Kenneth Robert Westphal (born December 20, 1955) is an American philosopher who is a professor emeritus of philosophy at the Academia Europaea. From 2014 to 2021 he was professor of philosophy at BoÃÂaziçi University, Istanbul.
Westphal earned a B.A. in Social Theory from the University of Illinois UrbanaâÂÂChampaign in 1977. Following this, he pursued his graduate studies in Philosophy entering University of WisconsinâÂÂMadison in 1978, earning an M.A. in 1981 and a Ph.D. in 1986 with the dissertation "Nietzsche on Truth and Knowledge (Realism, Perspectivism, Interpretation, Epistemology, Skepticism)". During his doctoral studies, Westphal also studied at the Freie Universität Berlin (1983âÂÂ84) and the Ohio State University (1984âÂÂ85).
Westphal was awarded the George Armstrong Kelly Prize for his article Kant on the State, Law, and Obedience to Authority in the Alleged "Anti-Revolutionary" Writings by the Conference for the Study of Political Thought, when the former was published by the Journal of Philosophical Research in 1992.