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**On leave Fall 2025/Spring 2026**
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Alice Crary is University Distinguished Professor (Philosophy, Liberal Studies and Gender & Sexuality Studies) and also Visiting Fellow at Regent's Park College, University of Oxford. She was Chair of Philosophy at the 麻豆传媒色情片 for Social Research (2014-2017) and Founding Co-Director of the听听(2014-2017).听
A moral and social philosopher, Crary has written widely on issues in metaethics, moral psychology and normative ethics, philosophy and literature, philosophy and feminism, critical animal studies, critical environmental studies, critical disability studies, and Critical Theory as well as on figures such as Austin, Cavell, Diamond, Foot, Murdoch and Wittgenstein.听Her most recent book (co-authored with Lori Gruen)听听(Polity, 2022)听argues for a radical reimagining of our relationship with animals via seven case studies of complex human-animal relations. Pioneering primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall commented that the work "presents the reader with the most thorough research into the ways in which animal lives are understood."
Crary's previous book,听听(Harvard University Press, 2016), is a monograph on the representation of animals and humans in ethical discourse. The book has been听听as 鈥渁 sweeping challenge to several widely shared orthodoxies in metaphysics and moral philosophy.鈥 Crary is also known for听听(), which challenges received images of the nature and difficulty of moral thought, bringing out the moral dimension of all language. While finishing her doctorate in philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, she co-edited and wrote the introduction to听听(Routledge, 2000), which continues to influence debates over Wittgenstein's philosophy.
Crary recently co-edited听听(Vol. 49, Issue 1, Spring 2021). Current projects include a monograph entitled听Radical Animal听on dehumanization, animals and critique; a monograph on听Wittgenstein and Political Thought听co-written with Joel de Lara (contracted with Cambridge University Press); and a collection,听The Good it Promises, The Harm it Does: Critical Essays on Effective Altruism, co-edited with Carol Adams and Lori Gruen (Oxford University Press, 2022).听
Together with Nancy Bauer, Arnold Davidson, and Sandra Laugier, Crary is one of the executor advisors to Stanley Cavell鈥檚 literary estate. The first volume from Cavell's Nachlass,听(co-edited by Bauer, Crary and Laugier) appeared with Harvard University Press in 2022. Christopher Benfey听wrote in a听New York Review of Books听review: "What comes across most powerfully... is Cavell's attentive listening, throughout his long and distinguished career, for what one might call the hum of humanity."
Crary is a member of a number of international research groups devoted to subjects such as ordinary language philosophy, social justice and critical theory, and feminism and philosophy.听Crary is the NSSR's听organizer for the . She is the faculty sponsor of the New York Wittgenstein Workshop ([email protected]), and she runs an ongoing works-in-progress for the students in her research group. She was an officer of ESWIP () 2019-2021. At Oxford, she was the founding senior member or faculty sponsor of the student organization pwip (people for womxn in philosophy), and she continues her involvement with students as an academic advisor to opp (Oxford public philosophy).
Crary is a founding co-convener of The Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Social Philosophy. This is a collective endeavor by faculty and graduate students from the 麻豆传媒色情片 for Social Research and Vanderbilt University. Conceived to recognize groundbreaking philosophical work tackling questions of social epistemology, social ontology, theories of race, gender, class, ability, animality, and the natural environment, the first biennial Prize was awarded in the spring of 2021 to groundbreaking social philosopher Dr. Robert Gooding-Williams, an occasion celebrated with a public lecture including responses from philosophers and social theorists. For more information, please visit , or contact Crary and the other organizers at [email protected].
During 2021-2022 she was a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, on leave from the 麻豆传媒色情片. During summer 2023, she will co-curate, with Alex Aleinikoff, the 30th annual Summer Institute of Transregional Center for Democratic Studies (TCDS), with the topic in Wroc艂aw, Poland.听
Degrees Held
PhD in Philosophy 1999, University of Pittsburgh
AB in Philosophy 1990, Harvard
Recent Publications
Monographs:
, together with Lori Gruen, Polity 2022.
听(Harvard University Press, 2016).
听(Harvard University Press, 2007).
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Books in Progress:听
Radical Animal (projected completion summer 2022).
Wittgenstein and Political Philosophy, co-written with Joel de Lara, contracted with Cambridge University Press, anticipated for 2023.听
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Edited Volumes:
The Good it Promises, The Harm it Does: Critical Essays on Effective Altruism,听co-edited with Carol Adams and Lori Gruen, Oxford University Press, 2022.
Stanley Cavell,听, co-edited with Nancy Bauer and Sandra Laugier, Harvard University Press, 2022.
听(MIT Press, 2007).
, co-edited with Sanford Shieh (Routledge, 2006).
, co-edited with Rupert Read (Routledge, 2000).
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Edited Journal Issues:
, an issue of Philosophical Topics on ideology, social justice and critique, co-edited with Matt Congdon (Spring 2021).
, a special issue of the Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, co-edited with Joel de Lara (Spring 2019).
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Selected Recent Articles and Book Chapters:
鈥淥bjectivity鈥檚 Politics,鈥 forthcoming.
鈥淭olstoy: Literature and Animal Life,鈥 in Clair Linzey, ed., Animal Theologians, Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
鈥淓ditors鈥 Introduction,鈥 with Nancy Bauer and Sandra Laugier, to Stanley Cavell, , Harvard University Press, 2022.
