Tamar Schapiro
{{Infobox philosopher
| region = Western philosophy
| era = 21st-century philosophy
| name = Tamar Schapiro
| image =
| caption = Schapiro at MIT in 2017
| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| nationality = American
| institutions = Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Associate Professor 2016-2021; Professor 2021–present); Stanford University (2000–2015)
| alma_mater = Yale University (BA); Harvard University (PhD)
| school_tradition = Kantian philosophy
| main_interests = Ethics; moral psychology; practical reason; history of ethics
| notable_works = Feeling Like It: A Theory of Inclination and Will (2021)
}}
{{Short description|American philosopher}}
Tamar Schapiro is an American philosopher whose work focuses on ethical theory, moral psychology, practical reason, and the history of modern moral philosophy, especially the thought of Immanuel Kant. She is Professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her book Feeling Like It: A Theory of Inclination and Will (2021) offers a Kantian account of the role of inclination in human agency.
Early life and education
Schapiro was raised in the south suburbs of Chicago in a Jewish family that had fled Nazi Europe. She earned a B.A. in philosophy summa cum laude from Yale University in 1986, receiving the Tuttle Cup for highest scholastic achievement. She completed her Ph.D. in philosophy at Harvard University in 1997, where she began her intensive study of Kant's ethics.
Academic career
From 1997 to 2000 Schapiro was a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows. She joined the Stanford University Department of Philosophy in 2000, was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2009, and remained until 2015. During her Stanford years she held fellowships from the Stanford Humanities Center (2003–04) and the Hellman Fellows Fund (2005–06). In 2011–12 she was a Fellow of Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, where she worked on the moral psychology of inclination. Schapiro moved to MIT in 2015 as a visiting associate professor, became associate professor in 2016, and was promoted to full professor in 2021.
Philosophical work
Schapiro's research investigates how universal principles of rational morality can be reconciled with the non-rational aspects of human nature. Her early article "What Is a Child?" (1999) analyzes the moral status of children and the limits of paternalism. Since the mid-2000s she has focused on Kantian moral psychology. In Feeling Like It she argues that inclinations "incline without necessitating" the will, offering a unified account of self-control that has been discussed in MIND, Ethics, and other journals.
Reception
Feeling Like It received in-depth reviews in several leading, independent journals.
Richard Holton described it as "stimulating" and praised Schapiro's analysis of inclination and agency in Mind.
Nomy Arpaly lauded the book's clarity in reconciling rational and nonrational motives in Ethics.
Carla Bagnoli called it a "much anticipated book" in Analysis.
Shahriar Khosravi highlighted its contribution to Kantian moral psychology in Philosophy in Review.
Francey Russell termed it a "terrific book" centralizing inclination in agency in the Philosophical Review.
Sergio Tenenbaum commended its nuanced articulation of a Kant-inspired moral psychological view in the Australasian Journal of Philosophy.
Amy Levine praised its accessibility for graduate students in the Journal of Moral Philosophy.
Public engagement
Selected publications
- (ed. with Kyla Ebels-Duggan and Sharon Street) Normativity and Agency: Themes from the Philosophy of Christine M. Korsgaard. Oxford University Press, 2022.
- Feeling Like It: A Theory of Inclination and Will. Oxford University Press, 2021.
- "Animal Nature Within and Without: A Comment on Korsgaard's Fellow Creatures." *Philosophy and Phenomenological Research* 105 (1): 230-235 (2022).
- "Imperatives," in Steven M. Cahn (ed.), Understanding Kant's Groundwork. Hackett Publishing Company, May 2023.
- "What Is a Child?" *Ethics* 109 (4): 715-738 (1999).
- "Childhood and Personhood." *Arizona Law Review* 45 (3): 575-594 (2003).
- "The Nature of Inclination." *Ethics* 119 (2): 229-256 (2009).
- "Desire," in *International Encyclopedia of Ethics* (2013).
Honors and fellowships
- Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows (1997–2000).
- Whiting Foundation Fellowship in the Humanities (1996–97).
- Mellon Foundation Fellowship in the Humanities (1998).
- Hellman Junior Faculty Fellowship, Stanford University (2005–06).
- Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (2011–12).
- Emily and Charles Carrier Prize, Harvard University (1997).
- Chair, MIT Committee on Discipline (2023–present).
