more recently, Jennifer Doudna, Bryan Stevenson, M. Temple Grandin, John Legend, Viet Thanh Nguyen , James Fallows , Joan Baez and Sanjay Gupta .
About The American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts & Sciences, founded in 1780, is both an honorary society that recognizes and celebrates the excellence of its members and an independent research center convening leaders from across disciplines, professions and perspectives to address significant challenges. Learn more at amacad.org.