鈥淣eutrality, Critique and Social Visibility: Response to Beaver and Stanley,鈥 Philosophical Topics, Summer/Fall 2021.听
鈥淒ehumanization and the Question of Animals,鈥 in Maria Kronfeldner, ed., Routledge Handbook on Dehumanization, London: Routledge, 2021. 听
鈥淭he Theory and Practice of Racial Visibility: Response to Medina,鈥 in Robin Celikates, Sally Haslanger and Jason Stanley, eds., Ideology, Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming. 听
鈥淪eeing Animal Suffering,鈥 in Maria Balaska, ed., Cora Diamond on Ethics, London: Palgrave McMillan, 2021. 听
鈥淩ecovering the Core of Critique: Response to Jaeggi鈥檚 鈥楲ebensformen als Probleml枚sungsinstanzen鈥,鈥 in Philosophisches Jahrbuch, 2019.
鈥淎 Continuing Engagement with Endangered and Excluded Scholars: Confronting political barriers that hinder the progress of knowledge,鈥 co-written with Johan Heilbron and Ian Jauslin, in IAS鈥檚听 The Institute Letter, Spring 2019, and also online in two different versions at https://www.sss.ias.edu/sites/sss.ias.edu/files/pdfs/History-Working-Group/Continuing%20Engagement%202.pdfand https://www.ias.edu/ideas/continuing-engagement-endangered-and-excluded-scholars.
"The Character of Whose Virtue? Response to Hauerwas," in The Syndicate, https://syndicate.network/theology/, 2019.
"Humanistic Thought as a Route to the Value of Humanity" (in Spanish as "El Pensamiento Humanista Como Ruta Hacia el Valor de la Humanidad") in Miguel Giusti, ed., El Conflicto de las Facultades. Sobre la Universidad el Sentido de los Humanidades, published jointly by Anthropos Publishing House (Madrid) and the Editorial Fund of the Pontificia Universidad Cat贸lica del Per煤 (Lima), 2019.
"Objectivity," in James Conant and Sebastian Greves,听Wittgenstein: Basic Concepts, Cambridge University Press, 2019.
"For My Teacher, Stanley Cavell," forthcoming in听Conversations, 2019.
A Portuguese translation of this piece by Helena Carneiro is published as "Para o Meu Professor," in听Forma de Vida, no. 15, https://formavida.org/.
Co-authored with Joel de Lara, "Who's Afraid of Ordinary Language Philosophy? A Plea for Reviving a Wrongly Reviled Tradition," introduction to a special issue of the听Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, vol. 39., no. 2, 2019, 317-339.
"Cavell and Critique," Conversations, issue 6, winter 2019.
"Animals, Cognitive Disability and Getting the World in Focus in Ethics and Social Thought: Reply to Eva Feder Kittay and Peter Singer," forthcoming in Zeitschrift f眉r Ethik und Moral Philosophie, 2019.
This article is published together with a German synopsis, co-authored with Dagmar Borchers, of my article "The Horrific History of Comparisons between Cognitive Disability and Animality [And How to Move Past It]," and also together with responses to my article by Eva Feder Kittay and Peter Singer.
鈥淩esponse to Avner Baz,鈥 鈥淩esponse to Nora H盲m盲l盲inen,鈥 鈥淩esponse to Anne-Marie Christensen-Sondergaard,鈥 鈥淩esponse to Aaron Klink,鈥 and 鈥淭houghts on Cats and Theology: Response to Stanley Hauerwas,鈥 posted as part of a book symposium on Inside Ethics at The Syndicate, https://syndicate.network/, September 3, 2018.
鈥淪tanley Cavell and the American Contradiction: How to be a citizen in a profoundly imperfect nation,鈥 co-authored with Nancy Bauer and Sandra Laugier, in听The Stone, an online blog of the听New York Times, July 2, 2018.
A Portuguese translation of this piece by Helena Carneiro is published as 鈥淪tanley Cavell e a Contradi莽茫o Americana鈥 in听Forma de Vida,听no.15,听听.
"The Horrific History of Comparisons Between Animals and Cognitively Disabled Human Beings (and How to Move Past It)" in Lori Gruen and Fiona Probyn Rapsey, eds.,听Animaladies, Bloomsbury, 2018.
"Wittgenstein Goes to Frankfurt (and Finds Something Useful to Say)" in听Nordic Wittgenstein Review, June 2018.
This article has been superseded by a revised and expanded version, which is published as "Wittgenstein Does Critical Theory," in Richard Amesbury, Hartmut von Sass and Christoph Ammann, eds.,听Doing Ethics with Wittgenstein, Bloomsbury, 2019. Anyone interested in the material should consult the updated version.
"Cognitive Disability and Moral Status," in Adam Cureton and David Wasserman, eds.,听Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Disability, Oxford University Press, 2018.
"Ethics," in Lori Gruen, ed.,听Critical Terms in Animal Studies, University of Chicago Press, 2018.
"The Methodological is Political,"听Radical Philosophy, vol. 2.02, June 2018.
Forthcoming in Spanish as "Lo metodol贸gico es pol铆tico: 驴cu谩l es el problema con 'feminismo anal铆tico'?," translated by Gonzalo Bustamante Moya. Debates en paralelo. Forthcoming.听.听
"'Stories to Meditate on': Animals in Gaita's Narrative Philosophy," in Ana Falcato, ed., Philosophy in the Condition of Modernism, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
Research Interests
Moral Philosophy; Social Philosophy, including Critical Theory, Cognitive Disability and Philosophy and Critical Philosophy of Race; Critical Animal Studies; Critical Environmental Studies; Aesthetics, especially Philosophy and Literature; Wittgenstein/Austin/Speech Act Theory; Feminism and Philosophy