John MacFarlane

John MacFarlane is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, with affiliations to the Group in Logic and the Methodology of Science and co-organizer roles in the Meaning Sciences Club and Townsend Center Working Group. His research spans philosophy of language, philosophical logic, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mathematics, history of logic, and ancient philosophy, particularly Aristotle. He has held visiting positions at institutions like École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris.

• Education: Ph.D. in Philosophy (2000, University of Pittsburgh), M.A. in Classics (1997) and Philosophy (1994), A.B. summa cum laude in Philosophy (1991, Harvard).

Research Interests focus on semantic relativism, particularly assessment sensitivity as explored in his book Assessment Sensitivity: Relative Truth and Its Applications (Oxford, 2014). He investigates how epistemic modals and vagueness interact with truth evaluation. His work in philosophical logic includes a textbook Philosophical Logic: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge, 2021). Secondary interests include ancient philosophy (Aristotle, Plato), formal logic, and fiddlosophy.

Article Trends reveal contributions to relativism, epistemic modals, vagueness, and logicism. His recent work (2025) examines Plato’s Protagoras and belief utility, while 2022–2020 articles address semantic indecision and probabilistic knowledge. Earlier works (2008–2000) include foundational studies on Frege, Kant, and Aristotle.

Scientific Awards include a 2023 Residential Fellowship at Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin (declined), 2016–17 Fellow at IEA Paris, and 2015 American Academy of Arts and Sciences membership. He has received multiple Humanities Research Fellowships at Berkeley (2016, 2008, 2003) and Research Enabling Grants (2000–2009).

Advising includes supervising 15+ PhD students in areas like logic, epistemology, and philosophy of language. Notable advisees include Richard Lawrence (2017) and Sophie Dandelet (2021). He also guided honors theses at Berkeley, such as Benjamin Logan’s work on epistemic modals (2018).

Labs and Teams involve co-organizing the Townsend Center Working Group in History and Philosophy of Logic, Mathematics, and Science and contributing to the Group in Logic and Methodology of Science. His interdisciplinary approach integrates philosophy, logic, and computational tools, including creating Pandoc for document conversion.