Maria Baghramian (born 21 March 1954) is a philosopher and historian of philosophy. She is Full Professor of Philosophy in the School of Philosophy,Â
University College Dublin
University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...
(UCD)
[Academic profile at UCD School of Philosophy](_blank)
/ref> and Professor II, at Department of Philosophy, University of Oslo (2023-2026). She was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...
(RIA) in 2010 and a member of 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 ...
in 2022. Baghramian has published twelve authored and edited books as well as articles and book chapters on topics 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 ...
and twentieth century American Philosophy. She was the Chief Editor of the ''International Journal of Philosophical Studies
''International Journal of Philosophical Studies'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence ...
'' (IJPS) from 2003 to 2013. She was the co-editor of '' Contemporary Pragmatism'' (2014–2022).
Education and career
Baghramian graduated from Queen's University Belfast
The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...
in Philosophy and Social Anthropology (1983) with a Double First. She received a PhD from Trinity College Dublin
Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...
(TCD) in Philosophy of Logic
Philosophy of logic is the area of philosophy that studies the scope and nature of logic. It investigates the philosophical problems raised by logic, such as the presuppositions often implicitly at work in theories of logic and in their applicatio ...
under the supervision of Timothy Williamson (1990). Baghramian has taught in TCD and since 1990 in UCD.
She was the Head of the School of Philosophy (2011–2013, 2017–2019) and a co-director of the Post Graduate Programme in Cognitive Science at University College Dublin
University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...
, UCD (since 2000).
She is the founder of the Society for Women in Philosophy (SWIP) – Ireland (2010) and was the president for two terms. She was a Fulbright Scholar in 2013–14 and been a visiting fellow in Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
, MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
, and Institut Jean Nicod, École normale supérieure
École or Ecole may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...
, in Paris. She has also been a frequent visiting lecturer in China, where she was adviser to China Association of Philosophy of Language and in Armenia, where she also contributes to the Yerevan Academy of Linguistics and Philosophy. In 2018, Baghramian was elected to the Steering Committee of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies
The International Federation of Philosophical Societies (French: ''Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie'', FISP) is a world organization for learned societies in philosophy. Its member-societies arguably include every country ...
[FISP](_blank)
/ref> (2018-2024), and in 2019 to the Programme Committee of the 25th World Congress of Philosophy
The World Congress of Philosophy (originally known as the International Congress of Philosophy) is a global meeting of philosophers held every five years under the auspices of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP). First or ...
to be held in Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
in 2024. In 2021 she was elected a Member of the International Institute of Philosophy. Baghramian was the recipient of the of Highly Commended Researcher of the Year Award, Irish Research Council in 2022.
Philosophy
Baghramian's publications focus on topics from contemporary epistemology, including relativism
Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to absolute objectivity within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assess ...
and the problem of intractable disagreements, to topics on trust and expertise. She also publishes on contemporary American philosophy, particularly on Quine
Quine may refer to:
* Quine (computing), a program that produces its source code as output
* Quine's paradox, in logic
* Quine (surname), people with the surname
** Willard Van Orman Quine (1908–2000), American philosopher and logician
See al ...
, Putnam, Davidson and Rorty. Baghramian is a Fellow of the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in 2023–2024.
Research projects
Baghramian was the principal investigator of a research project on the American Voice in Philosophy with funding from the Irish Research Council and the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy.
In 2015, she was awarded an Irish Research Council New Horizons funding for the interdisciplinary project on peer expert disagreement 'When Experts Disagree' (WEXD), where her co-investigator was the astrophysicist Luke Drury. Through her membership of the Royal Irish Academy, Baghramian has been an active participant of a British Academy
The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...
/ ALLEA working group on ''Truth, Trust and Expertise''. Three working papers by the groups were published in 2018 and 2019. She was also a member of a SAPEA advisory group, responsible for a report to the European Commission's Science Advisory Mechanism on ''Making Sense of Science Under Conditions of Uncertainty and Complexity'' published in 2019.
