R. Lanier Anderson

J.E. Wallace Sterling Professor of the Humanities and

Senior Associate Dean for the Humanities and Arts

Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, 1993

B.A., Yale University, 1987

My research concerns the history of late modern philosophy and connections between philosophy and literature. In late modern history, I have focused primarily on Kant and his influence on 19th century philosophy.

My book on Kant’s critique of metaphysics (The Poverty of Conceptual Truth, 2015) came out with Oxford. I have also written articles on Kant's theoretical philosophy, on Nietzsche, and on the neo-Kantian movement. In the near future, I will be focusing on questions about Nietzsche’s moral psychology and on Montaigne’s philosophical and literary projects in the Essays, extending my reach to an earlier period.

With Joshua Landy (Comparative Literature, French), I have been instrumental in developing the program in Philosophy and Literature at Stanford, and we are currently collaborating in that area.

I was educated at Yale (A.B., 1987) and the University of Pennsylvania (Ph.D., 1993), where I worked closely with Alexander Nehamas, Gary Hatfield, and Paul Guyer. I have taught at Stanford since 1996, and have also taught as a visitor at Harvard, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr. I was born and raised in Macon, GA, and I get back there as often as I can.

Featured Books

The Poverty of Conceptual Truth

OUP 2015

"Nietzschean Autonomy and the Meaning of the ‘Sovereign Individual'" . 2016

"On Marjorie Grene’s ‘Authenticity'" an Existential Virtue Ethics . 2015

"What is ‘the Meaning of our Cheerfulness’? " Co-authored with Rachel Cristy Philosophy as a Way of Life in Nietzsche and Montaigne . 2015

"Nietzsche on Autonomy" John Richardson and Ken Gernes (eds) Oxford Handbook of Nietzsche OUP. 2013

“The Will to Power in Science and in Philosophy,” in Helmut Heit, Günter Abel, and Marco Brusotti, eds., Nietzsches Wissenschaftsphilosophie: Hintergründe, Workungen, und Aktualität (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2012), 55-72.

"What is a Nietzschean Self?" Christopher Janaway and Simon Robertson (eds) Nietzsche, Naturalism, and Normativity OUP. 2012

"On the Nobility of Nietzsche’s Priests" Simon May (ed) Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morality: a Critical Guide CUP. 2011

"Nietzsche on Redemption and Transfiguration" Joshua Landy and Michael Saler (eds) The Re-Enchantment of the World Stanford UP. 2009

"Nietzsche on Truth, Illusion, and Redemption" European Journal of Philosophy 13 . 2005

"The Wolffian Paradigm and its Discontents" Kant’s Containment Definition of Analyticity in Historical Context Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 87 (22-74) . 2005

"Neo-Kantianism and the Roots of Anti-Psychologism" The British Journal for the History of Philosophy 13 . 2005

"It Adds Up After All" Kant’s Philosophy of Arithmetic in Light of the Traditional Logic Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 69 (501-40) . 2004

"Kant on the Apriority of Causal Laws" Michael Heidelberger and Friedrich Stadler (eds) History of Philosophy of Science: New Trends and Perspectives Dordrecht: Kluwer. 2002

"Synthesis, Cognitive Normativity, and the Meaning of Kant’s Question, ‘How are synthetic cognitions a priori possible?’" European Journal of Philosophy 9 . 2001