Brian Epstein is Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. His research interests include philosophy of social science, metaphysics, and philosophy of language, with a particular focus on social ontology and the nature of social institutions. He is the author of The Ant Trap: Rebuilding the Foundations of the Social Sciences and Social Ontology. The Ant Trap won the 2016 Lakatos Award and the 2016 Joseph B. Gittler Award.

He is a co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Social Ontology, in press with Oxford University Press.

Brian received his PhD in philosophy from Stanford University, his master’s in philosophy from Oxford University, and graduated summa cum laude with an AB in philosophy from Princeton University. Between degree programs, he worked at a number of technology startups and consulting firms. He served as president of the International Social Ontology Society from 2018 to 2022 and as treasurer of the International Network for Economic Methodology from 2016 to 2024. He spends most of his free time playing batman and sipping imaginary tea with his children, or taking photos of wild turkeys in the back yard.