Lebowitz Prize Awarded to Philosophers Agnes Callard and Laurie Paul

WASHINGTON, DC – April 13, 2020 – The American Philosophical Association (APA) and the Phi Beta Kappa Society (ΦBK) are pleased to announce that Dr. Agnes Callard, Associate Professor at the University of Chicago, and Dr. Laurie Paul, Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Yale University, have won the 2020 Dr. Martin R. Lebowitz and Eve Lewellis Lebowitz Prize for Philosophical Achievement and Contribution. Awarded annually by ΦBK in conjunction with the APA, this prize recognizes outstanding achievement in the field of philosophy. Each winner will be awarded an honorarium.
 
The Lebowitz Prize was established in 2012 by a generous bequest from Eve Lewellis Lebowitz in honor of her late husband, Martin R. Lebowitz, a distinguished philosophical critic. The Lebowitz Prize is awarded to two philosophers who hold contrasting views on a chosen topic of current interest in philosophy. They present their views and engage in a dialogue at an annual Lebowitz symposium, held during an APA divisional meeting, and ΦBK sponsors a public presentation featuring both philosophers.

Agnes Callard, Ph.D., received her undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago and her M.A. in Classics and Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley. Teaching at the University of Chicago since 2008, Callard's primary areas of specialization are Ancient Philosophy and Ethics. She is the author of Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming (Oxford University Press, 2018) and numerous academic articles and publications. Dr. Callard is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Loeb Fellowship, among other awards, and writes a monthly philosophy column for The Point magazine.

Laurie Paul, Ph.D., received her undergraduate degree from Antioch College, her MA in Philosophy from Antioch University, and her MA and Ph.D. in Philosophy from Princeton University.  As Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Yale University, her areas of specialization include metaphysics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, cognitive science, and formal epistemology. She is the author of Transformative Experience (Oxford University Press, 2014) and Causation: A User's Guide (Oxford University Press, 2013), which was awarded the American Philosophical Association Sanders Book Prize. Dr. Paul is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, among many honors and grants, and has given over a dozen named lectures.

Professors Callard and Paul's topic for the 2020 Lebowitz Prize is "Personal Transformation and Practical Reason." The two highly regarded philosophers have given a great deal of thought to what is involved in long-term decision making, and their proposed dialogue focuses on different conceptions of practical rationality that are from differing philosophical traditions.

Nominations/applications for the 2021 Lebowitz Prize will open in early fall 2020; the deadline is December 1, 2020. Please click here for more information.