John J. Stuhr

John Jeremy Stuhr (born November 28, 1951) is an American philosopher who teaches at Emory University. He has written extensively about a wide assortment of philosophical figures and movements as well as a broad array of cultural problems and issues.“John J. Stuhr, Genealogical Pragmatism,” https://www.sunypress.edu/p-2660-genealogical-pragmatism.aspx . Retrieved 15 April 2017. His work is known for its lively, engaged, and direct style. He draws critically on thinkers from often separated philosophical traditions (such as Pragmatism, Neopragmatism, Continental Philosophy, Critical Theory, Postmodernism, and Deconstruction). Revealing his impatience with narrow and academic conceptions of philosophy, his writings make deep and consistent use of poetry, painting, photography, and the lyrics of contemporary music, and they exhibit a broad interdisciplinary reach across fields such as rhetoric, media studies, relativity theory, political and legal theory, cultural geography, and economics.John J. Stuhr, Pragmatic

Fashions, Indiana University Press. Retrieved 15 April 2017; Also see, Michael Tobias, J. Patrick Fitzgerald, and David Rothenberg, “John Stuhr: Prospects for Democracy,” A Parliament of Minds: Philosophy for a New Millennium (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000), pp. 180-195.

Early life Stuhr's mother was a philosophy professor who left the academy for politics and public service. His father, an aspiring poet, left the humanities and arts after World War II to become a founding partner in the country's first consulting firm to provide strategic planning for colleges and universities. He also served as Executive Director of the Economic Club of Chicago.John J. Stuhr, “Between the Lines of Age,” The Philosophical I: Personal Reflections on Life and Philosophy, ed. George Yancy (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002), pp. 43-68. Growing up in the Chicago area and surrounded at home by philosophy and poetry and liberal politics, Stuhr attended New Trier High School. He then earned his B.A. in philosophy from Carleton College, studying with philosophers Roy Elveton, Gary Iseminger, Maury Landsman, and Perry Mason, classics scholar David H. Porter, and economist Robert E. Will.David H. Porter and Merrill E. Jarchow, Carleton Remembered 1909-1986 (Northfield, MN: Carleton College, 1987), pp. vii-xi, 163-165. Abandoning at the last moment his plans for law school, in less than three years he earned both an M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from Vanderbilt University, where he studied with John J. Compton, Michael Hodges, Charles E. Scott, and Robert C. Williams. Under the direction of John Lachs, he wrote a dissertation, Experience as Activity: Dewey’s Metaphysics, focused on pragmatism and its historical roots in the thought of Aristotle and Hegel.“Doctoral Dissertations,” The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Sep., 1977), p. 175.

Career Stuhr began his teaching career at the age of 24. After a year as a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of New England,Motus, 1977 (Biddeford Pool, ME: St. Francis College, 1977; also available in electronic form at the St. Francis College History Collection). he taught for a decade as assistant professor, associate professor, and full professor at Whitman College. He moved to the University of Oregon to become a professor of philosophy and the founding director of the Oregon Humanities Center. In 1994 he accepted appointment as head of the department of philosophy at Penn State University (and its more than 20 campuses) where he also was Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and American Studies.John J. Stuhr, “Between the Lines of Age.” See also “Distinguished Professorships,” Penn State College of the Liberal Arts, http://la.psu.edu/faculty-staff/awards-and-honors/named-and-distinguished-professorships-1/distinguished-professorships Retrieved 15 April 2017. In 2003 he moved back to Vanderbilt University to become W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy and American Studies.“Inaugural Lecture by Vanderbilt Philosopher John J. Stuhr,” Vanderbilt News, February 18, 2004. https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2004/02/18/inaugural-lecture-by-vanderbilt-philosopher-john-j-stuhr-set-for-feb-26-59754/ . Retrieved 15 April 2017. In 2008, having chaired an external review of the department two years earlier, he accepted Emory University's offer to become Chair of the department of philosophy (2008–2016) and Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and American Studies.

