Since 2011, he has held the Lillian and Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence in Philosophy at the University of Memphis and was awarded the Anneliese Maier Research Award by the Humboldt Foundation (2012–2018).

He is also known for his philosophical discussion on the effects of solitary confinement.

[7] Gallagher received his PhD in philosophy from Bryn Mawr College where he studied with George Kline and José Ferrater-Mora.

2022), Hermeneutics and Education (SUNY 1992), The Inordinance of Time (Northwestern 1998), Brainstorming (Acad Imprint 2008), The Phenomenological Mind (Routledge 2008; 2nd edition, 2012, 3rd edition 2021) (with Dan Zahavi), and (with several co-authors) The Neurophenomenology of Awe and Wonder (2015).

He is a founding editor and currently the co-editor in-chief of the journal Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences,