Education
PhD, Duke University

Office Hours
By appointment

• Political Philosophy
• Global Justice
  

Politics, Philosophy, Economics (PPE); Democratic Theory; Normative Ethics; Social Epistemology; Social and Political Philosophy

I am a political philosopher with a focus on the intersection of politics, philosophy, economics (PPE). I am mainly interested in democracy, education, and the way in which the two inform and constrain each other. When it comes to democracy, I primarily work on questions of electoral design. For example, I research whether voting should be voluntary or compulsory, whether the voting age should be lowered, whether ballots should include more than one choice, and whether proportional representation is preferable to majoritarian alternatives. One criterion for deciding among electoral institutions involves how demanding the system is when it comes to voters’ education, information, and competence. In the philosophy of education, I am mainly interested in civic education and the criteria that ought to govern a just education system. In thinking about democracy and education, I sometimes draw on the history of philosophy, particularly the early modern period.

• “A minimal standard of democratic competence,” (with Daniel J. Stephens), Politics, Philosophy & Economics, Online First (published September 2024)
• “Nudges, Regulations, and Liberty,” (with Keith Dowding) British Journal of Political Science, 53 (2023): 204-220.
• “Adam Smith on Political Judgment: Revisiting the Political Theory of Wealth of Nations,” Journal of Politic, 84.1 (January 2022): 18-32.
• “Counterproductive Altruism: The Other Heavy-Tail” (with Daniel Kokotajlo) Philosophical Perspectives, 34 (Dec 2020): 134-163
• “Inadequate for Democracy: How (Not) to Distribute Education” Politics, Philosophy & Economics, 19.4 (Nov 2020): 343-365.