J. David Velleman (born 1952) is an American philosopher. He is Emeritus

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Philosophy 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 ...

and

Bioethics Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, me ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and Miller Research Professor of Philosophy at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. He primarily works in the areas of

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 ...

moral psychology Moral psychology is the study of human thought and behavior in ethical contexts. Historically, the term "moral psychology" was used relatively narrowly to refer to the study of moral development. This field of study is interdisciplinary between th ...

, and related areas such as the

philosophy of action Action theory or theory of action is an area in philosophy concerned with theories about the processes causing willful human bodily movements of a more or less complex kind. This area of thought involves epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, jur ...

, and practical reasoning.

Education and career

Velleman received his Ph.D. from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1983 under the supervision of David K. Lewis. He taught previously for more than twenty years at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

before moving to NYU. He has received

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

ships from the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

and the Guggenheim Foundation. He is founding co-editor with Stephen Darwall of ''

Philosophers' Imprint ''Philosophers' Imprint'' is a refereed philosophy journal. The journal was launched by University of Michigan Philosophy professors Stephen Darwall (now at Yale University) and J. David Velleman (now at New York University and Johns Hopkins Uni ...

,'' an on-line, peer-refereed philosophy journal. Several of his former students are now established philosophers, including Connie Rosati at the

University of Texas, Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 20 ...

and Nishiten Shah at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

Philosophical work

Velleman is a defender of constitutivism in ethics, arguing that moral standards arise from the nature of action.

Publications

Books

* ''Practical Reflection'' (Princeton University Press, 1989) * ''Self to Self'' (Cambridge University Press, 2006) * ''How We Get Along'' (Cambridge University Press, 2009) * ''Foundations for Moral Relativism'' (

Open Book Publishers Open Book Publishers (OBP) is an open access academic book publisher based in the United Kingdom. It is a non-profit social enterprise and community interest company (CIC) that promotes open access for academic monographs, edited collections, c ...

, 2013) * '' Konrad Morgen: The Conscience of a Nazi Judge'' (with Herlinde Pauer-Studer) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) * ''The Possibility of Practical Reason'' (Second Edition, Maize Books, 2015) * ''Beyond Price: Essays on Life and Death'' (Open Book Publishers, 2015)

Selected articles

* (1985) "Practical Reflection" ''Philosophical Review'' 94(1):33–61. * (1989) "Colour as a Secondary Quality" ''Mind'' XCVIII(389):81–103. o-authored with Paul Boghossian* (1992) "What Happens When Someone Acts?" ''Mind'' 101(403):461–481. * (1992) "The Guise of the Good" ''Noûs'' 26(1):3–26. * (1999) "Love as a Moral Emotion" in ''Ethics'' 109, N° 2(January 1999):338–374.

Interviews

* Really Seeing'' Another' in Alex Voorhoeve
''Conversations on Ethics''
Oxford University Press, 2009. . (A conversation about Velleman's views on love and its relation to morality.) *
''Five Questions By Kieran Setiya''
a podcast episode.

References

External links

Velleman's profile
at NYU.
''So It Goes''
The Amherst Lecture in Philosophy 1 (2006), 1–23.mp3 and pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Velleman, J. David 1952 births Living people 21st-century American philosophers 20th-century American philosophers Moral psychologists New York University faculty Philosophers of identity Princeton University alumni University of Michigan faculty