Rate My Professor Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson is Philip H. Knight Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Oregon. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 24, 1949, he received his B.A. in Philosophy and English from the University of Kansas in 1971, M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1972, and Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1977. Johnson commenced his academic career as Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1977, progressing to Associate Professor in 1983, Professor in 1988, and Chair from 1992 to 1994. In 1994, he joined the University of Oregon as Professor and Head of the Philosophy Department until 2000, followed by roles as Director of Graduate Studies from 2001 to 2004 and Knight Professor since 2002.

Johnson's research focuses on metaphor theory, philosophy of language, philosophy and cognitive science, American philosophy, ethical naturalism, aesthetics, and embodied cognition. His seminal publications include co-authored works with George Lakoff, Metaphors We Live By (University of Chicago Press, 1980; revised 2003) and Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought (Basic Books, 1999); solo-authored books such as The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination, and Reason (University of Chicago Press, 1987), Moral Imagination: Implications of Cognitive Science for Ethics (1993), The Meaning of the Body: Aesthetics of Human Understanding (2007), Morality for Humans: Ethical Understanding from the Perspective of Cognitive Science (2014), Embodied Mind, Meaning, and Reason: How Our Bodies Give Rise to Understanding (2017), and The Aesthetics of Meaning and Thought: The Bodily Roots of Philosophy, Science, Morality, and Art (2018); as well as recent collaborations Out of the Cave: A Natural Philosophy of Mind and Knowing with Don Tucker (MIT Press, 2021) and Mind in Nature: John Dewey, Cognitive Science, and a Naturalistic Philosophy for Living with Jay Schulkin (2023). He edited Philosophical Perspectives on Metaphor (University of Minnesota Press, 1981) and has published numerous articles. Honors include the Herbert Schneider Award (Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, 2017), College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor (University of Oregon, 1999–2002), and Outstanding Scholar Award (Southern Illinois University, 1992). Johnson serves on editorial boards for journals such as Metaphor and Symbol, Cognitive Linguistics, and Phenomenology and Cognitive Science.