Jeffrey Kaplan (philosopher)

Jeffrey Kaplan is an Associate Professor at the Department Of Philosophy of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he teaches philosophy of law, philosophy of language and ethics. Kaplan is known for his YouTube channel, where he publishes lectures on philosophy, law and ethics. He has won numerous awards and prizes for his work. In 2024, Kaplan received the North Carolina's Governor's Award for Excellence.

Early life and education

Kaplan attended Williams College where he won the following prizes: the Dewey Prize, the John W. Miller Prize in Philosophy, the Muriel B. Rowe Prize and the Laszlo G. Versenyi Memorial Prize. In 2006, in Kaplan's second year, he competed in the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl, where he was team leader. The team became that year's northeast regional champions. In his third year, Kaplan took part in the Williams-Exeter program at Oxford University. Kaplan graduated summa [...] laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy in 2009 and was also the Phi Beta Kappa speaker for his graduating class.

In 2009, Kaplan was awarded the Dr. Herchel Smith Fellowship to study at Emmanuel College at the University of Cambridge. Kaplan earned his master's of philosophy degree from Cambridge in 2011. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley in 2018, where he was the Irving and Jean Stone dissertation fellow. He also won the UC Berkeley's William Fink Prize in Philosophy.

Career

Kaplan worked previously as a faculty member of the Mount Tamalpais College (formerly known as the Prison University Project), the only college in the United States in which all the classes are taught inside a prison.

In 2019, Kaplan began working as an Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Kaplan currently teaches courses in philosophy and ethics and is the Director of Undergraduate Studies at UNCG's Department of Philosophy.

Kaplan is the founder and director of the UNCG Prison Education Program, which provides academic programs for prisoners at the Butner Medium II Federal Correctional Institution. In an interview, Kaplan said he thought: "There should be more access to higher education throughout our country and our world but, if you had to pick a group that has the least amount of access, it would be incarcerated people."

Kaplan has gained public attention with his YouTube channel, on which he has published more than 100 lectures on topics such as general philosophy, philosophy of language, philosophy of law and ethics. The channel has more than 500,000 subscribers and his videos have been viewed more than 28 million views.

Among his contributions, one has sparked interest beyond his field of research. Kaplan has proposed to his students and to his larger social media audience a 'system' for retaining information gathered studying different subjects which is derived from the "marginalia" method. It consists on synthesizing the content of a long passage (e.g. 6 sentences long) into a shorter, brief but semantically intact sentence. This method reportedly forces the user to gather a deeper understanding of the core IDeaS behind the content of the passage, leading to a higher retention of knowledge.

On September 6, 2025, Kaplan gave the Convocation Address speech at Williams College, his alma mater. The speech focused on the importance of being able to articulate arguments clearly and communicating ideas in a way that delivers the message efficiently, even in moments of distress and life or death situations. The speech was described by a Big Think article as "deeply thoughtful" and "gripping".

Research

Kaplan's research specializes in the areas of value theory, normative ethics, philosophy of law and philosophy of language. He has published 9 papers.

Most of his work concerns concept of normativity, and the rules based theory of law proposed by the British legal philosopher, H.L.A. Hart.

Awards

Kaplan has won several awards for his teaching and his work. These include:

• the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award at UC Berkeley (2014–15);
• the Teaching Effectiveness Award at UC Berkeley (2016–17);
• the Outstanding First Year Student Advocate Award at UNC Greensboro (2021–22); and
• the James Y. Joyner for Teaching Excellence at UNC Greensboro (2022–23).
• the Dean's Award for the Promotion of Diversity and Inclusiveness.

Kaplan received a Bicentennial Medal for Alumni from his alma mater, Williams College.

In 2024, Kaplan has also received the Governor's Award for Excellence, the highest honor that a state employee can receive, for broadening access to philosophy.