Catherine Z. Elgin

Catherine Elgin, a philosopher, is a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she has taught since 1996. Previously, she taught philosophy at MIT, Princeton, Wellesley, Dartmouth, UNC Chapel Hill, Michigan State, Simmons, and Vassar.

Her areas of study include the theory of knowledge, philosophy of art, and philosophy of science. Recent work considers the question of what makes something cognitively valuable. Elgin has argued that the pursuit of understanding, rather than the pursuit of knowledge, should be the focus of epistemology's concerns. Her recent work explores how similar problems arise in diverse branches of philosophy such as aesthetics, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science.

Elgin's publications include True Enough, Considered Judgment, and Between the Absolute and the Arbitrary.