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

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 ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. 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. The ASA sponsors national and regional conferences, and publishes the '' Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism'', the ' ...

(1997-1998). He was also the moderator of the Latke–Hamantash Debate at the University of Chicago for 25 years until his death.

Selected books

*''Essays in Kant's Aesthetics'', edited with

Paul Guyer Paul Guyer () is an American philosopher and a leading scholar of Immanuel Kant and of aesthetics. From 2012, he was Jonathan Nelson Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Brown University until his retirement in 2023. In 2025, he was elected t ...

(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

American 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