Jonathan Westphal


Jonathan Westphal is an academic working on the philosophy of mind, metaphysics, philosophy of science, logic and philosophy of language and aesthetics. More recently he has become interested in issues in the philosophy of time, and in the understanding of human freedom. In the history of philosophy, he has worked mostly on Wittgenstein and Leibniz. He lives in Hamden, CT, and works as a private tutor in philosophy
Westphal received his B.A. from Harvard College in 1973, an M.A. from the University of Sussex in 1975, and the Ph.D. from the University of London 1981, where he studied with David Wiggins. He has taught at the University of Hawaii, the University of London, Idaho State University, Amherst College, Hampshire College and at other colleges and universities in the U.K. and the U.S. He has been an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, at the University of Munich, and he is a Permanent Member of the Senior Common Room at University College, Oxford.

Published works

Among Westphal's one hundred or so publications are:
Jonathan Westphal is the youngest son of Ernst Oswald Johannes Westphal. Jonathan's great-grandfather and his great-grandmother, Gotthilf Ernst Westphal and his wife Wilhelmine, were teachers and mentors to the teenage Sol Plaatje, a student at their Mission Station in Pniel. Plaatje was a founder and the first General Secretary of the ANC. Jonathan Westphal is married to Stephanie Rosett, and they have four children.