Michael Philips

Professor Emeritus of Philosophy
philipsm@pdx.edu

Biography

Michael Philips, Professor, earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at The Johns Hopkins University (1972). He joined the philosophy department at Portland State as an assistant professor in September 1969. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Hawaii (1979-80), the University of Miami (1982-84), and the University of British Columbia (1988-90) and a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley (1984-85). In addition to his work in philosophy, he is a fine art photographer, a performance artist, and a writer of theater pieces. His op-ed pieces have appeared in the Portland Oregonian and the New York Times, and for two years he did weekly radio commentaries on KOAP (Oregon's NPR affiliate). Professor Philips specializes in ethics, but also works in epistemology and the philosophy of mind. He has published 25 pieces in books and journals (including Mind, Philosophical Studies, Nous, Ethics, Philosophical Quarterly, The American Philosophical Quarterly, The Canadian Journal of Philosophy and the Australasian Journal of Philosophy). His work has appeared in nine anthologies. He has published three books (Between Universalism and Skepticism, Oxford University Press, 1994, Philosophy and Science Fiction, Prometheus Books, 1980, and The Undercover Philosopher, Oneworld, 2008). He has delivered papers at many philosophical conferences and at many universities in the US, Canada and Australia. He is currently a regular contributor to the English bimonthly magazine Philosophy Now.