In July 2019, Baghramian was awarded three million euro grant by the European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
for a research project on "the role of science in policy decision making and the conditions under which people should trust and rely on expert opinion that shapes public policy." The project ''Policy, Expertise and Trust in Action'' (PEriTiA) ran from 2020 to 2023 and had partners from universities and academies in the UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Italy and Armenia. She is a current member of SIDEM, Science and Democracy research Project at the University of Oslo.
Personal life
Maria Baghramian was born in Tehran
Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...
, Iran, in an Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
family but moved to Ireland in 1979 where she has continued to live with her husband, the composer and ethnomusicologist Hormoz Farhat. Their son, Robert Farhat, is a talent developer and programme manager with the London Jazz Festival.
Selected publications
* ''Testimonial Injustice and Trust''. Eds. with M. Altanian. London/New York: Routledge. 2023.
* ''Questioning Experts and Expertise''. Eds. with C. Martini. Routledge: 2022.
*Â ''The Value of Empathy''. Eds. with M. Papazian and R. Stout. Routledge. 2020.
*
* ''The Virtues of Relativism''. Proceedings of the Aristotelean Society. Supplementary Volumes, XCIII.
* ''From Trust to Trustworthiness'', (Ed.) (2019). Routledge.
* ''Special Issues on Expertise and Expert Knowledge: Social Philosophy''. With Martini, C. 2018, 2019. Taylor and Francis Volume 32, Issue 6. Volume 33, Issue 2.
* ''Divergent Perspectives on Expert Disagreement: Preliminary Evidence from Climate Science, Climate Policy, Astrophysics, and Public Opinion, Environmental Communication''. With Luke Drury, James R Beebe, Finnur Delsén. 2018. DOI:10.1080/17524032.2018.1504099.
* ''Special Issue on Trust''. 2018. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 26(2):135-138.
* ''Pragmatism and the European traditions: Encounters with analytical philosophy and phenomenology before the Great Divide''. Eds. with S. Marchetti. 2017. Routledge.
* ''Philosophy in the Twentieth Century: The Mingled Story of Three Revolutions''. With S. Marchetti (2-17). Pragmatism and the European Traditions. 10–30. Routledge.
* ''Comments on Annalisa Coliva, Extended Rationality: A Hinge Epistemology''. 2017. International Journal for the Study of Skepticism 2017(7):1-9.
* ''Quine, Naturalised Meaning and Empathy''. 2016. Augmenta, 2(1):25-41.
* ''Hilary Putnam'' and ''Relativism''. 2015. In James D. Wright (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Wiley.
* ''Richard Rorty''. 2015. With F. McHugh. In James D. Wright (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Wiley.
* .
* ''Contemporary Pragamtism''. 2014–2019. Eds. with John Shook. Volume 10–14. Brill.
* ''The Depths and Shallows of Style in Philosophy''. 2014. Journal of Philosophical Research, 39:311-323.
* ''The Many Faces of Relativism'' (Ed.). .2014. London/New York: Taylor and Francis.
* ''Donald Davidson: Life and Words'' (Ed.). 2013. London/New York: Routledge.
* ''Reading Putnam'' (Ed.). 2012. London/New York: Routledge.
* ''Relativism: The Problems of Philosophy Series''. 2004. London/New York: Routledge.
* ''Pluralism: The Philosophy and Politics of Diversity''. With Atracta Ingram (Ed.). 2000. London/New York: Routledge. Translated into Chinese
* ''Modern Philosophy of Language''. 1999. London: J.M. Dent 1998 and Washington: Counterpoint 1999.
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baghramian, Maria
Living people
Members of the Royal Irish Academy
Members of Academia Europaea
Irish women philosophers
Iranian women philosophers
20th-century Irish philosophers
21st-century Irish philosophers
Philosophers of language
Philosophers of logic
Women logicians
Analytic philosophers
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
Alumni of Queen's University Belfast
Academics of Trinity College Dublin
Academics of University College Dublin
1954 births
Writers from Tehran
Iranian emigrants to Ireland
Iranian people of Armenian descent
Irish people of Armenian descent
20th-century Armenian philosophers
21st-century Armenian philosophers