Kraut named Morrison Professor in the Humanities

Richard Kraut, professor of philosophy and of classics, has been named the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor in the Humanities.

Kraut specializes in moral and political philosophy, particularly that of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Regarded as a leading scholar in ancient Greek ethics, he has also written on ethical and moral issues more generally. In his current research, he takes up dimensions of Aristotle’s political and social philosophy that are of relevance in contemporary politics and political philosophy.

Kraut is author of "Aristotle on the Human Good" and "Socrates and the State" and translated with commentary "Aristotle Politics, Books VII and VIII. He edited "Critical Essays on Plato’s Republic" and "The Cambridge Companion to Plato" and was co-editor of "Nature, Knowledge and Virtue: Essays in Memory of Joan Kung." He has written more than 60 journal articles and reviews. A member of the faculty since 1995, Kraut served as chair of the department of philosophy and was a faculty affiliate of the Alice Berline Kaplan Center for the Humanities.

He has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Center for Hellenic Studies and the American Council of Learned Societies. At the University of Illinois at Chicago, his former institution, he was University Scholar, Research Professor of the Humanities, and former chair of the department of philosophy. Kraut was president of the American Philosophical Association, Central Division, and currently serves on its Committee on the Status and Future of the Profession. He serves on the editorial boards of Ethics and Archiv fuer Geschichte der Philsophie. Kraut this year will deliver the Carlyle Classes in Political Thought at Oxford University.