William Talbott, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Washington, has died.
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Professor Talbott was known for his work in political philosophy (especially human rights) and epistemology. He is the author of Learning from Our Mistakes: Epistemology for the Real World (2021), Human Rights and Human Well-Being (2010), Which Rights Should Be Universal? (2005), and The Reliability of the Cognitive Mechanism (1990), among other works, which you learn more about here and here. He was a founding member of the Human Interactions and Normative Innovations (HI-NORM) research group, and a translation of his Which Rights Should Be Universal? was named the 2011 Human Rights Book of the Year by the Korea Human Rights Foundation.
Professor Talbott joined the University of Washington faculty in 1989. He completed his PhD at Harvard University and his undergraduate degree at Princeton University.
His colleagues write: “We treasure our memories of Bill as a brilliant philosopher, inspiring teacher, generous friend, and exemplary human being. We will never stop learning from his wisdom and his example.”
He died on May 17th.
Below is a video of Professor Talbott discussing his most recent book, Learning from Our Mistakes: Epistemology for the Real World.
