Agnes Callard Explained

Agnes Callard
Birth Name:Agnes Gellen
Birth Date:6 January 1976
Birth Place:Budapest, Hungary
Other Names:Agnes Gellen Callard
Nationality:American
Thesis Title:An Incomparabilist Account of Akrasia
Thesis Year:2008
Doctoral Advisor:Samuel Scheffler
Discipline:Philosophy
Workplaces:University of Chicago

Agnes Callard[1] (;[2] born 1976) is an American philosopher[3] and an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago.[4] Her primary areas of specialization are ancient philosophy and ethics. She is also noted for her popular writings and work on public philosophy.[5]

Early life and education

Callard was born on January 6, 1976, in Budapest, Hungary, to a Jewish family. Her mother, Judit Gellen, was a hematologist and oncologist in the 1980s, specializing in the treatment of AIDS; she also worked as a prison doctor at Riker's Island. Callard's father studied law in Hungary but became a carpet salesman in the US and retired as a steel exporter. Both sets of grandparents were Holocaust survivors. Callard was raised in Budapest until age five. She and her parents later moved to Rome before settling in the New York metropolitan area.[6] She has a sister.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Chicago, majoring in Fundamentals. She subsequently earned a Master of Arts degree in classics from the University of California, Berkeley, leaving that doctoral program without a dissertation, then studied philosophy at Princeton University before returning to Berkeley and completing her PhD in philosophy.

Career

Academia

Callard has been a faculty member at the University of Chicago since 2008, becoming an associate professor of philosophy in 2017.[7]

With L. A. Paul, Callard received the 2020 Lebowitz Prize, awarded by the American Philosophical Association and Phi Beta Kappa.[8] [9] She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019.[10]

Public writing and speaking

Callard has published in the Boston Review,[11] The New Yorker,[12] and The New York Times,[13] and has written a column on public philosophy for The Point magazine.[14] Podcasts that have hosted her include EconTalk,[15] the Elucidations Podcast,[16] and The Ezra Klein Show.[17]

In 2017, she created the Night Owls public debate series in Hyde Park, Chicago, featuring guests such as Tyler Cowen, Chris Blattman, Ezra Klein, and Hollis Robbins,[18] and in November 2018 participated in one with her ex-husband and colleague Ben Callard, on the philosophy of divorce.[19] [20]

She hosts the podcast Minds Almost Meeting together with the economist Robin Hanson.[21]

Her 2022 tweet about throwing out her children's Halloween candy went viral.[22]

Theory on aspiration

Agnes Callard's longest book is Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming, which outlines and defends a theory about the process of changes in an individual's values, which she calls "aspiration". A summary of the book which was made by a fan and endorsed by the author[23] divides the book into these core claims and various supporting claims (not reproduced here):[24]

Each numbered claim is supposed to be made by the corresponding numbered chapter in the book, with claim 0 made in the introduction section and claim 7 in the conclusion section. The reference to Abbé Sieyès refers to the quote attributed to that abbot on bicameralism: "if a second chamber dissents from the first, it is mischievous; if it agrees it is superfluous."[25] The reference to Sieyès was not made in Callard's book itself, but was made by the summary as a way to explain what the book refers to as "Strawson's Dilemma" (after Galen Strawson, who proposed it).[26]

Note that "decision theory" in the book's context refers to a number of philosophical theories about decisions, not to the branch of probability known as decision theory.

Personal life

In 2011, Callard divorced her husband, fellow University of Chicago professor Ben Callard, who she had married in 2003.[19] She began a relationship with Arnold Brooks, who was a graduate student at the time. After a year of dating, they married. Agnes has two children with Callard and one with Brooks. She resides with both her current husband and her ex-husband.[27]

Callard was diagnosed with autism in her 30s.

