Doctoral Student, Harvard Department of Philosophy

Education:
B.A., Program of Liberal Studies, Notre Dame (2002)
M.A., Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2005)

Areas of Specialization: Moral Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Action

Areas of Competence: Applied Ethics, Business Ethics, Philosophy of Law, Philosophy of Race, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind

Dissertation
I advance parallel theses in moral and political philosophy, arguing that both individual persons and democratic commonwealths have extensive moral permission to exercise various kinds of control over themselves, and that this is because both are agents. On the moral side, my purpose is to address worries posed by some, such as Parfit, about whether it is permissible for a person to burden or coerce her future self. On the political side, my purpose is to offer an alternative to prevalent republican and liberal conceptions of the state—an alternative in which democratic states possess the authority to balance burdens and benefits between distinct individuals, and to enlist their members in the pursuit of collective ends.



E-mail: pschof (at) fas.harvard.edu