Rae Langton joined MIT in the Fall of 2004. Her areas of interest include the history of philosophy, ethics, political philosophy, metaphysics, and feminist philosophy. Her book on Kant's metaphysics and epistemology, entitled Kantian Humility: Our Ignorance of Things in Themselves, was published by Oxford in July 1998. Her most recent book, Sexual Solipsism: Philosophical Essays on Pornography and Objectification, was published by Oxford in January 2009. Born and raised in India, Prof. Langton studied at Sydney University and Princeton University, then taught at Monash University, in Melbourne, 1990 to 1996; was a Fellow in the Philosophy Program, Research School of Social Sciences, the Australian National University, 1997-98; taught at Sheffield University 1998 to 1999; and the University of Edinburgh 1999 to 2004, where she was Professor of Moral Philosophy, a position for which David Hume was turned down in 1755. (Fortunately for her, he was no longer competing in 1999.) She was the first woman to be appointed Professor of Philosophy in Edinburgh, and indeed in Scotland. She has been a visitor and guest speaker on many occasions at universities in Australia, Canada, the USA, the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Germany, India and Switzerland.
Rae Langton
