When not commenting on the world (and other assorted matters) in his blog, UP@NIGHT http://upnight.com/, the author is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Manhattan College. He has been Professor of Liberal Arts and Philosophy, and Director of Liberal Arts at The Juilliard School in NYC.His most recent book, Transcendence: On Self-Determination and Cosmopolitanism, is published by Stanford University Press. The book's Introduction and Afterword are available on Stanford's web site for the book http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?isbn=0804770190 The Afterword is only available on the Web and it discusses Obama's relationship to pragmatism. Aboulafia is also Co-editor of the journal Contemporary Pragmatism.