Paul C. Taylor

Paul Christopher Taylor (born September 19, 1967) is an American philosopher, author, and was W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University until moving to UCLA in the summer of 2023. Previously he taught philosophy and African American studies at Pennsylvania State University. He writes on race theory, aesthetics, pragmatism, social and political philosophy, and Africana philosophy.

Taylor has published three monographs, edited two collections of essays, and has written many articles in peer-reviewed journals. His book ''Black Is Beautiful: A Philosophy of Black Aesthetics'' (Blackwell, 2016) was the winner of the American Society for Aesthetics Outstanding Monograph Prize in 2017. In 2019 he gave ''The Harvard Review of Philosophy'' annual lecture.

Taylor works mostly on the philosophy of race. His first book ''Race: A Philosophical Introduction'' (2004) explores the concept of race from a metaphysical, pragmatic and analytical point of view. In ''Black Is Beautiful: A Philosophy of Black Aesthetics'' (2016) Taylor examines the intersection of African American philosophy and aesthetics. The term 'black aesthetics' refers to "the practice of using art, criticism, or analysis to explore the role that expressive objects and practices play in creating and maintaining black life-worlds" (p. 12). He claims that African American culture is "not so much born as assembled". His book ''On Obama'' (2016), examines the historic election of the first African-American president of the United States of America, Barack Obama. Together with Linda Martín Alcoff and Luvell Anderson he edited the ''Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Race'' (2018). Provided by Wikipedia