Tamar Gendler

Tamar Szabó Gendler (born December 20, 1965) is an American academic and philosopher. She has been the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yale University,^[1][2] where she is also the Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy and a Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences. Her academic research focuses on issues in philosophical psychology, epistemology, metaphysics, and areas related to philosophical methodology.

Tamar Gendler
Gendler in 2018
Born	(1965-12-20) December 20, 1965 (age 60) Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
Known for	Coining alief
Spouse	Zoltan Szabo
Academic background
Education	Yale University (BA) Harvard University (PhD)
Website	http://tamar-gendler.yale.edu

Gendler is best known for her work on thought experiments,^[3] imagination—particularly on the phenomenon of imaginative resistance^[4]—and for coining the term alief.^[5]

Early life and education

Gendler was born in 1965 in Princeton, New Jersey, to Mary and Everett Gendler, a Conservative rabbi. She grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, where she attended public schools and then Phillips Academy Andover.^[6]

As an undergraduate, she studied at Yale University, where she was a championship debater in the American Parliamentary Debate Association and a member of Manuscript Society.^[7] She graduated summa cum laude in 1987 with distinction in the humanities, mathematics, and philosophy.

After graduating from college, she worked for several years as an assistant to Linda Darling-Hammond at the RAND Corporation's education policy division in Washington, D.C.^[8]

In 1996, she earned her Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University, where she was supervised by Robert Nozick, Derek Parfit and Hilary Putnam.^[9]

Career

Gendler taught philosophy at Yale University (1996–97), Syracuse University (1997–2003) and Cornell University (2003–06), before returning to Yale in 2006 as a professor of philosophy and Chair of the Yale University Cognitive Science Program (2006–2010).^[10] On July 1, 2010, she became Chair of the Yale University Department of Philosophy, becoming the first woman to hold that position in the department's history and the first female graduate of Yale College to chair a Yale Department. She held the position until 2013, when she was appointed as Deputy Provost for Humanities and Initiatives.^[11]

From July 2014 to December 2024, Gendler served as the inaugural Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yale.^[12][13][14]

She is the author of Thought Experiments: On the Powers and Limits of Imaginary Cases (Routledge, 2000)^[15] and Intuition, Imagination and Philosophical Methodology (Oxford, 2010),^[16] and editor or co-editor of The Elements of Philosophy (Oxford 2008),^[17] Perceptual Experience (Oxford, 2006),^[18] Conceivability and Possibility (Oxford 2002). She is also co-editor of the journal Oxford Studies in Epistemology^[19] and The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Methodology.^[20]

Awards and honors

Gendler has held Fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship Program in the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies/Ryskamp Fellowship Program,^[21] the Collegium Budapest Institute for Advanced Studies, and the Mellon New Directions Program.^[22] In 2012, she was appointed as the Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy at Yale.^[23] In 2013, she was awarded the Yale College-Sidonie Miskimin Clauss '75 Prize for Excellence in Teaching in the Humanities.^[24]

Her philosophical articles have appeared in journals such as the Journal of Philosophy, Mind, Philosophical Perspectives, Mind & Language, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, Philosophical Studies, and The Philosophical Quarterly. Her 2008 essay "Alief and Belief" was selected by the Philosopher's Annual as one of the 10 best articles published in philosophy in 2008.^[25]

Personal life

Gendler is married to Zoltan Gendler Szabo, a philosopher and linguist who is also a professor at Yale University.^[26][27] They have two children.

Bibliography

• The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Methodology. Co-edited by Tamar Szabo Gendler, Herman Cappelen, and John Hawthorne. NY/Oxford: Clarendon/Oxford University Press, 2016.
• Intuition, Imagination and Philosophical Methodology: Selected Papers. NY/Oxford: Clarendon/Oxford University Press, 2010.
• The Elements of Philosophy: Readings from Past and Present. Co-edited with Susanna Siegel and Steven M. Cahn, NY: Oxford, 2008.
• Perceptual Experience. Co-edited with an introduction by Tamar Szabó Gendler and John Hawthorne. NY/Oxford: Clarendon/Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Conceivability and Possibility. Co-edited with an introduction by Tamar Szabó Gendler and John Hawthorne. NY/Oxford: Clarendon/Oxford University Press, 2002.
• Thought Experiment: On the Powers and Limits of Imaginary Cases. NY: Routledge, 2000.
• Intuition, imagination, and philosophical methodology. Oxford University Press, 2010.