American philosopher educated at Swarthmore and Harvard, who after teaching at Chicago and Pittsburgh became the Richard B. Brandt Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Michigan. Gibbard did early formal work on social choice, proving general results showing that a large range of voting systems are vulnerable to strategic voting. He is best known for his defence and development of expressivist views in moral philosophy, showing that the forms our moral reasonings take can plausibly be explained by the natural human need to discuss and coordinate plans for action in particular circumstances. His books include Wise Choices, Apt Feelings (1990) Thinking How to Live (2002), and Meaning and Normativity (2012). He has the rare distinction, for a philosopher, of having been elected to the American National Academy of Sciences.