Academic Appointments


Administrative Appointments


  • Professor, Stanford University Department of Philosophy (2004 - Present)
  • Associate Professor, Stanford University Department of Philosophy (1995 - 2004)
  • Associate Professor, Rutgers University Department of Philosophy (1992 - 1995)
  • Assistant Professor, University of Maryland Department of Philosophy (1989 - 1992)
  • Assistant Professor, Wesleyan University Department of Philosophy (1985 - 1989)
  • Postdoc, U. of North Carolina Department of Philosophy (1985 - 1986)
  • Visiting Assistant Professor, Middlebury College Department of Philosophy (1984 - 1985)
  • Visiting Instructor, Middlebury College Department of Philosophy (1983 - 1984)
  • Visiting Professor, Stanford University Department of Philosophy (1994 - 1994)
  • Member, Dean's Curriculum Advisory Committee, Stanford University (1996 - 1997)
  • Member, Dean's Curriculum Advisory Committee, Stanford University (1998 - 1999)
  • Member, Committee for Cognitive Science at CSLI, Stanford University (1995 - 1996)
  • Chair, Committee for Cognitive Science at CSLI, Stanford University (1996 - 1997)
  • Chair, Committee for Cognitive Science at CSLI, Stanford University (1999 - 2000)
  • Member, Committee on Libraries, Stanford University (1996 - 1997)
  • Member, Committee on Libraries, Stanford University (1998 - 1999)
  • Member, Humanities Center Fellow Selection Committee, Stanford University (1997 - 1998)
  • Member, Humanities Center Fellow Selection Committee, Stanford University (2001 - 2002)
  • Member, Advisory Committee for the Selection of Presidential Endowed Chairs, Stanford University (1997 - 1998)
  • Member, Faculty Advisory Committee to CSLI, Stanford University (1999 - 2000)
  • Member, Diversity Action Council, subcommittee on faculty diversity, Stanford University (2002 - 2004)
  • Member, Advsiory Board of the Stanford Humanities Center, Stanford University (2006 - 2009)
  • Member, H & S Committee on Planning and Priorities, Stanford University (2006 - 2007)
  • Member, A & P Committee, Stanford University (2006 - 2007)
  • Member, A & P Committee, Stanford University (2007 - 2008)
  • Member, Faculty Senate, Stanford University (2009 - 2011)
  • Director, Symbolic Systems Program, Stanford University (2009 - Present)
  • Member, Search Committee, Phillosophy of Science, Stanford University (1995 - 1996)
  • Chair, Search Committee, History of Modern Philosophy, Stanford University (1996 - 1997)
  • Chair, Search Committee, History of Modern Philosophy, Stanford University (1997 - 1998)
  • Member, M&E Search Committee, Stanford University (1997 - 1998)
  • Member, M&E Search Committee, Stanford University (1998 - 1999)
  • Member, Placement Committee, Stanford University (1996 - 1997)
  • Member, Placement Committee, Stanford University (1997 - 1998)
  • Member, Placement Committee, Stanford University (1998 - 1999)
  • Liason, Symbolic Systems Program, Stanford University (1997 - 1998)
  • Liason, Symbolic Systems Program, Stanford University (1999 - 2000)
  • Member, Steering Committee, Symbolic Systems, Stanford University (1998 - 1999)
  • Member, Steering Committee, Symbolic Systems, Stanford University (2000 - 2001)
  • Member, Graduate Committee, Stanford University (1997 - 1998)
  • Member, Graduate Committee, Stanford University (1998 - 1999)
  • Director of Undergraduate Studies, Stanford University (1999 - 2000)
  • Department Chair, Stanford University (2001 - 2004)
  • Department Chair, Stanford University (2005 - 2008)
  • Member, Admissions Committee, Stanford University (2009 - 2010)
  • Member, Admissions Committee, Stanford University (2011 - 2012)
  • Member, Race and Ethnicity Search Committee, Stanford University (2009 - 2010)
  • Member, M & E Search Committee, Stanford University (2010 - 2011)
  • Chair, Burgess Reappointment Committee, Stanford University (2010 - 2011)
  • Member, Mind, Biology, Logic, Search Committee, Stanford University (2012 - 2013)
  • Member, Core search Committee, Stanford University (2013 - 2014)
  • Chair, Burgess Tenure Committee, Stanford University (2013 - 2014)
  • Chair, Lawlor Promotion Committee, Stanford University (2013 - 2014)

