Arnold Stuart Zuboff (born 1946) is an American philosopher. He is the original formulator of the

Sleeping Beauty problem The Sleeping Beauty problem, also known as the Sleeping Beauty paradox, is a puzzle in decision theory in which an ideally rational Epistemology, epistemic agent is told she will be awoken from sleep either once or twice according to the toss of a ...

. Zuboff has worked on topics such as

personal identity Personal identity is the unique numerical identity of a person over time. Discussions regarding personal identity typically aim to determine the necessary and sufficient conditions under which a person at one time and a person at another time ...

, the

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 ...

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

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 ...

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 ...

, the

philosophy of probability The word "probability" has been used in a variety of ways since it was first applied to the mathematical study of games of chance. Does probability measure the real, physical, tendency of something to occur, or is it a measure of how strongly on ...

, and a view analogous to

open individualism Open individualism is a view within the philosophy of self, according to which there exists only one numerically identical subject, who is everyone at all times; in the past, present and future. It is a theoretical solution to the question of ...

—the position that there is one subject of experience, who is everyone—which he calls "universalism".

Early life and education

Arnold Stuart Zuboff was born in 1946. He was raised in

West Hartford, Connecticut West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, west of downtown Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region. The population was 64,083 at the 20 ...

. Zuboff received a BA in philosophy from the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

in 1968, and attended

Princeton University Graduate School The Graduate School of Princeton University is the main graduate school of Princeton University. Founded in 1869, the school offers postgraduate degrees in 42 disciplines. History In 1771, future president James Madison began graduate work at P ...

until 1972. In 2009, he successfully defended his thesis titled ''Time, Self, and Sleeping Beauty'', under the supervision of his doctoral advisor,

Thomas Nagel Thomas Nagel (; born July 4, 1937) is an American philosopher. He is the University Professor of Philosophy and Law Emeritus at New York University, where he taught from 1980 until his retirement in 2016. His main areas of philosophical interest ...

. His examiners were

Gilbert Harman Gilbert Harman (May 26, 1938 – November 13, 2021) was an American philosopher, who taught at Princeton University from 1963 until his retirement in 2017. He published widely in philosophy of language, cognitive science, philosophy of mind, eth ...

, Adam Elga, John P. Burgess,

Alexander Nehamas Alexander Nehamas (; born 22 March 1946) is a Greek-born American philosopher. He is a professor of philosophy and comparative literature and the Edmund N. Carpenter II Class of 1943 Professor in the Humanities at Princeton University, where he ...

, and Nagel.

Career

Zuboff lectured at the

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

's Department of Philosophy from 1974 till his retirement in 2011. He is now an Honorary Senior Research Associate.

Personal life

Zuboff created a series of paintings and poems inspired by his dreams between the ages of 18 and 21, which he has made available online. Zuboff was a close friend and engaged in philosophical discussions with the Canadian philosopher

G. A. Cohen Gerald Allan Cohen ( ; 14 April 1941 – 5 August 2009) was a Canadian political philosophy, political philosopher who held the positions of Quain Professor, Quain Professor of Jurisprudence, University College London and Chichele Professor of ...

Selected works

Articles

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Books

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Videos

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References

External links

Arnold Zuboff
at

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