Randall Auxier

Randall E. Auxier (born August 7, 1961) is a professor of philosophy at Southern Illinois University.
Born in Leitchfield, Kentucky, Auxier, the younger of two children, is the son of a veterinarian and a professional church musician. Educated in the public schools of Memphis, Tennessee, he received an undergraduate degree in philosophy and criminal justice in 1986 and a master's degree in philosophy in 1988, both from the University of Memphis. He went on to receive his Ph.D. in philosophy from Emory University in 1992. He chaired the philosophy department at Oklahoma City University from 1992 to 1997 and was founding director of the OCU Institute of Liberal Arts from 1994 to 1999. While at OCU, he also established and taught philosophy courses for several years at the nearby public high school Classen School of Advanced Studies.
He accepted a position at Southern Illinois University in 2000 and in 2001 was appointed the editor of the Library of Living Philosophers, the third in its history, following series founder Paul Arthur Schilpp (1938–1981), and Lewis Edwin Hahn (1981–2001). Since taking the post he has completed volumes on Seyyed Hossein Nasr (2001), Marjorie Grene (2003), Jaakko Hintikka (2006), Michael Dummett (2007), and Richard Rorty (2010). Auxier's interest in philosophical personalism led him to become editor of the scholarly journal The Personalist Forum in 1997, later renamed The Pluralist in 2005. The Pluralist became the official journal of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy in 2010.
He has authored or co-authored more than 100 papers and presentations around the United States and in several other countries, written many scholarly articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries, and edited numerous books. Subjects on which he has published range from John Dewey and Alfred North Whitehead to the limits of evolution, biker bars, and ministries related to homosexuality. His current work includes a book, Time, Will and Purpose: Living Ideas from the Philosophy of Josiah Royce, in press with Open Court to appear in 2010, and as co-editor of Bruce Springsteen and Philosophy, and The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy, both published in 2008 in the Popular Culture and Philosophy Series with Open Court. Auxier's creative works also include short stories, occasional poetry, and three music CDs. Auxier is the editor-in-chief of The Library of Living Philosophers. Since 1938, the Library of Living Philosophers has provided a forum for criticism and analysis of the world's greatest living philosophers, as well as a space for dialogue between these philosophers and their critics. Under his editorship, the journal has produced volumes on the philosophy of Marjorie Grene, Jaakko Hintikka, Michael Dummett, Richard Rorty, and Arthur C. Danto. Auxier writes a weekly blog for Radically Empirical, an online magazine that features essays and commentary on current and literary affairs.
Auxier's areas of specialization are American philosophy, post-Kantian continental philosophy, process and systematic philosophy/theology, history of philosophy, metaphysics, moral philosophy, and theology, political theory, and philosophy of education. He has been awarded the Jacobsen Prize in Process Metaphysics from the International Society for Universalism and the Douglas Greenlee Prize from the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy.

Books

• Rush and Philosophy, contributor (Open Court, 2011)
• Time, Will and Purpose: Living Ideas from the Philosophy of Josiah Royce, author (Open Court, 2010)
• The Philosophy of Richard Rorty, co-editor (Open Court, 2010)
• Bruce Springsteen and Philosophy: Darkness on the Edge of Truth, co-editor, contributor (Open Court, 2008)
• The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy: Wicked Wisdom of the West, co-editor, contributor (Open Court, 2008)
• What Philosophy Can Tell You about Your Cat, contributor (Open Court, 2008)
• What Philosophy Can Tell You about Your Dog, contributor (Open Court, 2008)
• The Philosophy of Michael Dummett, co-editor (Open Court, 2007)
• The Grateful Dead and Philosophy, contributor (Open Court, 2007)
• Pink Floyd and Philosophy, contributor (Open Court 2007)
• Quentin Tarrantino and Philosophy, contributor (Open Court, 2007)
• Alfred Hitchcock and Philosophy, contributor (Open Court, 2007)
• South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating, contributor (Open Court, 2007)
• Monty Python and Philosophy, contributor (Open Court, 2006)
• Harley Davidson and Philosophy, contributor (Open Court, 2006)
• The Philosophy of Jaakko Hintikka, co-editor (Open Court, 2006)
• The Atkins Diet and Philosophy, contributor (Open Court, 2006)
• The Philosophy of Marjorie Grene, co-editor (Open Court, 2003)
• The Philosophy of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, co-editor (Open Court, 2001)
• Critical Responses to the Philosophy of Josiah Royce, editor (Thoemmes Press, 2001)
• God, Process and Persons: The Philosophical Correspondence of Charles Harsthorne and E.S. Brightman, co-editor, contributor (Vanderbilt University Press, 2000)