Throughout his university administrative work, Stuhr has evidenced strong commitment to philosophical pluralism and institutional diversity, a push for growth and an advocacy for philosophy and the humanities, and a determination to make strong faculty appointments and to provide the intellectual space for them to do high-quality work.John J. Stuhr, “Fundamentalism and the Empire of Philosophy: What Constitutes a Pluralist Department?,” Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 70 (2), 1996, pp. 172-179. At Whitman College, for example, during Stuhr's leadership the philosophy department doubled in size and added the first women and first African-American philosophers in the institution's history. At the University of Oregon, the Humanities Center grew rapidly (fueled by major private fundraising) and engaged a highly diverse group of scholars on campus and intellectual leaders across the state.“History,” Oregon Humanities Center http://ohc.uoregon.edu/history.html . Retrieved 15 April 2017 During his headship at Penn State, the department hired a large group of philosophers including John Sallis (now at Boston College), John Russon (now at the University of Guelph), Richard A. Lee, Jr. (now at DePaul University), Shannon Sullivan (now at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte), Dennis J. Schmidt (now at Western Sydney University), and Nancy Tuana and Vincent Colapietro.“Interview with John J. Stuhr,” Dr. Caroline (Kay) Picart Radio Show, November 13, 2007. And, at Emory, under Stuhr's watch overhauls of both the undergraduate and graduate programs greatly increased diversity and pluralistic approaches to philosophy, as did appointments of new faculty including John T. Lysaker, Marta Jimenez, Melvin Rogers (now at Brown University), Susan M. Bredlau, Dilek Huseyinzadegan, and George Dewey Yancy.This is most evident through the annual changes noted in The Guide to Graduate Programs in Philosophy, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, The American Philosophical Association, http://www.apaonline.org/?page=gradguide . Retrieved 15 April 2017.

Stuhr has also held many lead administrative positions within the discipline of philosophy and, more broadly, the humanities. These include: president (1981), Northwest Philosophy Conference; director (1990–93), Western Humanities Conference; founding fellow (1987–2001), Society of Philosophers in America; president (2004–2006) and executive council (1982-1985, 2002–2008), Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy;SAAP Past Presidents, http://american-philosophy.org/officers.htm Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy. Retrieved 2 April 2017. vice-president and president elect (2023–24) and president (2024-24), Metaphysical Society of America;About page of the Metaphysical Society of America, https://www.metaphysicalsociety.org/about.htm Retrieved 28 December 2023. and, founding director (2007--), American Philosophies Forum.American Philosophies Forum, http://philosophy.emory.edu/home/news/APF.html Retrieved 31 March 2017. At present he is also the editor of the quarterly Journal of Speculative Philosophy (the oldest philosophy journal in the USA without religious affiliation)Penn State University Press, Journal of Speculative Philosophy, https://www.psupress.org/journals/jnls_jsp.html Retrieved 31 March 2017. and the founding American Philosophy book series general editor at Indiana University Press.Indiana University Press, American Philosophy Series http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/index.php?cPath=1037_3130_3224 Retrieved 31 March 2017.

Stuhr has held several visiting appointments and fellowships, including: a Fulbright Fellowship at Germany's Freiburg University (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg); a visiting faculty position at Australia's University of Melbourne; a visiting research fellowship at Saint Petersburg State University (Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет, СПбГУ); and, three times, a visiting scholar position at Cornell University to complete book projects. In 2023, Carleton College presented Stuhr with a lifetime Distinguished Achievement Award.Award Recipients, https://www.carleton.edu/alumni/council/awards/recipients-2023/#acc1_0/ Retrieved 28 December 2023.

Stuhr has authored over 200 scholarly articles, book chapters, and editorials. He is also the author or editor of several books. His work has been supported by many other institutions, agencies, grants and awards, including: the American Philosophical Society, the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, the Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Oregon Council for the Humanities, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, and Emory University's Institute for the History of Philosophy.

Stuhr has received several teaching awards. His graduate students and undergraduate students (more than two dozen of whom have received Ph.D.s in philosophy) include: professors and educators Rachel Dresbeck, Jeff Edmonds, Mark Fagiano, Tom Hilde, William S. Lewis, Michael Sullivan (now an Emory colleague), and Jamie Ross; business leaders and attorneys Sarah Bowers, Stephanie Dorgan, Wes Felix, Terrence R. McInnis, Brian Rabinovitz, Jibran Shermohammed, and Peter Viehl; and musicians and artists Marcus Amerman, C.J. Boyd, Chris Eckman, Charlie Humphrey, Max Levenson, Linda Lyons, and Deanne Meek. Through Dorgan (who owned Seattle's Crocodile Café), Stuhr met REM guitarist Peter Buck, and he, with members of REM and U2 singer Bono, served as character witnesses at Buck's “air rage” trial in London in 2002.Statement of Witness, John Stuhr (C.J. Act, 1967, s9; M.C. Act 1980; M.C. Rules 1981, r70). See also Q Magazine, REM Special Edition, 2001, p. 5. Stuhr also appeared in the National Public Television mini-series documentary, “A Parliament of Minds.”IMDb, "John Stuhr,” http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2254741/ . Retrieved 20 April 2017. In addition to his career in higher education, Stuhr also has worked as an editorial writer for the Portland Oregonian (under the direction of Robert M. Landauer) and as a political consultant on health and educational policy.John J. Stuhr, “Between the Lines of Age.” Also for example Oregon Policy Choices, ed. Lluana McCann (Eugene, OR: University of Oregon, 1989), pp. 71-92.

Philosophical themes

Genealogical pragmatism