
Here's a little bit of information about me. I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. I work in political theory, with a particular interest in theories of justice; democratic theory; rational choice theory; and the philosophy of social science. My current research concerns lotteries—not just state lotteries and the like, but all the various kinds of decisions that one might choose to make via random selection. There are more than you might initially believe. Think of Ancient Athens, which filled most of its political offices by lot. Think of the randomly-selected jury today. Think of the military draft. And think of all the times in life when you might wind up saying, “Let’s toss for it!” or “Let’s just draw straws.”
If you'd like to know more about my work, you can read my CV.
You can hear me speak at the following locations:
- December 21st, 2008: "The Inquisition of Bertrand Russell", Unitarian Universalist Church, Bethlehem, PA
- January 25th, 2009: "Russell on War and Peace". Humanist Community, Palo Alto
- February 10th, 2009: "Machiavelli Reconsidered' , Structured Liberal Education, Stanford, CA
- February 12th, 2009: "Arbitrary Selection and Random Selection', Symbolic Systems Forum, Stanford, CA