Owen Flanagan was born and raised in Westchester County New York.  He received his Ph.D. in 1978 from Boston University.  He taught for sixteen years (1978-1993) at Wellesley College as Class of 1919 Professor of Philosophy.  In 1993 he came to Duke where he is James B. Duke University Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Center for Comparative Philosophy.  He also holds appointments in Psychology and Neuroscience, and is a Faculty Fellow in Cognitive Neuroscience and a steering committee member of the "Philosophy, Arts, and Literature" (PAL) program, and an Affiliate of the Graduate Program in Literature.

His work is in Philosophy of Mind and Psychiatry, Ethics, Moral Psychology, Cross-Cultural Philosophy

His latest book is *The Geography of Morals: Varieties of Moral Possibility* (pub. October 2016; Oxford 2017) 

In 2016-2017 Flanagan is Berggruen Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University CA

In 2015-2016 Flanagan was Rockefeller Fellow at the National Humanities Center, Research Triangle Park NC

In February 2014 he gave the 77th Aquinas Lecture at Marquette University.

In the Fall of 2013, he was distinguished research professor at City University Hong Kong and lectured widely in East Asia on 21st c. Moral Psychology & East Asian Philosophy

In 2012 he was the  Indian Council for Philosophical Research (ICPR) Annual Distinguished Lecturer on *Comparative Philosophy, Virtue, and Well-Being*

In 2006 he gave the Templeton research Lectures at USC in Los Angeles on *Human Flourishing in the Age of Mind Science.*

In 1998, he was recipient of the Romanell National Phi Beta Kappa award, given annually to one American philosopher for distinguished contributions to philosophy and the public understanding of philosophy.

In 1993-94 Flanagan was President of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology.

He has lectured on every continent except Antarctica, where however he has been. Besides enjoying writing articles, reviews, and contributing to colloquia, Flanagan has written the following books and edited several:

• The Science of the Mind (MIT press, 1984; 2nd edition, 1991)
• Identity, Character, and Morality: Essays in Moral Psychology, edited with Amelie O. Rorty (MIT Press, 1990)
• Varieties of Moral Personality: Ethics and Psychological Realism (Harvard University Press, 1991),
• Consciousness Reconsidered (MIT Press, 1992)
• Self Expressions: Mind, Morals, and the Meaning of Life (Oxford University Press, 1996)
• The Nature of Consciousness edited with Ned Block and Güven Güzeldere (MIT Press, 1998)
• Dreaming Souls: Sleep, Dreams, and the Evolution of the Conscious Mind (Oxford University, 1999)
• The Problem of the Soul: Two Visions of Mind and How to Reconcile Them*
• The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material World* (MIT Press 200
• The Bodhisattva's Brain: Buddhism Naturalized* (October, 2011), MIT PRESS. 

Office Location: 201E West Duke Bldg, Durham, NC 27708
Email Address:
Web Page: https://sites.google.com/site/owenflanaganhomepage/

Office Hours:

On leave 2016-2017

Education:
Ph.D., Boston University, 1978

Specialties:

Philosophy of Mind
Cognitive Science
955
Ethics

Research Interests:

Current projects: 1. The Geography of Morals* Book on what 21st c. moral psychology and cross-cultural moral philosophy can teach each other.

Owen Flanagan (Ph.D. 1978, Boston University) came to Duke as chair of the department in 1993, a post he held until 1999. He also holds appointments in Psychology and is a Faculty Fellow in Cognitive Neuroscience and a steering committee member of the "Philosophy, Arts, and Literature" (PAL) program, and an Affiliate of the Graduate Program in Literature.

He has had visiting positions at Berkeley, Brandeis, Princeton, Harvard, and La Trobe in Australia, University of Vienna, City University of Hong Kong, as well as several fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

In 1993-94 Flanagan was President of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology.

In 1998, he was recipient of the Romanell National Phi Beta Kappa award, given annually to one American philosopher for distinguished contributions to philosophy and the public understanding of philosophy.

He has lectured on every continent except Antarctica, where however he has been. Besides enjoying writing articles, reviews, and contributing to colloquia, Flanagan has written the following books and edited several:

• The Science of the Mind (MIT press, 1984; 2nd edition, 1991)
• Identity, Character, and Morality: Essays in Moral Psychology, edited with Amelie O. Rorty (MIT Press, 1990)
• Varieties of Moral Personality: Ethics and Psychological Realism (Harvard University Press, 1991),
• Consciousness Reconsidered (MIT Press, 1992)
• Self Expressions: Mind, Morals, and the Meaning of Life (Oxford University Press, 1996)
• The Nature of Consciousness edited with Ned Block and Güven Güzeldere (MIT Press, 1998)
• Dreaming Souls: Sleep, Dreams, and the Evolution of the Conscious Mind (Oxford University, 1999)
• Narrative and Consciousness: Literature, Psychology, and the Brain Co-edited with Gary Fireman and Ted McVay (Oxford University Press, 2002)

*The Problem of the Soul: Two Visions of Mind and How to Reconcile Them*

*The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material World* (MIT Press 2007).

*The Bodhisattva's Brain: Buddhism Naturalized* (October, 2011), MIT PRESS. The paperback and a Korean translation appeared in 2013. In 2013 he gave the 78th Aquinas Lecture at Marquette University, which has been published as *Moral Sprouts and Natural Teleology: 21st c. Moral Psychology Meets Classical Chinese Philosophy* (Marquette University Press, 2014)

He was awarded a Fulbright Research Award in 2001-2002 to study Buddhist and Hindu conceptions of the self. In 2006 he gave the Templeton research Lectures at USC in Los Angeles on *Human Flourishing in the Age of Mind Science.*

In December 2012 he lectured in INDIA (Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Allahabad) as Indian Council for Philosophical Research (ICPR) Distinguished Lecturer on *Comparative Philosophy, Virtue, and Well-Being*

In the Fall of 2013, He was distinguished research professor at City University Hong Kong and lectured widely in East Asia on 21st c. Moral Psychology & East Asian Philosophy

In February 2014 he will give the 77th Aquinas Lecture at Marquette University on * MORAL SPROUTS AND NATURAL TELEOLOGIES: 21st CENTURY MORAL PSYCHOLOGY MEETS CLASSICAL CHINESE PHILOSOPHY. A monograph based on the lecture was published by Marquette University Press 2014.

Areas of Interest:

Comparative Philosophy (Chinese, Buddhist)
Philosophy & Literature, Philosophical Anthropology

Recent Publications   (More Publications)

• Flanagan, O; Hu, J. "Han fei zi’s philosophical psychology: Human nature, scarcity, and the Neo-Darwinian consensus." Journal of Chinese Philosophy 38.2 (January, 2021): 293-316. [doi]
• Flanagan, O. "Moral contagion and logical persuasion in the Mozi 1." Journal of Chinese Philosophy 35.3 (January, 2021): 473-491. [doi]
• Flanagan, O. "The disunity of addictive cravings." Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology 27.3 (September, 2020): 243-246. [doi]
• Flanagan, O. "Cross-cultural philosophy and well-being." Naturalism, Human Flourishing, and Asian Philosophy: Owen Flanagan and Beyond.  2019. 227-247.
• Flanagan, O. "Is Oneness an Over-belief?." Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 99.2 (September, 2019): 508-513. [doi]

Conferences Organized

• Editorial Boards, 2007 - present  

Curriculum Vitae