Linda Zerilli

Linda Zerilli is the Charles E. Merriam Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. She has served as Faculty Director of the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality (2010-2016) and remains a leading scholar in feminist theory, democratic theory, and continental philosophy. Her work integrates political philosophy with feminist critiques of liberalism, focusing on judgment, truth, and freedom in democratic contexts.

Her research interests span Hannah Arendt’s political thought, Michel Foucault’s genealogical critique, Wittgensteinian language philosophy, and the intersection of aesthetics with political action. Key publications include Signifying Woman (1994), Feminism and the Abyss of Freedom (2005), and A Democratic Theory of Judgment (2016). She explores how judgment operates in democratic processes, particularly in navigating tensions between truth-telling, political persuasion, and ethical responsibility.

Recent work engages with post-truth politics, the epistemological challenges of contemporary democracy, and rethinking Arendtian concepts of action and judgment for modern crises. Her interdisciplinary approach bridges feminist theory, continental philosophy, and political science, influencing debates on gender, sexuality, and democratic legitimacy.

Zerilli’s awards include the prestigious Charles E. Merriam Distinguished Service Professorship. Her scholarship emphasizes the necessity of aesthetic and philosophical frameworks for understanding political life, challenging reductionist approaches in both feminist and democratic thought.