#  John Kaag 

Associate, Transcendentalism Initiative

 

 

 



   ![John Kaag](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2025-08/John_Kaag.jpg?itok=J480-xeK) 

 



 

 email <jkaag@hds.harvard.edu> 

 



 

John Kaag is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. His research and teaching focus on American philosophy, existentialism, and the history of ideas. He is the author of *American Philosophy: A Love Story* (FSG, 2016), *Hiking with Nietzsche* (FSG, 2018), and *Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life* (Princeton, 2020), and co-author of *Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living* (Princeton, 2023). In addition to his academic scholarship, his writing has appeared in venues such as *The New York Times*, *The Wall Street Journal*, and *The Chronicle of Higher Education*.

[About the Expanding Circles Workshop](/transcendentalism-workshop "Expanding Circles")



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Role
    
     [Affiliated Researchers](/role/affiliated-researchers)