Ruth Chang

Ruth Chang
Era Contemporary philosophy
Region Western Philosophy
School Analytic philosophy
Institutions Rutgers University
Main interests
 Normative ethics, metaethics, action theory, and moral psychology

Ruth Chang is a professor of philosophy at Rutgers University.[2] She is known for her research on the incommensurability of values and on practical reason and normativity.[3][4] She is also widely known for her work on 'hard choices' and decision-making, and her research has been the subject of radio, newspaper, and magazine articles in the United States, Brazil, Taiwan, Austria, Australia, Canada, Israel, Italy, and the United Kingdom.[5] Her TED talk on the subject has had over 4 million views,[6] and her ideas have been presented in popular venues such as The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Cosmopolitan, Reader's Digest, and Marie Claire.[7]

She is the author of Making Comparisons Count, and the editor of the first volume on the topic of incommensurability of values in the Anglo-American world, Incommensurability, Incomparability, and Practical Reason,[8] and has authored numerous articles and book chapters.

Education and career

Chang graduated from Dartmouth College in 1985 with a B.A. in philosophy.[2] In 1988, she graduated from Harvard Law School with a J.D.[2] In 1991, she was appointed a Junior Research Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford, where she completed her D. Phil. in 1997 after two year-long visiting appointments at UCLA and the University of Chicago Law School.[2] She also lectured at several of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in this time period.

Research areas

Chang’s principal research interests lie in normative ethics, metaethics, action theory and moral psychology. Her work focuses on practical conflict, the nature of reasons and values and their relations, and rational agency. She is known for arguing that two items which are neither better nor worse than one another and yet not equally good may nevertheless be comparable: they may be ‘on a par’.[1][3] Her work develops a view of rational agency, ‘hybrid voluntarism’, that grows out of her interest in the underdetermination of values and their associated reasons according to which agents can create reasons and values through commitment.[9] She has also written on value pluralism and social choice.[2] She has given various public lectures on decision-making, love, and commitment.

Awards and fellowships

Chang has received a number of awards including a fellowship from the National Humanities Center,[10] a Harvard Safra Center fellowship at the Kennedy School of Government,[11] a Laurence S. Rockefeller Fellowship at the Princeton University Center for Human Values,[12] an American Council of Learned Society Charles K. Ryskamp fellowship,[13] and a Scot's Centenary Fellow.[2]

Selected works

References

  1. 1 2 Protevi, John. "New APPS Interview: Ruth Chang". NewApps. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Chang, Ruth". Rutgers. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  3. 1 2 Hsieh, Nien-hê. "Incommensurable Values". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  4. ↑ Schroeder, Mark. "Value Theory". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  5. ↑ See e.g.: 2-part radio interview with “Eye on China”, English service Radio Taiwan International, by Natalie Tso, Program Host at http://english.rti.org.tw/whatsOn/?recordId=10741 and http://english.rti.org.tw/whatsOn/?recordId=10961; Nova Magazine, (Brazil) December issue, 2014, pp. 76-79; Chicago Tribune, by Jessica Reynolds, October 8, 2014 at http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/sc-fam-1007-ruth-chang-20141007-story.html; Open House (Australia) at http://downloads.hopemedia.com.au/OH/OH_RuthChang_2014-08-29.mp3; ; Radio Kaffeehaus (Austria) at http://www.radiokaffeehaus.com/; D Magazine (Italy) at http://d.repubblica.it/lifestyle/2015/02/16/news/psicologia_decisioni_difficili_consigli-2482665/?ref=HRLV-13; Globes Newspaper (Israel) November 27, 2014 at http://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000989592#; 3a.m. Magazine (United Kingdom) at http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/the-existentialist-of-hard-choices/.
  6. ↑ http://www.ted.com/talks/ruth_chang_how_to_make_hard_choices
  7. ↑ New York Times Op-Ed: ‘Resolving to Create a New You’ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/opinion/sunday/resolving-to-create-a-new-you.html?_r=0; Chicago Tribune: by Jessica Reynolds, October 8, 2014 at http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/sc-fam-1007-ruth-chang-20141007-story.html; Marie Claire: “That’s What She Said: Straight talk Worth Repeating from some of our Favorite Women”, in 20th Anniversary issue of Marie Claire, September issue 2014, p. 96; Cosmpolitan: “Five talks by amazing women to give you megamotivation in 2015”, December 16, 2014 http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/worklife/careers/a31998/inspiring-ted-talks-women/
  8. ↑ Arpaly, Nomy (October 2000). "Incommensurability, Incomparability, and Practical Reason". Mind. New Series 109 (436): 864–866.
  9. ↑ Muehlhauser, Luke. "CPBD 021: Ruth Chang – What is Morality?". Common Sense Atheism. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  10. ↑ "National Humanities Center 2009-10 Fellows and Their Projects". National Humanities Center.
  11. ↑ "Faculty Fellows". Harvard University. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  12. ↑ "Previous Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Fellows". Princeton University. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  13. ↑ ACLS archives for Charles Ryskamp Fellowships, 2002-3

External links

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