Daniel Brudney is Professor in the Department of Philosophy and the College; Associate Faculty in the Divinity School; Associate Faculty, MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. He writes and teaches in political philosophy, philosophy and literature, bioethics, and philosophy of religion. He is the author of Marx's Attempt to Leave Philosophy (Harvard, 1998).
Selected Publications
“The Breadth of Moral Character,” in Garry Hagberg ed., Fictional Characters, Real Problems: Essays on the Ethical Content of Literature, Oxford University Press, 2016
“The Young Marx and the Middle-Aged Rawls,” in Jon Mandle and David Reidy, eds., A Companion to Rawls, Wiley-Blackwell, 2014; published in German as “Der junge Marx und der mittlere Rawls,” in Rahel Jaeggi and Daniel Loick eds., Nach Marx - Philosophie, Kritik, Praxis, Suhrkamp, 2013
“Agency and Authenticity: Which Value Grounds Patient Choice?” (with John Lantos), Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, vol. 32, no. 4, 2011
“Styles of Self-Absorption,” in G. Hagberg and W. Jost eds., A Companion to the Philosophy of Literature, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010
“Choosing for Another: Beyond Autonomy and Best Interests,” Hastings Center Report, vol. 39, no. 2, March-April 2009; published simultaneously in Asian Bioethics Review, vol. 1, no. 1, 2009
“Are Alcoholics Less Deserving of Liver Transplants?” Hastings Center Report, January-February 2007, reprinted in J. Parks and Victoria Wilke eds., Bioethics in a Changing World, Pearson 2009
“On Noncoercive Establishment,” Political Theory, vol. 33, no. 6, December 2005
“Justifying a Conception of the Good Life: The Problem of the 1844 Marx,” Political Theory, vol. 29, no. 3, June 2001; published in German as “Zur Rechtfertigung einer Konzeption des guten Lebens beim frühen Marx,” Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie, no. 3, 2002
“Lord Jim and Moral Judgment: Literature and Moral Philosophy,” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 56, no. 3, Summer 1998
“Community and Completion,” in A. Reath, B. Herman, C. Korsgaard eds., Reclaiming the History of Ethics: Essays for John Rawls, Cambridge University Press, 1997; published in German as “Gemeinschaft als Ergänzung,” Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie, vol. 58, no. 2, 2010
“Two Links of Law and Morality,” Ethics, vol. 103, no. 2, January 1993
“Knowledge and Silence: The Golden Bowl and Moral Philosophy,” Critical Inquiry, vol. 16, no. 2, Winter 1990
Recent Courses
PHIL 51821 Political Liberalism and Social Pathologies
The exercise of state power is supposed to pass a test of "legitimacy." However, it has been difficult to find a legitimacy criterion that is both compelling and satisfiable. In Political Liberalism John Rawls proposes a criterion of legitimacy that he thinks will be compelling, satisfiable, and, crucially, acceptable to a wide range of citizens' (reasonable) fundamental beliefs (or, as he calls them, "comprehensive doctrines"). Rawls's proposal has been criticized in many ways. In the seminar we will go through and try to understand the structure and content of Rawls's political liberal view. We will then examine several challenges to his criterion of legitimacy. Finally, we will look at a challenge that stems from work by recent writers of the Frankfurt School. This challenge says (i) Rawls's legitimacy criterion does not preclude significant "social pathologies" associated with a capitalist economy, and (ii) no criterion of legitimacy that could preclude these pathologies would be consistent with the basic agenda of political liberalism. The seminar will read work by Rawls, Colin Bird, Corey Brettschneider, Jürgen Habermas, Axel Honneth and Rahel Jaeggi. (I)
For full list of Dan Brudney's courses back to the 2012-13 academic year, see our searchable course database.