Honors & Awards


  • Teaching Fellow, Lilly Foundation (1991 -1992)
  • Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship, Ford Foundation (1990 - 1991)
  • Summer Seminar, NEH Summer Seminar for College Teachers (1989)
  • Carolina Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1985 - 1986)
  • Dissertation Fellowship, Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation (1982 - 1983)
  • Dorothy Danforth-Compton Fellowship, Danforth Foundation & Compton Foundation (1982 - 1983)
  • Danforth Graduate Fellowship, Danforth Foundation (1977 - 1981)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations


  • Occasional Referee, Nous
  • Occasional Referee, Philosophical Psychology
  • Occasional Referee, Philosophy of Science
  • Occasional Referee, Synthese
  • Occasional Referee, Dialogue
  • Occasional Referee, Cognitive Science
  • Occasional Referee, Mind and Language
  • Occasional Referee, Oxford University Press
  • Occasional Referee, University of Delaware Press
  • Occasional Referee, Australasian Journal of Philosophy
  • Occasional Referee, American Philosophical Quarterly
  • Occasional Referee, Erkenntnis
  • Member, American Philosophical Association
  • Member, APA Committee on Blacks in Philosophy (1989 - 1992)
  • Member, Society for Philosophy and Psychology
  • Member, Executive Committee of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology (1991 - 1994)
  • Co-Chair, Programming Committee, Society for Philosophy and Psychology (1993 - 1993)
  • Member, Program Committee, Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association (2000 - 2002)
  • Member, AP A Committee on Lectures, Publications and Research (2001 - 2004)
  • Organizer, France-Stanford cooperative exchange on "Pragmatics" with collaborators from the Jean Nicod Institute in Paris France (2007 - 2008)
  • Panelist, National Research Council/Ford Foundation Minority Post-doctoral Fellowhips (2000 - 2002)
  • Panelist, ACLS Fellowship Selection Committee (2009 - 2010)
  • Panelist, ACLS Fellowship Selection Committee (2011 - 2012)
  • Member, Program Committee, Pacific Division of the APA (2011 - 2012)
  • Member, Program Committee, Pacific Division of the APA (2013 - 2014)
  • Chair, Task force on Development, American Philosophical Association (2011 - 2012)
  • Member, APA Strategic Planning Committee (2012 - 2012)
  • Member, APA Taskforce on Diversity (2013 - 2014)
  • Elected Member at Large, Executive Committee of the Pacific Division of the AP A term (2013 - Present)
  • Appointed Advisory Editor, Journal of the American Philosophical Association (2014 - 2014)

Program Affiliations


  • Symbolic Systems Program

Professional Education


  • Ph.D., University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Philosophy (1984)
  • A.B., University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, Program of Liberal Studies (1977)

2022-23 Courses


All Publications


  • Representing Representations: The Priority of the De Re INDIRECT REPORTS AND PRAGMATICS IN THE WORLD LANGUAGES Taylor, K. A., Capone, A., GarciaCarpintero, M., Falzone, A. 2019; 19: 61–97
  • On King, Resistance, Faith, and Despair TELOS Taylor, K. A. 2018: 183–94

    View details for DOI 10.3817/0318182183

    View details for Web of Science ID 000435143800011

  • How to Be a Relativist FACTS AND VALUES: THE ETHICS AND METAPHYSICS OF NORMATIVITY Taylor, K. A., Marchetti, G., Marchetti, S. 2017: 196–229
  • How to Hume a Hegel-Kant: A Program for Naturalizing Normative Consciousness PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES Taylor, K. A. 2015; 25 (1): 1-40

