The prize citation for Dr. Buchak’s Barry Prize reads:
Lara Buchak’s pathbreaking contributions to decision theory help us think more clearly about
how to determine what we ought to believe and do. Her work on such classic philosophical
problems as applying rationality to risk tolerance, epistemology, game theory, free will, moral
norms, and the transcendent has applications across ethics and political philosophy as well as
in science, religion, and society. The Academy honors Dr. Buchak’s distinguished contributions
to humanity’s understanding of rational decision-making across all areas of knowledge and
activity.
Lara M. Buchak is a professor of philosophy at Princeton University specializing in decision theory, social choice theory, epistemology, ethics and the philosophy of religion. She has lectured across the globe on her research on the rationality of faith, which was recognized with the inaugural Alvin Plantinga Prize in 2021. She is also the author of the 2013 Risk and Rationality, which defends the rationality of ordinary decisionmakers, and argues that decisionmakers with different risk tolerances can all be rational.
November 2025
The prize citation for Dr. Buchak’s Barry Prize reads:
Lara Buchak’s pathbreaking contributions to decision theory help us think more clearly about
how to determine what we ought to believe and do. Her work on such classic philosophical
problems as applying rationality to risk tolerance, epistemology, game theory, free will, moral
norms, and the transcendent has applications across ethics and political philosophy as well as
in science, religion, and society. The Academy honors Dr. Buchak’s distinguished contributions
to humanity’s understanding of rational decision-making across all areas of knowledge and
activity.
Lara M. Buchak is a professor of philosophy at Princeton University specializing in decision theory, social choice theory, epistemology, ethics and the philosophy of religion. She has lectured across the globe on her research on the rationality of faith, which was recognized with the inaugural Alvin Plantinga Prize in 2021. She is also the author of the 2013 Risk and Rationality, which defends the rationality of ordinary decisionmakers, and argues that decisionmakers with different risk tolerances can all be rational.
November 2025