Herman Cappelen
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Herman Wright Cappelen (born 1967) is a Norwegian
philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
. He is currently the Chair Professor of Philosophy at the
University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...
.


Biography

Cappelen is the son of author and publisher Peder Wright Cappelen and actress Kari Simonsen. Cappelen received a BA in
Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in PPE was the Unive ...
from the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
,
Balliol College Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and ar ...
, in 1989. In 1996, Cappelen received his PhD from the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
. The title of his dissertation was "The Metaphysics of Words and the Semantics of Quotation". His advisors were Charles Chihara, Stephen Neale, and
John Searle John Rogers Searle (; born July 31, 1932) is an American philosopher widely noted for contributions to the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and social philosophy. He began teaching at UC Berkeley in 1959 and was Willis S. and Mario ...
.


Academic career

Cappelen was previously a professor of philosophy at the
University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...
and at the
University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...
in
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. He works primarily on
philosophy of language Philosophy of language refers to the philosophical study of the nature of language. It investigates the relationship between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of Meaning (philosophy), me ...
and philosophical methodology and related areas in
epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...
,
philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of the mind and its relation to the Body (biology), body and the Reality, external world. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a ...
, and
metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...
. In 2013, he became editor of the journal ''Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal Of Philosophy''. Since 2020, Cappelen has been Chair Professor of Philosophy at the
University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...
. In Hong Kong, he is co-director of the AI&Humanity research center, and director of its MA in AI, Ethics, and Society. Prior to that, Cappelen was Professor at the University of Oslo, where he co-directed CSMN's ConceptLab. a project on conceptual engineering funded by a Toppforsk award from the
Research Council of Norway The Research Council (also the Research Council of Norway; ) is a Norwegian government agency that funds research and innovation projects. On behalf of the Government, the Research Council invests NOK 11,7 billion (2022) annually. The Research ...
. Prior to that, he was, since 2007, Professor and Arché chair at the
University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...
. He has previously held positions at
Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...
,
University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...
, and
Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...
. He has been the Director of the Arché Philosophical Research Centre and was co-investigator of two research projects funded by longterm AHRC grants: "Contextualism and Relativism" and "Intuitions and Philosophical Methodology". Cappelen was one of the original applicants for the research center Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature (Norwegian Centre of Excellence) at the
University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...
. Cappelen has been a member of the
Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick University in Christiania was establis ...
since 2008, a Permanent Member of the Institut International de philosophie, and a member of the
Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...
since 2018.


Work

Cappelen's most influential work is the 2004 book, ''Insensitive Semantics'' (written with Ernest Lepore). The book defends a minimal role for context in semantics and advocates speech act pluralism. In 2018, his monograph ''Fixing Language: An Essay On Conceptual Engineering'' was released. The first monograph on the topic, it surveys both historical and contemporary work on conceptual engineering, and presents a theory of its nature and limitations. Cappelen has argued that the role of
intuition Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without recourse to conscious reasoning or needing an explanation. Different fields use the word "intuition" in very different ways, including but not limited to: direct access to unconscious knowledg ...
in Western
analytic philosophy Analytic philosophy is a broad movement within Western philosophy, especially English-speaking world, anglophone philosophy, focused on analysis as a philosophical method; clarity of prose; rigor in arguments; and making use of formal logic, mat ...
is overstated. His 2012 book, ''Philosophy without Intuitions'', argues that intuition plays a minor role - or no role at all - in most modern philosophy, and the fear that intuition is widespread has been damaging. His claim that the role of intuitions is overstated is controversial, and has been hotly debated. Along with Josh Dever, Cappelen has argued that the notion of perspective is unimportant for the philosophy of language, thought, and action. Their 2013 book ''The Inessential Indexical'' argues that the phenomena which, for example, John Perry and David Lewis think show the importance of indexical representation of the self and time can be accounted for using resources already available in the philosophy of language and thought. Cappelen has also authored, or co-authored, important books on the debate between contextualists and relativists (''Relativism and Monadic Truth'', with John Hawthorne), and on quotation (''Language Turned on Itself'' with
Ernest Lepore Ernest or Ernie Lepore (born November 20, 1950) is an American philosopher and cognitive scientist and a professor of philosophy at Rutgers University. Education and career Lepore earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1978, and ...
). Some of his papers co-written with Ernest Lepore are collected in ''Liberating Content''. Cappelen, along with Josh Dever, wrote a series of textbooks on philosophy of language, ''Context and Communication'' (2016), ''Puzzles Of Reference'' (2018), and ''Bad Language'' (2019),. Along with John Hawthorne and Tamar Gendler he coedited ''The Oxford Handbook Of Philosophical Methodology'' (2016). With David Plunkett and Alexis Burgess he co-edited ''Conceptual Engineering and Conceptual Ethics'' (2020), a collection of papers on the topic of conceptual engineering. His monograph ''Making AI Intelligible'', co-written with Josh Dever, appeared in 2021, and his ''The Concept of Democracy'' appeared in 2023.


Publications

Monographs: * ''The Concept Of Democracy'', Oxford University Press, 2023, * ''Making AI Intelligible'' (with Josh Dever), Oxford University Press, 2021,

* ''Fixing Language: An Essay On Conceptual Engineering'', Oxford University Press, 2018,

* ''The Inessential Indexical: On the Philosophical Insignificance of Perspective and the First Person'' (with Josh Dever), Oxford University Press, 2013,

* ''Philosophy without Intuitions'', Oxford University Press, 2012,

* ''Relativism and Monadic Truth'' (with John Hawthorne), Oxford University Press, 2009, 978-0-19-956055-

* ''Language Turned on Itself: The Semantics and Pragmatics of Metalinguistic Discourse'' (with
Ernest Lepore Ernest or Ernie Lepore (born November 20, 1950) is an American philosopher and cognitive scientist and a professor of philosophy at Rutgers University. Education and career Lepore earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1978, and ...
), Oxford University Press, 2007,

* ''Insensitive Semantics: A Defense of Semantic Minimalism and Speech Act Pluralism'' (with
Ernest Lepore Ernest or Ernie Lepore (born November 20, 1950) is an American philosopher and cognitive scientist and a professor of philosophy at Rutgers University. Education and career Lepore earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1978, and ...
), Wiley-Blackwell, 2004,

Edited Volumes: * ''Conceptual Engineering and Conceptual Ethics'' (with David Plunkett and Alexis Burgess), Oxford University Press, 2020, * ''The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Methodology'' (with Tamar Szabo Gendler and John Hawthorne), Oxford University Press, 2016, * ''Assertion: New Philosophical Essays'' (with Jessica Brown), Oxford University Press, 2011,

Textbooks: * ''Bad Language'' (with Josh Dever), Oxford University Press, 2019, * ''Puzzles of Reference'' (with Josh Dever), Oxford University Press, 2018 * ''Context and Communication'' (with Josh Dever), Oxford University Press, 2016, Collection of Papers: * ''Liberating Content'' (with Ernie Lepore), Oxford University Press, 2015,


References


External links


Staff Homepage at the University of St Andrews

Interview with 3AM Magazine


{{DEFAULTSORT:Cappelen, Herman 1967 births Living people 20th-century Norwegian philosophers 21st-century Norwegian philosophers Analytic philosophers Philosophers of language Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Academic staff of the University of Oslo Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford Academics of the University of St Andrews Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Norwegian expatriates in England Norwegian expatriates in the United States Herman