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Agnes Gellen Callard Curriculum Vitae. philosophy.berkeley.edu.
  2. Callard . Agnes . 2022-07-25 . Turns out this speech of mine from 1997 is online! . agnescallard. 1551675190584561664 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221123152722/https://twitter.com/AgnesCallard/status/1551675190584561664 . 2022-11-23 . 2022-11-23 . en.
  3. A Conversation with Agnes Callard. Agnes. Callard. Anna Day . Eloise Hickey . James Cafferky . Mark Rothery . Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Australasia. August 2022 . November 28, 2023.
  4. Web site: Agnes Callard . Department of Philosophy, University of Chicago . 2020-10-04 . philosophy.uchicago.edu . June 24, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200624132719/https://philosophy.uchicago.edu/faculty/a-callard. live.
  5. Web site: Weinberg . Justin . How Is Good Public Philosophy Possible? . February 14, 2019 . dailynous.com. 28 December 2020.
  6. Web site: Agnes . Callard. Cliff Sosis. Interview Agnes Callard. July 25, 2019. 2020-12-05. What Is It Like to Be a Philosopher?. en-US.
  7. Web site: Agnes Callard CV. amazonaws.com. 2018.
  8. Web site: Shepherd. Erin. 2020-04-13. 2020 Lebowitz Prize Awarded to Philosophers Callard and Paul. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200716022732/https://www.apaonline.org/news/501369/2020-Lebowitz-Prize-Awarded-to-Philosophers-Callard-and-Paul.htm. July 16, 2020. 2020-10-05. American Philosophical Association. en.
  9. Web site: UChicago philosopher Agnes Callard receives 2020 Lebowitz Prize . UChicago News . Sara. Patterson . University of Chicago . 2020-05-01. 2020-10-04. July 3, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200703072119/https://news.uchicago.edu/story/uchicago-philosopher-agnes-callard-receives-2020-lebowitz-prize. live.
  10. Web site: 2019-04-11. Guggenheim Foundation Names 2019 Fellows. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190530015954/https://www.artforum.com/news/guggenheim-foundation-names-2019-fellows-79326. May 30, 2019. 2020-10-05. Artforum.com . en-US.
    • Web site: Philosophers Win Guggenheim Fellowships. Daily Nous . Justin. Weinberg . 2019-04-10. October 4, 2020. February 21, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200221213553/http://dailynous.com/2019/04/10/philosophers-win-guggenheim-fellowships-2/. live.
  11. Web site: 2019-01-20. Agnes Callard. 2020-10-04. . en. September 29, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200929131829/http://bostonreview.net/author/agnes-callard. live.
  12. Callard. Agnes. 2020-04-11. What Do the Humanities Do in a Crisis?. The New Yorker. en-us.
  13. News: Callard. Agnes. 2020-07-21. Opinion Should We Cancel Aristotle?. en-US. The New York Times . 2020-10-04. 0362-4331. October 2, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201002225414/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/21/opinion/should-we-cancel-aristotle.html. live.
  14. Web site: Agnes Callard, Author at The Point Magazine. 2020-10-04. The Point Magazine. en-US. September 30, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200930192258/https://thepointmag.com/author/acallard/. live.
  15. Russ Roberts . June 22, 2020 . Agnes Callard on Philosophy, Progress, and Wisdom. 2020-12-29. EconTalk. en-US.
  16. Web site: Episode 126: Listener Q&A with Agnes Callard and Ben Callard . Elucidations Podcast . June 7, 2020. 29 December 2020.,
  17. 2021-05-14. Transcript: Ezra Klein Interviews Agnes Callard. en-US. The New York Times . Ezra Klein . Agnes. Callard . 2021-06-01. 0362-4331.
  18. Web site: Callard . Agnes . Night Owls . Night Owls . 9 August 2022.
  19. News: Kubzansky . Caroline . 2018-11-19. Divorced Professors Talk Trust, Modern Marriage at Philosophy Event. en-US. The Chicago Maroon. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20200920141515/https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2018/11/20/divorced-professors-expound-trust-modern-marriage/ . 2020-09-20.
  20. News: Borelli. Christopher. 2019-05-18. Can philosophy be cool? A Hyde Park debate series revives the art of the late-night dorm rap session. en-US. Chicago Tribune.
  21. Web site: Agnes and Robin talk, try to connect, often fail, but sometimes don't. Minds Almost Meeting . A Podcast by Robin Hanson and Agnes Callard.
  22. Web site: Weekman . Kelsey . November 2, 2022 . A Mom Who Tweeted About Throwing Out Her Kids' Halloween Candy Said She Was Accused of Abuse After It 'Escaped the Orbit' of Her Followers. en . BuzzFeed News . February 14, 2023.
  23. Web site: Callard . Agnes . 2023-03-15 . This is wonderful! A really clear and detailed summary of my book--and you can click directly into whichever section interests you. Thanks so much Thiago! . 2023-05-30 . Twitter.
  24. Web site: Coelho . Thiago V. S. . 2023-03-15 . Thiago's Blog: Aspiration summary . 2023-05-30 . Thiago’s Blog.
  25. Web site: 2012-05-02. Collins. Sam . House of Lords reform – what do we want from a second chamber? . 2023-05-30 . Institute of Economic Affairs . en-GB.
  26. Callard . Agnes . 2018-03-22 . Aspiration . Oxford Scholarship Online . 10.1093/oso/9780190639488.001.0001. 978-0-19-063948-8 .
  27. 2023-03-06 . Agnes Callard's Marriage of the Minds . limited . 2023-03-08 . The New Yorker. Rachel . Aviv . en-US.
  28. Reviews of Aspiration:
    • Martin. Adrienne M.. September 2019. Review of Aspiration. European Journal of Philosophy. en. 27. 3. 814–817. 10.1111/ejop.12477. 211941343 . 0966-8373.
    • Hartman. Robert J.. April 2019. Review of Aspiration. The Philosophical Quarterly. en. 69. 275. 427–429. 10.1093/pq/pqy039. 0031-8094. October 4, 2020.
    • Rothman. Joshua. 2019-01-14. The Art of Decision-Making. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200701181639/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/21/the-art-of-decision-making. July 1, 2020. 2020-10-04. The New Yorker. en-us.
  29. The New Yorker . The Best Books We Read in 2020 . The New Yorker . December 28, 2020.

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