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Jerry Gaus

James E. Rogers Professor of Philosophy
Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, 1979
Political Philosophy, Social Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Personal Website

He received his BA from SUNY/Buffalo and his MA and Ph.D. from the Univ. of Pittsburgh. In the early '80s Gaus was a Research Fellow in Philosophy Department in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian Nat'l University, where he worked closely with Stanley Benn. From 1997-2002, together with Fred D'Agostino and Peter Forrest, Jerry Gaus was co-editor of The Australasian Journal of Philosophy (Oxford UP). Presently, Gaus is co-editor of Politics, Philosophy & Economics (Sage).

Current Research

The Order of Public Reason
(with Julian Lamont) Economic Justice
(co-edited with Fred d'Agostino) Routledge Compnaion to Social and Political Philosophy
"Hobbes on Private Reason and Public Conscience"
"Social Evolution and the Necessity of Retributivism"
"Property Rights"
"Nozick's Argument Against Anarchism"

Books

  • On Philosophy and Economics. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, fortcoming.
  • 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 The Moral Order of Public Reason (to be published by Cambridge University Press).

Selected Publications

  • “Recognized Rights as Devices of Public Reason.” Philosophical Perspectives, forthcoming.
  • “On Two Critics of Justificatory Liberalism: A Response to Wall and Lister.” Politics, Philosophy & Economics, forthcoming.
  • “Coercion, Ownership, and the Redistributive State: Justificatory Liberalism’s Classical Tilt.” Social Philosophy & Policy, forthcoming.
  • “The Demands of Impartiality and the Evolution of Morality.” In Partiality and Impartiality, edited by Brian Feltham and John Cottingham. Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
  • “The Idea and Ideal of Capitalism.” In The Oxford Handbook of Business Ethics, edited by George G. Brenkert and Tom L. Beauchamp. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (2009): 73-99.
  • “The Place of Religious Belief in Public Reason Liberalism.” In Multiculturalism and Moral Conflict, edited by Maria Dimovia-Cookson and P.M.R. Stirk. London: Routledge, 2009: 19-37.
  • “Is the Public Incompetent? Compared to Whom? About What?,” Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society, vol. 20 (2009): 291-311.
  • (with Kevin Vallier) “The Roles of Religious Conviction in a Publicly Justified Polity: The Implications of Convergence, Asymmetry and Political Institutions.“ Philosophy & Social Criticism, vol. 35 (January 2009): pp. 51 - 76.
  • “The Evolution of Society and Mind: Hayek’s System of Ideas.” In Ed Feser, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Hayek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.
  • “Reasonable Utility Functions and Playing the Fair Way.” Critical Review of International and Social Philosophy (forthcoming).
  • "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 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.

Books Edited

  • Essays on Philosophy, Politics & Economics: Integration and Common Research Projects, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010.
  • (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.

Teaching

  • Indv 103: PHIL PERSPECT ON SOCIETY
  • Phil PHIL 434/534 - SOCIAL + POLITICAL PHIL
  • PHIL 205: THE ETHICS AND ECONOMICS OF WEALTH CREATION
  • PHIL 461/561: PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS AND ECONOMICS
  • PHIL 436/536: SOCIAL AND MORAL EVOLUTION