Howard WettsteinHoward Wettstein

Ph.D., City University of New York, 1976
Professor of Philosophy
HMNSS 3211
951-827-1503 (message phone)
howard.wettstein@ucr.edu

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Professor Wettstein holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Yeshiva College, and an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the City University of New York. He has published two books—The Magic Prism: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language (Oxford University Press, 2004) and Has Semantics Rested On a Mistake?, and Other Essays (Stanford University Press, 1991)—and a number of papers in the philosophy of language, for many years the focus of his research. During the last decade he has also worked in the philosophy of religion, publishing papers on topics like awe, doctrine, the problem of evil, and the viability of philosophical theology. He is currently at work on a book in the philosophy of religion. Among his central teaching interests is a freshman level introduction to philosophy, which raises the central questions in the field by way of issues in the philosophy of religion. In recent years he has taught graduate seminars on the meaning of life (with John Fischer) and on Kripke (with Paul Hoffman). He has also taught philosophy of language seminars at UCLA. He is a senior editor (with Peter French) of Midwest Studies in Philosophy, and has edited a number of other volumes including Themes From Kaplan (Oxford University Press, 1989, co-edited) and Diasporas and Exiles (University of California Press, 2002).

Research Interests

  • Philosophy of Language
  • Philosophy of Mind
  • Philosophy of Religion

Selected Publications and Talks

The Magic PrismBooks and Collections:

  • The Magic Prism: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, Oxford University Press, 2004. (To read the Introduction, click here. Click here for a discount on the hardback and here for a discount on the paperback from Oxford University Press.)

  • Diasporas and Exiles: Varieties of Jewish Identity (editor), University of California Press, 2002. (For further information, click here.)

  • Has Semantics Rested on a Mistake?, And Other Essays, Stanford University Press, 1990

  • Themes from Kaplan, (co-editor) Oxford, 1989

  • Midwest Studies in Philosophy (co-editor), 1977–present

Selected Articles