Michael Krausz
Philosopher

Michael Krausz is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Bryn Mawr College, where he served as its Chair for ten consecutive years. Krausz is the co-founder and former Chair of the (fifteen institution) Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium. Trained at the Universities of Toronto (Ph.D., 1969) and Oxford, he has been visiting professor at Georgetown University, University of Oxford, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, American University in Cairo, University of Nairobi, India Institute of Advanced Study, and the University of Ulm, among others.

Krausz is the author of Rightness and Reasons: Interpretation in Cultural Practices, (Cornell University Press, 1993); Varieties of Relativism (with Rom Harré) (Basil Blackwell Publishers, 1996); Limits of Rightness (Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2000); Interpretation and Transformation: Explorations in Art and the Self (Rodopi Publishers, 2007), and Dialogues on Relativism, Absolutism and Beyond: Four Days in India (Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2011); Roots in the Air:  A Philosophical Autobiography of a Philosopher, Artist, and Musician (Brill Publishers, 2019). 

Krausz is also contributing editor of Critical Essays on the Philosophy of R.G. Collingwood (Clarendon Press, 1972); Relativism: Interpretation and Confrontation, (Notre Dame University Press, 1989); The Interpretation of Music: Philosophical Essays (Clarendon Press, 1993); Is There A Single Right Interpretation? (Penn State University Press, 2002), and Relativism: A Contemporary Anthology (Columbia University Press, 2010). As well, he is a contributing co-editor of The Concept of Creativity in Science and Art (Nijhoff Publishers, 1981); Relativism: Cognitive and Moral (Notre Dame University Press, 1984); Rationality, Relativism, and the Human Sciences (Nijhoff Publishers, 1986), Jewish Identity (Temple University Press, 1993), and Interpretation, Relativism, and the Metaphysics of Culture (Humanity Press, 1999).

In 2001, Krausz was the subject of a four-day international conference at the University of Delhi. In 2003 Rodopi Publishers published a festschrift on his philosophical work. It is entitled, Interpretation and Its Objects: Studies in the Philosophy of Michael Krausz, edited by Andreea Deciu Ritivoi. In it Krausz replies to scholars from the U.S., England, Germany, India, Japan, and Australia.  In 2018 his work was also the subject of Interpretation, Relativism, and Identity:  Essays on the Philosophy of Michael Krausz, edited by Christine Koggel and Andreea Ritivoi, Lexington Books, 2018.  Michael Krausz was an Adjunct Fellow at Linacre College, Oxford University from 2017-2020.

Testimonials from the Krausz Festschrift:

"Michael Krausz's influential and important work on interpretation in all its cultural manifestations is the focus of this comprehensive collection of discussion papers. In engaging with Krausz the contributors show the richness, subtlety, and depth of his thinking. There are few guides more percipient and sure-footed in this terrain than Michael Krausz."

Peter Lamarque, Editor, The British Journal of Aesthetics,
Professor of Philosophy, University of York

"The essays from this fittingly global array of philosophers give testimony to the richness and relevance of Michael Krausz's work on interpretation, from issues of ontology, through how to understand art and culture, to the value of life itself."

Susan Feagin, Editor, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism,
Research Professor of Philosophy, Temple University

"Michael Krausz, by virtue of a series of works, has become, more than anyone else I know of, a central figure in the study of interpretation theory, relativism, and multiculturalism. In Krausz's writings, they have all come together in their intricate and delicate interrelationships. This book, most appropriately in his honor, substantially advances the discussion of Krausz's ideas. The volume will become a standard work for anyone who wishes to pursue interpretation theory and its related themes."

Jitendra Mohanty, Professor of Philosophy, Temple University, and Woodruff Professor of Philosophy and Asian Studies, Emory University

"Anyone who has engaged seriously in a discussion of a particular work of art knows that the question of whether there is a single correct interpretation or even one interpretation that is better than others quickly arises. Michael Krausz's careful discussions of this issue over the past several years have advanced that debate, as have the many articles that his work has stimulated. This volume is sure to provide new insights. Both philosophers and non-philosophers are certain to benefit from the variety of approaches represented."

Marcia Eaton, Past President, The American Society for Aesthetics,
Professor of Philosophy, University of Minnesota

"Michael Krausz has developed over the years a complex, original view of the general features and uses of interpretation. Tolerant but rigorous, systematically based but historically sensitive, Krausz's account, which allows that works of art and cultural objects can often be interpreted in different ways but blocks an easy relativism, is addressed in this volume by authors from several philosophical traditions. The essays, with his detailed replies, give a lively picture of Krausz's approach. They also raise questions of substance and method that are important in their own right, address the issue of inter-cultural communication, illuminate the role of interpretation in everyday life."

Alexander Nehamas, Edmund N. Carpenter Professor in Humanities, Philosophy, and Comparative Literature, Princeton University