Professional service
Teaching
Personal life
References
{{reflist|30em|refs=
|title=Tamar Schapiro - MIT Philosophy
|url=https://philosophy.mit.edu/schapiro/
|website=MIT Department of Linguistics and Philosophy
|access-date=17 April 2025
}}
|last=Schapiro |first=Tamar
|title=Feeling Like It: A Theory of Inclination and Will
|publisher=Oxford University Press
|year=2021
|isbn=9780198862932
}}
|last=Dizikes |first=Peter
|title=What we're doing when we try to live our lives well
|url=https://news.mit.edu/2017/faculty-profile-tamar-schapiro-0309
|work=MIT News
|date=9 March 2017
|access-date=17 April 2025
}}
|title=Curriculum Vitae - Tamar Schapiro
|url=https://philpeople.org/public_cache/file?content_type=application/pdf&key=9xbzva1sxl6kjqxe5idida5fdptj
|format=PDF
|publisher=PhilPeople
|date=21 December 2023
|access-date=17 April 2025
}}
|title=Current and Former Junior Fellows
|url=https://socfell.fas.harvard.edu/activities
|website=Harvard Society of Fellows
|publisher=Harvard University
|access-date=17 April 2025
}}
|title=Tamar Schapiro
|url=https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/people/tamar-schapiro
|website=Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
|publisher=Harvard University
|access-date=17 April 2025
}}
|title=Prof. Tamar Schapiro
|url=https://ilp.mit.edu/node/11798
|website=MIT Industrial Liaison Program
|access-date=17 April 2025
}}
|last=Schapiro |first=Tamar
|title=What Is a Child?
|journal=Ethics
|volume=109 |issue=4
|pages=715-738
|year=1999
|doi=10.1086/233943
|jstor=10.1086/233943
}}
|title=Normativity and Agency: Themes from the Philosophy of Christine M. Korsgaard
|editor-last1=Ebels-Duggan |editor-first1=Kyla
|editor-last2=Schapiro |editor-first2=Tamar
|editor-last3=Street |editor-first3=Sharon
|publisher=Oxford University Press
|year=2022
|isbn=9780192857606
}}
|last=Schapiro |first=Tamar
|title=Animal Nature Within and Without: A Comment on Korsgaard's Fellow Creatures
|journal=Philosophy and Phenomenological Research
|volume=105 |issue=1
|pages=230-235
|year=2022
|doi=10.1111/phpr.12914
|hdl=1721.1/146877
|hdl-access=free
}}
|last=Schapiro |first=Tamar
|chapter=Imperatives
|editor=Steven M. Cahn
|title=Understanding Kant’s Groundwork
|publisher=Hackett Publishing Company
|date=May 2023
|isbn=978-1-64792-118-7
}}
|title=Editorial Board
|url=https://www.jesp.org/index.php/jesp/about/editorialTeam
|website=Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy
|access-date=17 April 2025
}}
|title=Stanford panel debates: Does teaching ethics do any good?
|url=https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2014/05/stanford-panel-debates-teaching-ethics-good
|work=Stanford News
|date=1 May 2014
|access-date=17 April 2025
}}
|last=Holton |first=Richard
|title=Feeling Like It, by Tamar Schapiro
|journal=Mind
|volume=133 |issue=531
|pages=829–833
|year=2024
|doi=10.1093/mind/fzac013
}}
|last=Arpaly |first=Nomy
|title=Review of Feeling Like It: A Theory of Inclination and Will
|journal=Ethics
|volume=134 |issue=4
|year=2024
|pages=438–443
}}
|last=Bagnoli |first=Carla
|title=Review of Feeling Like It by Tamar Schapiro
|journal=Analysis
|volume=83 |issue=4
|year=2023
|pages=821–832
|doi=10.1093/analys/anac074
}}
|last=Khosravi |first=Shahriar
|title=Tamar Schapiro, Feeling Like It: A Theory of Inclination and Will
|journal=Philosophy in Review
|volume=44 |issue=3
|year=2024
|pages=22–24
|doi=10.7202/1113571ar
}}
|last=Russell |first=Francey
|title=Review of Tamar Schapiro, Feeling Like It
|journal=Philosophical Review
|volume=131 |issue=4
|year=2022
|pages=519–523
|doi=10.1215/00318108-10136908
}}
|last=Tenenbaum |first=Sergio
|title=Feeling Like It: A Theory of Inclination and Will
|journal=Australasian Journal of Philosophy
|volume=101 |issue=4
|year=2023
|pages=1026
}}
|last=Levine |first=Amy
|title=Review of Feeling Like It: A Theory of Inclination and Will
|journal=Journal of Moral Philosophy
|volume=22 |issue=1-2
|year=2025
|pages=250–253
}}
|title=Episode: Ethics
|url=https://platoscave.fireside.fm/tags/ethics
|website=Plato’s Cave
|access-date=22 April 2025
}}
}}
External links
- [https://philosophy.mit.edu/schapiro/ Faculty profile at MIT]
- [https://philpeople.org/profiles/tamar-schapiro PhilPeople profile]
- [https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/people/tamar-schapiro Radcliffe Institute profile]
{{Authority control}}
Category:21st-century American philosophers
Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty
Category:Stanford University faculty
Category:Yale University alumni
Category:Harvard University alumni