Neal Grossman

Neal Grossman, born in 1941, is an American philosopher and professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Illinois Chicago. He received his PhD in the history and philosophy of science from Indiana University and taught philosophy for many years at the University of Illinois Chicago. Grossman has won the university's Silver Circle teaching award four times.

Grossman's intellectual interests span a range from the philosophy of science to Spinoza's philosophy, mysticism, and the epistemology of parapsychological research. A number of his articles have been published in journals such as the Journal of Philosophy, Metaphilosophy, Philosophy of Science, and Synthese. In his later writings, he has also turned his attention to subjects like near-death experiences, the question of the survival of consciousness after death, and the critique of materialist presuppositions.

Among his important works is the book "Healing the Mind: The Philosophy of Spinoza Adapted for a New Age," first published in 2003. In this work, Grossman attempts to present Spinoza's philosophy not merely as a theoretical system, but as possessing possibilities for a kind of spiritual psychotherapy, explaining its concepts in a more accessible language for the non-specialist audience. This work was later also published under the title "The Spirit of Spinoza: Healing the Mind."

The book "Conversations with Socrates and Plato" is another of his works, in which, using a dialogue format, he addresses the possibility of forming a social order based on a post-materialist perspective. Overall, a significant part of Grossman's intellectual work can be seen as an effort to rethink the relationship between reason, science, philosophy, and spirituality, and to examine the philosophical consequences of setting aside materialism.