Ted Cohen (1939 - March 14, 2014) was an American philosopher and professor of

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. His interests included philosophy of art, history of the philosophy of art, especially in the 18th-century, and the philosophy of language.Ted Cohen, philosopher who found the extraordinary in the ordinary, 1939-2014
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Education and career

Cohen received his Bachelor of Arts (BA) from the University of Chicago in 1962, a Master of Arts (MA) from Harvard in 1965 and a PhD from Harvard in 1972 (Titled: The grammar of taste). He taught at the University of Chicago from 1967. Cohen worked mainly in the philosophy of art. Cohen served as president of the

American Philosophical Association The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarl ...

(2006-2007) and the

American Society for Aesthetics American Society for Aesthetics (ASA) is a philosophical organization founded in 1942 to promote the study of aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the ...

(1997-1998). He was also the moderator of the

Latke–Hamantash Debate The Latke–Hamantash Debate is a deliberately humorous academic debate about the relative merits and meanings of these two items of Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine. The debate originated at the University of Chicago in 1946 and has since been held annua ...

at the University of Chicago for 25 years until his death.

Selected books

*''Essays in Kant's Aesthetics'', edited with Paul Guyer (University of Chicago Press, 1982) *''Jokes: Philosophical Thoughts on Joking Matters'' (University of Chicago Press, 1999). *''Thinking of Others: On the Talent for Metaphor'' (Princeton University Press, 2008). *''Serious Larks: The Philosophy of Ted Cohen'', edited and introduced by Daniel Herwitz. (University of Chicago Press, 2018)

References

Philosophers of art 1939 births 2014 deaths University of Chicago faculty 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American philosophers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American philosophers Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni University of Chicago alumni American male non-fiction writers Presidents of the American Philosophical Association 21st-century American male writers {{US-philosopher-stub