Derk Pereboom

Derk Pereboom
Name	Derk Pereboom
Birth date	1957
Birth place	Pella, Iowa, United States
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Massachusetts Amherst, Cornell University
Institutions	University of Vermont, Cornell University, Columbia University
Notable works	Living without Free Will, Free Will, Agency, and Meaning in Life
Era	Contemporary philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School tradition	Analytic philosophy
Main interests	Philosophy of mind, ethics, metaphysics
Influences	Immanuel Kant, Daniel Dennett, Galen Strawson, Susan Wolf

Derk Pereboom is an American philosopher known for his work on free will, moral responsibility, and the philosophy of mind. He is noted for advocating hard incompatibilism and a form of ignorance-based moral psychology while engaging debates across metaphysics, ethics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of action. His scholarship intersects with discussions in analytic philosophy, continental philosophy, and contemporary debates in anglophone philosophy.

Early life and education

Pereboom was born in Pella, Iowa, and raised in a Midwestern context that later connected him to academic centers such as Iowa State University, Grinnell College, and Cornell University. He earned his undergraduate degree at Loyola University Chicago and completed graduate work at Cornell University under the supervision of figures associated with epistemology and philosophy of mind. He also spent formative time engaging with scholars at University of Massachusetts Amherst and interacting with debates emerging from institutions like Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, and Stanford University.

Academic career

Pereboom held faculty positions at institutions including Cornell University and Columbia University before joining the philosophy faculty at Vassar College and later at the University of Vermont. He participated in seminars and visiting appointments at centers such as the Australian National University, University of Oxford, University College London, Princeton University, Rutgers University, and the University of California, Berkeley. He has contributed to edited volumes published by presses like Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, MIT Press, and Harvard University Press. Pereboom has presented papers at conferences sponsored by organizations including the American Philosophical Association, the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, the Mind Association, and the European Society for Philosophy and Psychology.

Philosophical views

Pereboom defends hard incompatibilism, arguing that free will and moral responsibility are incompatible with determinism and with certain forms of indeterminism, situating his view amid positions advocated by philosophers such as Gal en Strawson, Derk Pereboom's critics? (see note below), Daniel Dennett, Peter van Inwagen, Galen Strawson, and P.F. Strawson. He proposes that accepting the absence of ultimate moral responsibility can coexist with endorsing practices drawn from institutions like criminal justice reform advocates, restorative justice movements associated with South Africa and Truth and Reconciliation Commission-style initiatives, and public policy discussions in legislatures such as the United States Congress and the European Parliament. His treatment of moral psychology engages with research from cognitive scientists and psychologists connected to labs at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton University. Pereboom develops compatibilities with ethical theorists including Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, W.D. Ross, Thomas Nagel, and Susan Wolf by reconfiguring responsibility-centred practices in light of his skepticism about libertarian free will.

Major works

His best-known book, Living without Free Will, published by Cambridge University Press, presents an extended argument for hard incompatibilism and explores implications for blame, praise, punishment, and moral education. He has published articles in journals such as Philosophical Studies, The Journal of Philosophy, Mind, Ethics, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, and Nous. Other significant publications include essays in collections from Oxford University Press and edited volumes with contributors from Columbia University, New York University, and King's College London. He has addressed topics related to consciousness and physicalism, engaging debates with proponents of property dualism, reductive physicalism, and defenders of panpsychism at conferences like the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness.

Reception and influence

Pereboom's work has generated extensive discussion across forums including the American Philosophical Association meetings, symposia in journals such as Ethics and Philosophical Quarterly, and public dialogues hosted by institutes like the New York Public Library and the Royal Institute of Philosophy. Critics and interlocutors include philosophers associated with compatibilism such as Daniel Dennett, John Martin Fischer, Harry Frankfurt, and Gary Watson, while supporters and sympathetic interlocutors include scholars connected to Gal en Strawson and Peter Strawson-inspired strands. His ideas have influenced debates in criminal law theory taught at faculties like Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, and Columbia Law School and have intersected with empirical research programs at Dartmouth College, University of Michigan, and University of Chicago. Reviews of his books have appeared in outlets such as The Philosophical Review, Kirkus Reviews, and specialized journals affiliated with Routledge and Cambridge University Press.

Personal life and awards

Pereboom has been involved with regional academic communities in Iowa, New York, and Vermont, and has participated in public philosophy events at venues including the Brooklyn Public Library, The New School, and the Chautauqua Institution. He has received fellowships and grants from organizations such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the John Templeton Foundation, and university-based research funds at Cornell University and the University of Vermont. He has lectured alongside figures from cognitive science and neuroscience and collaborated with scholars from centers like the Salk Institute and the Max Planck Institute.

Category:American philosophers Category:Philosophers of mind Category:Metaphysicians