John Kaag

John Kaag
Born	27 September 1979 Reading, Pennsylvania, US
Alma mater	University of Oregon

John Kaag (born 1979)^[1] is an American philosopher and Chair and Professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.^[2] Kaag specializes in American philosophy.^[2] His writing has been published in The Paris Review, The New York Times, and Harper's Magazine.^[3][4][5]

Kaag was born to Jan and Rebecca Kaag.^[6][7]

Kaag received his Masters in Philosophy in 2003 from Pennsylvania State University and his PhD in Philosophy in 2007 from the University of Oregon.^[2] He did his post-doctoral study at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Harvard University.^[8]

John Kaag is professor and Chair of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.^[2] Kaag was a Miller Scholar at the Santa Fe Institute from 2019 to 2021, and is now an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute.^[9][10]

In February 2023, Kaag delivered the lecture "William James and the Sick Soul" for Harvard Divinity School's William James Lectures on Religious Experience series.^[11]

Kaag's book American Philosophy: A Love Story won the John Dewey Prize from the Society for U.S. Intellectual History.^[12]

Hiking with Nietzsche was named the Best Book of 2018 by NPR and a New York Times Editors' Choice.^[12][13]

• Idealism, Pragmatism, and Feminism: The Philosophy of Ella Lyman Cabot (2011). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7391-6781-6.
• Thinking Through the Imagination: Aesthetics in Human Cognition (2014). New York: Fordham University Press. ISBN 978-0-8232-5493-4.
• American Philosophy: A Love Story (2016). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-3741-5448-6.
• Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are (2018). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-3741-7001-1.
• Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life (2020). Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-6911-9216-1.
• Be Not Afraid of Life: In the Words of William James (2023). Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-6912-4015-2.
• Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living (2023). Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-6912-4469-3.
• American Bloods: The Untamed Dynasty That Shaped a Nation (2024). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-3741-0391-0.
• Thinking through Writing: A Guide to Becoming a Better Writer and Thinker (2024). Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-6912-4959-9.

• American philosophy
• List of American philosophers

• John Kaag's webpage
• John Kaag's UML faculty page