PEER-REVIEWED PAPERS
"Is Justice a Fixed Point?" The American Journal of Political Science, forthcoming.
Society may fail to exhibit any equilibrium states of justice. An important implication for political theory is that, rather than focusing exclusively on stable equilibria, theorists should examine dynamic processes of justice which need not exhibit equilibrating forces. A more useful concept than stability is that of robustness, or the ability of a system to maintain general desiderata in the face of an evolving conception of justice.
"Reasonable but Non-liberal: Another Route to Polycentrism" The Philosophical Quarterly, forthcoming.
This article presents a vicious attack on Brian Kogelmann's 2017 piece, which argues that a polycentric political order offers an appealing way of reconciling deep diversity with Rawls’s ideal of the well-ordered society. It is very, very vicious -- aside from the fact that I basically agree with Kogelmann, endorse his approach, and respect him deeply. I simply believe that, within the Rawlsian program, there exists a better justification for polycentricity than the one Kogelmann offers.
"Hayek's Twin Ideas: Reconciling Methodological Individualism and Group Selection," The Cambridge Journal of Economics, forthcoming.
Critics argue that Hayek’s theory of cultural group selection is inconsistent with his theory of spontaneous order. I argue that they are wrong.
"Unravelling into War: Trust and Social Preferences in Hobbes’s State of Nature," Economics and Philosophy, forthcoming (with Jin Sohn).
This paper presents a new formal model of Hobbes's state of nature. Agents with social preferences, as well as uncertainty regarding the social preferences of others, experience a process of trust-unravelling. This Trust-unravelling Model incorporates important features of Hobbes’s argument that past models ignore.
"Rationality, Uncertainty, and Unanimity: An Epistemic Critique of Contractarianism." Economics and Philosophy 37, no. 1 (2021): 82-117.
In addition to the key features of contractarianism --- expected utility maximization, unanimity as the criteria of acceptance, and social-scientific uncertainty of modelled agents --- this analysis introduces a fourth feature: a criteria of rational belief formation, viz. Bayesian belief updating. Using a formal model, this paper shows how rational belief formation threatens to undermine contractarian justifications.
"Incoherent but Reasonable," Social Theory and Practice, 46 no.3 (2020): 573-603 (with Wes Siscoe).
Rawls attempts to keep the boundaries of reasonable disagreement quite broad by infamously denying that political liberalism need make reference to the concept of truth, a claim that has been criticized by Joseph Raz, Joshua Cohen, and David Estlund. In this paper, we argue that these criticisms fail due to the fact that political liberalism can remain non-committal on the nature of truth, leaving the concept of truth in the domain of comprehensive doctrines while still avoiding the issues raised by Raz, Cohen, and Estlund.
BOOK CHAPTERS
“The Expressive Commons: Freedom of Expression as a Collective Action Problem.” in eds. Peter Boettke, Bobbi Herzberg, and Brian Kogelmann, Exploring the Political Economy & Social Philosophy of Vincent & Elinor Ostrom. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefeld (2020), 293-322.
This paper examines the trade-off between two goods: expressive freedom and expressive agreeableness, that is, the congeniality of the expressions in one’s environment. Analyzing the choice calculus of this trade-off reveals an incentive structure reminiscent of Garrett Hardin’s “tragedy of the commons,” leading us to predict over-restriction of free speech.
“Coping with Complexity: A Theory of Hayekian Interventionism,” in eds. Donald Boudreaux, Christopher Coyne, and Bobbi Herzberg, Interdisciplinary Studies of the Political Order: New Applications of Public Choice Theory. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefeld (2019), 67-98.
How does Hayek reconcile his anti-interventionist stance with his advocacy (or acceptance) of several government programs? I argue that this reconciliation is made possible by Hayek's focus on complexity as a key determinant of the form and activities of government.
“Between Heteronomy and Anarchy: Kant’s Reformulation of the Social Contract,” in eds. Elizabeth Robinson and Chris W. Surprenant, Kant and the Scottish Enlightenment. Abingdon: Routledge (2017), 245-266.
Kant reformulates the social contract theory in a form that is resilient to Hume’s main criticisms of such theories, namely that they are based on a false history and a false theory of moral obligation. Kant’s reformulation of the social contract is also able to respond to the anarchist critique of Hume, which (in varying ways) challenges the idea that general welfare is a sufficient basis for justifying our political obligation. In full agreement with this criticism, Kant draws his critique of moral sentimentalism into the realm of political philosophy, where, he argues, an autonomous morality is crucial in accounting for the bindingness of law.
CURRENT PROJECTS
“Equal Subjects” (with Mario Iván Juárez García).
Proposes a constitutional amendment designed to mitigate principal-agent problems
“The Problem of Complexity and the Emergence of Polycentric Political Order” (with Dries Daems).
Presents and defends an explanatory model of the emergence of polycentric structures.
“Polycentricity and Adaptation: A Multilevel Selectionist Approach”
Applies evolutionary theory to explain the functionality of undesigned polycentric orders.
