Jason Brennan

Jason Brennan

Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Professor

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Jason Brennan

Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Professor

Jason Brennan is the Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Professor of strategy, economics, ethics, and public policy at the McDonough School of Business. He specializes in political philosophy and applied ethics. He is the author of fourteen books, including Cracks in the Ivory Tower: The Moral Mess of Education, with Phil Magness (Oxford University Press, 2019), When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice (Princeton University Press, 2018), In Defense of Openness: Why Global Freedom Is the Humane Solution to Global Poverty, with Bas van der Vossen (Oxford University Press, 2018), Against Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2016), and, with Peter Jaworski, Markets without Limits (Routledge Press, 2016). He also is co-editor, along with David Schmidtz and Bas Van der Vossen, of the Routledge Handbook of Libertarianism (2017). He edits the “Political Philosophy for the Real World” series for Routledge Press. As of February 2019, he has five books under contract.

With GISME, Jason designed The Ethics Project, a semester-long project for students to “thinking of something good, and do it.” As a graded assignment in their ethics courses, Georgetown students must explain what they decided to do with their funding (if they chose to take it at all), why they thought it was worth doing, and demonstrate that they actually added value to the world. They must describe the problems they ran into along the way, how they resolved those problems, and what they learned from the project. The Ethics Project requires students think and act like entrepreneurs, and to bear the responsibility for their decisions. The Ethics Project presents students with real-world challenges and real-world consequences of their own making. Jason is also a lecturer at GISME’s annual Workshop on Teaching Professional Business Ethics.

Work History

Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Professor Strategy, Economics, Ethics, & Public Policy
Georgetown University
2018 – Present
Research Professor / Faculty Associate Political Economy
University of Arizona
2017 – Present
Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Associate Professor Strategy, Economics, Ethics, & Public Policy
Georgetown University
2015 – 2018
Assistant Professor of Strategy, Economics, Ethics, & Public Policy
Georgetown University
2011 – 2015
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Research Assistant Director of the Political Theory Project
Brown University
2008 – 2011
Research Fellow, Political Science
Brown University
2006 – 2008

Alma Mater

University of Arizona
Ph.D., Philosophy
University of Arizona
M.A., Philosophy
University of New Hampshire
B.A., Philosophy
Case Western Reserve University
B.A., Economics

Books

Jason Brennan
Routledge Books

Markets without Limits: Moral Virtues and Commercial Interests, 2nd Edition

May you sell your vote? May you sell your kidney?
Jason Brennan
Oxford University Press

Debating Democracy: Do We Need More or Less?

Around the world, faith in democracy is falling.
Jason Brennan
Amazon

Business Ethics for Better Behavior

A clear and concise roadmap for ethical business behavior using commonsense moral principles.
Jason Brennan
Book

Why It’s OK to Want to Be Rich

Finger-wagging moralizers say the love of money is the root of all evil.
Jason Brennan
Book

Good Work If You Can Get It: How to Succeed in Academia

This realistic, data-driven look at university teaching and research will help make your graduate and postgraduate experience a success.
Jason Brennan
Routledge Books

Injustice for All: How Financial Incentives Corrupted and Can Fix the US Criminal Justice System

American criminal justice is a dysfunctional mess.

Publications

May 4, 2022 • SAGE Publishing

Why not anarchism?

Recent debates over ideal theory have reinvigorated interest in the question of anarchy.

March 28, 2022 • Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy

Why Paternalists Must Endorse Epistocracy

Recent findings from psychology and behavioral economics suggest that we are “predictably irrational” in the pursuit of our interests.