Rate My Professor Mohammad Azadpur

Mohammad Azadpur is Professor of Philosophy and Graduate Coordinator in the Department of Philosophy at San Francisco State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1999, an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh in 1993, and a B.A. in English Literature from Bucknell University in 1986. After his doctorate, Azadpur held postdoctoral positions at Johns Hopkins University, serving as Mellon Scholar from 1999 to 2001, CRCL Postdoctoral Fellow from 2001 to 2002, and Instructor from 2002 to 2003. He joined San Francisco State University as Assistant Professor in 2003, advancing to full Professor, and has also been a Visiting Scholar at the Iranian Institute of Philosophy in 2002 and 2004.

Azadpur specializes in Medieval Islamic Philosophy, Analytic Pragmatism and Neo-Empiricism in the post-Sellarsian tradition, and Ethics and Self-Knowledge. His research brings analytic neo-Hegelians such as Wilfrid Sellars and John McDowell into dialogue with Islamic Peripatetics, particularly Avicenna, to rethink foundationalism and original intentionality. He explores the primacy of ethics in philosophical activity from ancient Greek philosophy to twentieth-century figures including Martin Heidegger, Pierre Hadot, and Michel Foucault. In Middle East and Islamic Studies contexts, he teaches courses on Islamic Philosophy and Mysticism and Islamic Political Philosophy. Key publications include Analytic Philosophy and Avicenna: Knowing the Unknown (Routledge, 2020) and Reason Unbound: On Spiritual Practice in Islamic Peripatetic Philosophy (SUNY Press, 2011). Other notable works are 'Avicenna on Education in Philosophy and Art,' co-authored with Anita Silvers (Arts Education Policy Review, 2005); 'On the Philosophical Shi‘ism of Nasir Ad-Din Tusi' (Maghreb Review, 2018); 'Unveiling the Hidden: On the Meditations of Descartes and Ghazzali' (2003); and 'The Sublime Visions of Philosophy: Fundamental Ontology and the Imaginal World' (2006). Azadpur's scholarship bridges Persian Islamic philosophical traditions with contemporary analytic and phenomenological trends. His awards include the CSU Summer Stipend Award (San Francisco State University, 2004), CRCL Postdoctoral Fellowship (Johns Hopkins University, 2001-2002), Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship (Johns Hopkins University, 1999-2001), DuPont Dissertation Fellowship (University of Virginia, 1997-1998), and President's Fellowship (University of Virginia, 1994-1997).