Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski (born 1946) is an American philosopher, and is Kingfisher College Chair of Philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 of Religion and Ethics

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...

 at the University of Oklahoma

University of Oklahoma

The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...

. She is a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow.

She received her BA from Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

, her MA from University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

, and her Ph.D. from University of California Los Angeles (dissertation: Natural Kinds).

Zagzebski is a pioneer in the field of virtue epistemology

Virtue epistemology

Virtue epistemology is a contemporary philosophical approach to epistemology that stresses the importance of intellectual virtues. It combines the central tenets of virtue theory , with classical epistemological approaches.Intellectual virtue has been a subject of philosophy since the works of...

. In Virtues of the Mind (1996), she sets out to solve certain problems in modern epistemology by developing an Aristotelian

Aristotelianism

Aristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. The works of Aristotle were initially defended by the members of the Peripatetic school, and, later on, by the Neoplatonists, who produced many commentaries on Aristotle's writings...

 version of virtue theory, and in the course of this project she lays out a general analysis of virtue. In Divine Motivation Theory (2004) she deals extensively with problems in the relationship between reason, faith, and ethics .

Her research in recent years has consisted of topics such as the intersection of ethics

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...

 and epistemology, religious epistemology

Religious epistemology

Religious epistemology is a broad label for any approach to epistemological questions from a religious perspective, or attempts to understand the epistemological issues that come from religious belief...

, religious ethics, virtue theory, and the varieties of fatalism

Fatalism

Fatalism is a philosophical doctrine emphasizing the subjugation of all events or actions to fate.Fatalism generally refers to several of the following ideas:...

. She has been invited to deliver the Wilde Lectures in Natural Religion at Oxford University in the Spring of 2010.

External links

• "Religious Diversity and Social Responsibility", Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, Volume 4, Number 1, Winter 2001, pp. 135–155