Catherine Z. Elgin (born 1948) is a philosopher working in epistemology and the philosophies of art and science.[1] She is currently a professor of philosophy of education at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.
Catherine Z. Elgin | |
---|---|
Born | 1948 |
Alma mater | Brandeis University |
Institutions | Harvard University |
Main interests | epistemology and the philosophies of art and science |
She holds a Ph.D. from Brandeis University where she studied with Nelson Goodman. She has held tenure-track and visiting positions at many universities, including Michigan State University, Vassar College, Princeton University, and MIT.[2] In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.[3]
Elgin's work has considered such questions as "what makes something cognitively valuable?" As an epistemologist, she considers the pursuit of understanding to be of higher value than the pursuit of knowledge.[1]
In Considered Judgment, Elgin argues for "a reconception that takes reflective equilibrium as the standard of rational acceptability."[4]