"Is Justice a Fixed Point?" The American Journal of Political Science, forthcoming.
Society may fail to exhibit any equilibrium states of justice. An important implication for political theory is that, rather than focusing exclusively on stable equilibria, theorists should examine dynamic processes of justice which need not exhibit equilibrating forces. A more useful concept than stability is that of robustness, or the ability of a system to maintain general desiderata in the face of an evolving conception of justice.
"Reasonable but Non-liberal: Another Route to Polycentrism" The Philosophical Quarterly, forthcoming.
This article presents a vicious attack on Brian Kogelmann's 2017 piece, which argues that a polycentric political order offers an appealing way of reconciling deep diversity with Rawls’s ideal of the well-ordered society. It is very, very vicious -- aside from the fact that I basically agree with Kogelmann, endorse his approach, and respect him deeply. I simply believe that, within the Rawlsian program, there exists a better justification for polycentricity than the one Kogelmann offers.
"Hayek's Twin Ideas: Reconciling Methodological Individualism and Group Selection," The Cambridge Journal of Economics, forthcoming.
Critics argue that Hayek’s theory of cultural group selection is inconsistent with his theory of spontaneous order. I argue that they are wrong.
"Unravelling into War: Trust and Social Preferences in Hobbes’s State of Nature," Economics and Philosophy, forthcoming (with Jin Sohn).
This paper presents a new formal model of Hobbes's state of nature. Agents with social preferences, as well as uncertainty regarding the social preferences of others, experience a process of trust-unravelling. This Trust-unravelling Model incorporates important features of Hobbes’s argument that past models ignore.
"Rationality, Uncertainty, and Unanimity: An Epistemic Critique of Contractarianism." Economics and Philosophy 37, no. 1 (2021): 82-117.
In addition to the key features of contractarianism --- expected utility maximization, unanimity as the criteria of acceptance, and social-scientific uncertainty of modelled agents --- this analysis introduces a fourth feature: a criteria of rational belief formation, viz. Bayesian belief updating. Using a formal model, this paper shows how rational belief formation threatens to undermine contractarian justifications.
"Incoherent but Reasonable," Social Theory and Practice, 46 no.3 (2020): 573-603 (with Wes Siscoe).
Rawls attempts to keep the boundaries of reasonable disagreement quite broad by infamously denying that political liberalism need make reference to the concept of truth, a claim that has been criticized by Joseph Raz, Joshua Cohen, and David Estlund. In this paper, we argue that these criticisms fail due to the fact that political liberalism can remain non-committal on the nature of truth, leaving the concept of truth in the domain of comprehensive doctrines while still avoiding the issues raised by Raz, Cohen, and Estlund.
BOOK CHAPTERS
“The Expressive Commons: Freedom of Expression as a Collective Action Problem.” in eds. Peter Boettke, Bobbi Herzberg, and Brian Kogelmann, Exploring the Political Economy & Social Philosophy of Vincent & Elinor Ostrom. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefeld (2020), 293-322.
This paper examines the trade-off between two goods: expressive freedom and expressive agreeableness, that is, the congeniality of the expressions in one’s environment. Analyzing the choice calculus of this trade-off reveals an incentive structure reminiscent of Garrett Hardin’s “tragedy of the commons,” leading us to predict over-restriction of free speech.
“Coping with Complexity: A Theory of Hayekian Interventionism,” in eds. Donald Boudreaux, Christopher Coyne, and Bobbi Herzberg, Interdisciplinary Studies of the Political Order: New Applications of Public Choice Theory. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefeld (2019), 67-98.
How does Hayek reconcile his anti-interventionist stance with his advocacy (or acceptance) of several government programs? I argue that this reconciliation is made possible by Hayek's focus on complexity as a key determinant of the form and activities of government.
“Between Heteronomy and Anarchy: Kant’s Reformulation of the Social Contract,” in eds. Elizabeth Robinson and Chris W. Surprenant, Kant and the Scottish Enlightenment. Abingdon: Routledge (2017), 245-266.
Kant reformulates the social contract theory in a form that is resilient to Hume’s main criticisms of such theories, namely that they are based on a false history and a false theory of moral obligation. Kant’s reformulation of the social contract is also able to respond to the anarchist critique of Hume, which (in varying ways) challenges the idea that general welfare is a sufficient basis for justifying our political obligation. In full agreement with this criticism, Kant draws his critique of moral sentimentalism into the realm of political philosophy, where, he argues, an autonomous morality is crucial in accounting for the bindingness of law.
CURRENT PROJECTS
“Equal Subjects” (with Mario Iván Juárez García).
Proposes a constitutional amendment designed to mitigate principal-agent problems
“The Problem of Complexity and the Emergence of Polycentric Political Order” (with Dries Daems).
Presents and defends an explanatory model of the emergence of polycentric structures.
“Polycentricity and Adaptation: A Multilevel Selectionist Approach”
Applies evolutionary theory to explain the functionality of undesigned polycentric orders.