Scott L. Pratt

Pratt's Presidential Address for the Society of the Advancement of American Philosophy in 2018, "So Much Has Been Destroyed," reinforced the argument that American philosophy must reckon with its legacy of exclusion of non-Euro-American philosophers. "My claim...is that American philosophers must consider the genocide of Indigenous Americans in their work...the American philosophical bequest depends on a response to America's first offense."

In 2003, he was one of the founding members of the Josiah Royce Society and has served as president of that organization as well. Pratt also served as editor of the Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, one of the foremost journal dedicated to American philosophy. During his two+ decades of work at the University of Oregon, he has supervised dozens of PhD candidates and been appointed to positions including the director of graduate studies, associate dean for the humanities, dean of the graduate school, and executive vice provost for academic affairs. From 2009 to 2012, Pratt was instrumental in the organization of a faculty union at the University of Oregon, and has served on the union's executive council and participated in collective bargaining on behalf of faculty.

Pratt's philosophical work primarily focuses on the history and development of American philosophy. In Native Pragmatism, Pratt argues that the contributions of indigenous peoples to American philosophy have been overlooked and/or actively ignored. Contesting the dominant narrative that American pragmatism was the product of the "genius" of a small group of Harvard philosophers — such as Louis Menand's The Metaphysical Club (2001) — or that American philosophy is the product solely of European intellectual inheritances — e.g. Herbert Schneider's History of American Philosophy (1946) — Pratt argues that "the central commitments of the later classical pragmatism of Charles S. Peirce, William James, and John Dewey are apparent much earlier in Native American thought, particularly within Northeastern Native traditions. These commitments...are pre-figured in indigenous thought at a time when European thought in America was marked by a set of contrary commitments."

Pratt was born in Rock Falls, Illinois. He briefly attended Sewanee: The University of the South before transferring to Beloit College, where he graduated with a BA in Philosophy. Pratt worked in college admissions for the next dozen years, before attending graduate school at the University of Minnesota. Pratt completed his PhD in 1995, writing his dissertation on John Dewey's philosophy of education, and began his career at the University of Oregon that year. He is a member of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, and served in various leadership roles, including as President (2016–2018).

Scott L. Pratt (born 1959) is a professor of philosophy at the University of Oregon. His research and teaching is focused primarily upon American philosophy, especially in the areas of Native American philosophy, pragmatism, philosophy of race and gender, philosophy of education, and the history of logic. He has previously served in various administrative roles at the University of Oregon, including executive vice provost for academic affairs (2017–2019), dean of the graduate school (2015–2017), and associate dean for the humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences (2006–2009).