    View details for DOI 10.1111/phis.12053

    View details for Web of Science ID 000362894800001

  • Names as Devices of Explicit Co-reference ERKENNTNIS Taylor, K. A. 2015; 80: 235-262
  • How to Vanquish the Still Lingering Shadow of God Midwest Studies in Philosoplty: Tlte New Atheism and Its Critics Taylor, K. A. 2013; 37: 68-86
  • De-re and de-dicto: Against the conventional wisdom NOUS Taylor, K. A. 2002: 225-264
  • Russell Key Thinkers in the Philosophy of Language Taylor, K. A. edited by Lee, B. Continuum Books. 2011
  • Contextualism The Pragmatics Encyclopedia Taylor, K. A. Routledge. 2010
  • Conceptual Relativism A Companion To Relativism Taylor, K. A. edited by Hales, S. Wiley-Blackwell Publishing. 2010
  • Sign, sign, everywhere a sign! PHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH Taylor, K. A. 2007; 75 (3): 703-709
  • A Little Sensitivity goes a Long Way Content and Context: Essays on Semantics and Pragmatics Taylor, K. A. edited by Preyer, Peter Oxford University Press. 2007
  • Bullshit and the Foibles of the Human Mind: What the Masters of the Dark Arts Know Bullshit and Philosophy Taylor, K. A. edited by Hardcastle, Reisch Open Court. 2006
  • The Syntax and Pragmatics of the Naming Relation The Semantics Pragmatics Distinction Taylor, K. A. edited by Bianchi, C. CSLI Publications. 2004
  • Reference and the Rational Mind Taylor, K. A. Stanford: CSLI Publications. 2003
  • De Re and De Dicta: Against the Conventional Wisdom Philosophical Perspectives Taylor, K. A. 2002; 36 (s16): 225-265
  • Sex, breakfast, and descriptus interruptus SYNTHESE Taylor, K. A. 2001; 128 (1-2): 45-61
  • On the Explanatory Limits of Behavioral Genetics Genetic Research and Criminal Behavior: Conceptual, Poltical, and Ethical Issues Taylor, K. A. edited by Wasserman, D. Cambridge University Press. 2001: 117–140
  • What in nature is the compulsion of reason? SYNTHESE Taylor, K. A. 2000; 122 (1-2): 209-244
  • Emptiness without Compromise: A Referentialist Semantics for Empty Names Empty Names, Fiction, and the Puzzles of Non-Existence Taylor, K. A. edited by Hofweber, Everett CSLI Publications. 2000: 17–36
  • Meaning and Truth: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Taylor, K. A. London: Blackwell Publishers. 1998
  • Propositional Attitude Statements Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Taylor, K. A. Routledge. 1998
  • The Psychology of Direct Reference The Maribor Papers in Naturalized Semantics Taylor, K. A., Jutronic, D. Maribor: University of Maribor Press. 1997: 225–242
  • Accomodationist Neo-Russellianism: A Critical Notice of Francois Recanati's "Direct Reference: From Language to Thought" Nous Taylor, K. A. 1997; 31 (4): 538-556
  • Same Believers Philosophical Issues Taylor, K. A. 1997; 8: 357-369
  • MEANING, REFERENCE AND COGNITIVE SIGNIFICANCE MIND & LANGUAGE Taylor, K. A. 1995; 10 (1-2): 129-180
  • HOW NOT TO REFUTE ELIMINATIVE MATERIALISM .1. PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY Taylor, K. A. 1994; 7 (1): 101-125
  • The Pragmatics of Mode of Reference Selection Theories of Demonstratives and Indexicals, a special issue of Communication and Cognition Taylor, K. A. 1993; 26: 97-126
  • Simulation and Eliminative Materialism Proceedings of the 16th International Wittgenstein Symposium Taylor, K. A. 1993: 519–524
  • Review of Devitt and Sterelny, "Language and Reality" Philosophical Review Taylor, K. A. 1990; 99 (2)
  • Critical Review of Fodor's "Psychosemantics" Nous Taylor, K. A. 1990; 24 (1): 181-84
  • SUPERVENIENCE AND LEVELS OF MEANING SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY Taylor, K. A. 1989; 27 (3): 443-458
  • NARROW CONTENT FUNCTIONALISM AND THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM NOUS Taylor, K. 1989; 23 (3): 355-372
  • WEVE GOT YOU COMING AND GOING LINGUISTICS AND PHILOSOPHY Taylor, K. A. 1988; 11 (4): 493-513
  • BELIEF, INFORMATION AND SEMANTIC CONTENT - A NATURALISTS LAMENT SYNTHESE Taylor, K. A. 1987; 71 (1): 97-124
  • Booknote of Forbes' "The Metaphysics of Modality" Ethics Taylor, K. A. 1986
  • DAVIDSON THEORY OF MEANING - SOME QUESTIONS PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES Taylor, K. A. 1985; 48 (1): 91-105