George Yancy

George Dewey Yancy (born June 3, 1961) is an American philosopher who is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Philosophy at Emory University. He is a distinguished Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College, one of the college's highest honors. In 2019–20, he was the University of Pennsylvania's Inaugural Provost's Distinguished Visiting Faculty Fellow. He is the editor of the book series "Philosophy of Race" at Bloomsbury Publishing. He is known for his work in critical whiteness studies, critical philosophy of race, critical phenomenology (especially racial embodiment), and African American philosophy, and has written, edited, or co-edited over 25 books. In his capacity as an academic scholar and a public intellectual, he has published over 250 combined scholarly articles, chapters, and interviews that have appeared in professional journals, books, and at various news sites.

Yancy has authored numerous essays and conducted interviews at both The New York Times' philosophy column "The Stone," and at Truthout, which is "a nonprofit news organization dedicated to providing independent reporting and commentary on a diverse range of social justice issues." While writing for The New York Times' philosophy column "The Stone," Yancy conducted a series of interviews on death (called Conversations on Death ) through the lens of major religions (Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism, Taoism, and the Yoruba religious tradition). The interview series also included an interview on atheism with philosopher Todd May. Yancy began the series with his own reflections on the meaning of death in an article titled, Facing the Fact of my Death. He continued the interviews on death through the lens of Sikhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism in a lengthy discussion titled, “Eastern Religions on Death and the Afterlife” at Tikkun. Additionally, he has published at CounterPunch, The Guardian, Inside Higher Ed, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. At "Academic Influence," Yancy has been called one of the top 10 influential philosophers in the decade spanning 2010–2020, due in part to the number of citations and web presence. Yancy was also the winner of the 2024 Public Philosophy Network's (PPN) Leadership Award. The Award recognizes the long-term and substantive contributions of philosophers to public philosophy. As of 2025, Yancy is the founder of "Candid Conversations with George Yancy." The inaugural event consisted of an exciting, engaging, and philosophically fecund and robust conversation with philosophers Cornel West and Judith Butler on October 29, 2025.