Jerry Gaus
JAMES E. ROGERS PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY
selected published papers
"The Evolution of Society and Mind: Hayek's System of Ideas." In Ed Feser, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Hayek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006: 232-258.
"On Justifying the Liberties of the Moderns: A Case of Old Wine in New Bottles." Social Philosophy & Policy, vol. 25 (1), 2007.
"The Rights Recognition Thesis: Defending and Extending Green" in Maria Dimovia-Cookson and Wlliam Mander, eds., T.H. Green: Metaphysics, Ethics and Political Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
"The Place of Autonomy in Liberalism." In Autonomy and the Challenges to Liberalism, John Christman and Joel Anderson, eds., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005: 272-306.
"The Diversity of Comprehensive Liberalisms." In Handbook of Political Theory, Gaus and Kukathas, eds., op. cit., pp. 100-114.
"Liberal Neutrality: A Radical and Compelling Principle" In Perfectionism and Neutrality, George Klosko and Steven Wall, eds. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003: 137-165.
"Taking the Bad with the Good: Some Misplaced Worries about Pure Retribution." In Enrique Villanveua, ed., Legal and Political Philosophy. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2002: 339-362.
“The Legal Coordination Game." American Philosophical Association's Newsletter on Philosophy and Law, vol. 1 (Spring 2002): 122-128.
"What is Deontology? Part One: Orthodox Views." Journal of Value Inquiry, vol. 35 (2001): 27-42.
"What is Deontology? Part Two: Reasons for Action." Journal of Value Inquiry, vol. 35 (2001): 179-193.
"Backwards Into the Future: Neo-Republicanism as a Post-Socialist Critique of Market Society." Social Philosophy & Policy, vol. 20 (Winter 2003): 59-91. Reprinted in After Socialism, Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller, Jeffrey Paul, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
I received my BA from SUNY/Buffalo and my MA and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. In the early '80s I was a Research Fellow in Philosophy Department in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University, where I worked closely with Stanley Benn. (Stanley's great book, A Theory of Freedom, is one of the most underappreciated books in recent political philosophy — there is more good philosophy in one of Stanley's chapters than most books in recent political philosophy.) From 1997-2002, together with Fred D'Agostino and Peter Forrest, I was co-editor of The Australasian Journal of Philosophy (Oxford UP). Presently I am co-editor of Politics, Philosophy & Economics (Sage). My main area of work is on public reason. Currently I am writing a book on The Order of Public Reason to be published by Cambridge. I argue in this book that respect for all as free and equal moral persons requires that our social morality be publicly justified -- however, the project of identifying such a morality is, I believe, clearly indeterminate. Drawing on ideas in game theory and social evolution, I try to show how respect for the moral freedom of all is still possible in the face of this indeterminacy. Other recent work concerns economic approaches to philosophy and politics, the place of religious belief in public reason liberalism, the problem social complexity poses for public policy, liberal neutrality, and a theory of rights as devices to cope with evaluative incommensurability. I also have (what some consider to be an idiosyncratic) interest in the British Hegelians, especially T.H. Green and Bernard Bosanquet. Julian Lamont and I are in the early stages of writing a book on Economic Justice for Blackwell's.
email: ggaus@email.arizona.edu
courses
Note: The Department of Economics has agreed to cross-list this course. The Eller College has agreed that the course will fulfill the Eller ethics requirement. Phil 205 is not an introduction to the Principles of Economics and is not a substitute for Econ 200, Econ 201a or Econ 201b.
The theme of this course is the development of ideas about the division of labor, social cooperation and wealth creation in the history of economics and philosophy. We will start at the beginning: Plato's and Aristotle's views on economics and the division of labor. Along the way we will examine the views of, among others, St. Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Francois Quesany, Bernard Mandeville, David Hume, Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham, Thomas Robert Malthus, David Ricardo, Nassau Senior, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes. In the last few weeks of the course we will turn to the contemporary debate about globalization.
Assessment:
Two Essay Exams during the semester, 20% eachIf you are enrolled, you can access course materials by clicking
here
selected forthcoming papers
"The (Severe) Limits of Deliberative Democracy as the Basis for Political Choice" to appear in special issue of Theoria on deliberative democracy.
"Social Complexity and Evolved Moral Principles.: In Liberalism, Conservatism, And Hayek's Idea Of Spontaneous Order, Peter McNamara, ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
"Reasonable Utility Functions and Playing the Fair Way." Critical Review of International and Social Philosophy, 2007.
"The Moral Foundations of Liberal Neutrality." In Debates in Contemporary Political Philosophy, Thomas Christiano and John Christman, eds., Oxford: Blackwell, forthcoming.
work in progress
"The Justification of Capitalism and its Limits"
"Rights as Devices of Public Reason"
"Mill's Neutralist Liberalism"
"Respect For Persons and the Evolution of Morality"
"The Place of Religious belief in Public Reason Liberalism"
books
On Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, forthcoming.
Contemporary Theories of Liberalism: Public Reason as a Post-Enlightenment Project. London: Sage Publications, 2003, ix+240pp.
Political Concepts and Political Theories. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2000, xiv + 288pp.
Social Philosophy. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1999. xiv + 245pp.
Justificatory Liberalism: An Essay on Epistemology and Political Theory (Oxford Political Theory). New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, xiv + 374pp.
Value and Justification: The Foundations of Liberal Theory (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, xviii + 540 pp.
The Modern Liberal Theory of Man. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983, vii + 312 pp.
I am currently writing a book entitled The Order of Public Reason (to be published by Cambridge University Press) and, with Julian Lamont, a book on Economic Justice (to be published by Blackwell's).Co-edited Books
(with Chandran Kukathas) Handbook of Political Theory. London: Sage Publications, 2004, xvi + 448 pp.
(with Julian Lamont and Christi Favor) Values, Justice and Economics. Amsterdam: Rodopi, forthcoming.
(with William Sweet) The Philosophical Theory of the State and Related Essays by Bernard Bosanquet (Classic Studies in the History of Ideas). Indianapolis: St. Augustine Press, 2001, 426 + xxv pp.
(with Fred D’Agostino) Public Reason (International Research Library of Philosophy). Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1998, xxiii + 470 pp.
(with S.I. Benn) Public and Private in Social Life. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983, vii + 412 pp.
workshop, November 16 & 17, 2007
On November 16 and 17 here in Tucson, there will be a workshop on public reason. Click
Particpants will include:
Alyssa Bernstein, Ohio University
Chris Bertram, University of Bristol
Bruce Brower, Tulane University
Tom Christiano, University of Arizona
Richard Dagger, Arizona State University
Peter de Marneffe, Arizona State University
Christopher Eberle, Naval Academy
Andrew Lister, Queens University
S.A. Lloyd, University of Southern California
James Nickel, Arizona State University
Jonathan Quong, University of Manchester
Shaun Young, Carleton University
Steven Wall, Bowling Green State University
Please register if you plan to attend, by writing me at ggaus@email.arizona.edu. The Workshop is open to everyone who (1) reads the papers ahead of time and (2) attends all the sessions. There will be dinners on Friday the 16th and Saturday the 17th.
Thanks to the Arizona Philosophy Department for their financial assistance.