Johann-von-Spix Guestprofessorship for Edward Zalta (Stanford)

American philosopher Edward Zalta, PhD, a senior research scholar at Stanford University and the initiator and editor-in-chief of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, is the recipient of the 2025 Johann-von-Spix Guest Professorship at the Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg. Zalta received his BA from Rice University in 1975 and his PhD from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1981, both in philosophy. Zalta has received several awards in the past, including the prestigious Barwise Prize in 2016, and he has taught courses at various international universities, including Stanford University, Rice University, University of Salzburg, University of Auckland, University of Tasmania, University of Padua, University of Santiago de Compostela, and LMU-Munich (Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy).

Edward Zalta, Prof. Christoph Benzmüller (chair of AI Systems Engineering, University of Bamberg) and his team member Dr. Daniel Kirchner joined forces about a decade ago to collaboratively pioneer and advance the interdisciplinary field of higher-order computational metaphysics, which has now also become a focus topic of the Center for Innovative Applications of Computer Science at the University of Bamberg.

Zalta will visit Bamberg twice in 2025: A short stay is planned in May, where Zalta will give an invited lecture, and another stay is planned in November, where a seminar on computational metaphysics will be organized for students of computer science, philosophy, and AI. The November seminar will be combined with a topic-related workshop, where also the winners of the 2025 Kurt G?del Essay Prize of the Berlin Kurt-G?del Freundeskreis will be awarded.