Bonevac majored in philosophy at Haverford College, graduating in 1975. He received a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh in 1977 and a Ph.D. in 1980.[2] His doctoral dissertation was "Ontological Reduction and Abstract Entities".[3]
He joined the University of Texas at Austin as an assistant professor of philosophy in 1980, chaired the department from 1991 to 2001, and became full professor there in 1992.[2]
Politics
In autumn 2016, Bonevac joined 145 other scholars and writers in declaring support for Donald Trump for president.[4][5] On May 15, 2024, Bonevac and another UT-Austin professor filed a lawsuit in federal court demanding the right to fail students if they miss class for abortion care, and to refuse to hire teaching assistants who have used mail-order abortion medicine. In his statement on the issue, Bonevac stated that he has "no intention of complying with" new Title IX regulations prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and requiring accommodation for absences caused by abortion care, will not use students' preferred pronouns, and will not allow "cross-dressing" teaching assistants.[6][7]
^Swartz, David L. (April 2020). "The academic Trumpists: American professors who support the Trump presidency". Theory and Society. 49 (4): 493–531. doi:10.1007/s11186-020-09391-4.