Book Manuscript (In Progress)
"The Heart of a Machine: Technological Threats to Liberty"
This project explores the paradoxical relationship between individual liberty and new automated technologies. My research seeks to answer the question: in what ways is automated technology itself a potential threat to liberty? I turn to the thought of Adam Smith, Alexis de Tocqueville, and John Stuart Mill as thinkers within the liberal tradition that collectively suggest that when technology harms the faculties by which people make reasoned judgments and consequent choices, it becomes a threat to liberty as concerning as any other form of tyranny or despotism.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
2022. “Freedom and the Machine: Technological Criticism in Adam Smith's Thought,” Political Research Quarterly, May 2022.
2022. “Silicon Valley Stoics: Life-Hacking, Transhumanism, and Stoic Therapy,” Political Science Reviewer, 46:1, May 2022.
2021. “Transcendent Rebellion: The Influence of Simone Weil on Albert Camus’ Aesthetics,” Perspectives on Political Science, 51:1, 35-43.
2019. “Communities Are All That’s Substantial: Kurt Vonnegut’s Post-liberal Political Thought," American Political Thought 8, no. 4, 504-527.
Academic Essays and Book Reviews
2023. Review of Adam Smith Reconsidered: History, Liberty, and the Foundation of Modern Politics by Paul Sagar. OnlineFirst, The Review of Politics.
2023. Author Meets Critics Symposium: Review of Plutocratic Socialism: The Future of Private Property and the Fate of the Middle Class by Mark T. Mitchell. Political Science Reviewer, 47, no. 1.
2023. Review of Small Farm Republic by John Klar. The Independent Review, Fall 2023.
Ongoing Research Projects
"The Politics of Suicide in Plato"
Like much of my research, this project attempts to bring ancient political theory to bear on a contemporary problem: the problem of suicide. Plato’s treatment of suicide as a political issue provides potential grounds for understanding and addressing the rise in suicides today. Plato’s arguments against suicide in his Phaedo, as well as the legislative prohibition of and punishment for suicide in his Laws, provide insight into resources to address suicide outside of the current medical and scientific framework. This project is co-authored with Richard Avramenko.
"The Folk Society and the Good Life: Robert Redfield’s Humane Anthropology"
This project began after my deep dive into Kurt Vonnegut’s politics revealed a profound influence from University of Chicago Committee on Social Thought cofounder Robert Redfield. Redfield was a practicing and traveling anthropologist who, late in his career, argued for a unity between the social sciences and the humanities and an approach to life that focused on the beauties of human community and artistic and scientific achievement, with a moderated skepticism towards the failings of scientific and technological modernity. This project could stand alone as a narrow intellectual biography or form a critical component on a larger book-length project on the political and technological thought of Kurt Vonnegut.
"The Heart of a Machine: Technological Threats to Liberty"
This project explores the paradoxical relationship between individual liberty and new automated technologies. My research seeks to answer the question: in what ways is automated technology itself a potential threat to liberty? I turn to the thought of Adam Smith, Alexis de Tocqueville, and John Stuart Mill as thinkers within the liberal tradition that collectively suggest that when technology harms the faculties by which people make reasoned judgments and consequent choices, it becomes a threat to liberty as concerning as any other form of tyranny or despotism.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
2022. “Freedom and the Machine: Technological Criticism in Adam Smith's Thought,” Political Research Quarterly, May 2022.
2022. “Silicon Valley Stoics: Life-Hacking, Transhumanism, and Stoic Therapy,” Political Science Reviewer, 46:1, May 2022.
2021. “Transcendent Rebellion: The Influence of Simone Weil on Albert Camus’ Aesthetics,” Perspectives on Political Science, 51:1, 35-43.
2019. “Communities Are All That’s Substantial: Kurt Vonnegut’s Post-liberal Political Thought," American Political Thought 8, no. 4, 504-527.
Academic Essays and Book Reviews
2023. Review of Adam Smith Reconsidered: History, Liberty, and the Foundation of Modern Politics by Paul Sagar. OnlineFirst, The Review of Politics.
2023. Author Meets Critics Symposium: Review of Plutocratic Socialism: The Future of Private Property and the Fate of the Middle Class by Mark T. Mitchell. Political Science Reviewer, 47, no. 1.
2023. Review of Small Farm Republic by John Klar. The Independent Review, Fall 2023.
Ongoing Research Projects
"The Politics of Suicide in Plato"
Like much of my research, this project attempts to bring ancient political theory to bear on a contemporary problem: the problem of suicide. Plato’s treatment of suicide as a political issue provides potential grounds for understanding and addressing the rise in suicides today. Plato’s arguments against suicide in his Phaedo, as well as the legislative prohibition of and punishment for suicide in his Laws, provide insight into resources to address suicide outside of the current medical and scientific framework. This project is co-authored with Richard Avramenko.
"The Folk Society and the Good Life: Robert Redfield’s Humane Anthropology"
This project began after my deep dive into Kurt Vonnegut’s politics revealed a profound influence from University of Chicago Committee on Social Thought cofounder Robert Redfield. Redfield was a practicing and traveling anthropologist who, late in his career, argued for a unity between the social sciences and the humanities and an approach to life that focused on the beauties of human community and artistic and scientific achievement, with a moderated skepticism towards the failings of scientific and technological modernity. This project could stand alone as a narrow intellectual biography or form a critical component on a larger book-length project on the political and technological thought of Kurt Vonnegut.
