SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY & POLICY CENTER

Alan R. Gibson, Associate Professor of Political Science, California State University, Chico

Alan Gibson (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame) is an associate professor of political science at California Sate University in Chico.  His main teaching interests are in American political thought, the history of political thought, and constitutional law and theory.  He has published two books, Interpreting the Founding: Guide to the Enduring Debates over the Origins and Foundations of the American Republic (University Press of Kansas, 2006) and Understanding the Founding: The Crucial Questions (University Press of Kansas, 2007).  While at the Policy Center this summer, he hopes to complete work on his third book, Extending the Sphere: Size and Popular Government in the American Political Imagination.

Kevin Portteus, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Belmont Abbey College

Kevin Portteus (Ph.D., University of Dallas, Irving) is an assistant professor of political science at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina.  He will be moving to a new position at Hillsdale College in the fall.  While at the Center, he will be working on a book tentatively titled Administration and the American Regime, which will pose a fundamental challenge to the perceived constitutional legitimacy of the modern administrative state.

Douglas Rasmussen (Ph.D., Marquette University) is a professor of philosophy at St. John's University.  His areas of specialization are political philosophy, ethics, epistemology, and ontology.  During his visit to SPPC, he will be working on a new book, co-authored with Douglas Den Uyl, titled The Perfectionist Turn: From Metanorms to Metaphysics, which will make a case for a contemporary version of Aristotelian ethics, and will attempt to show that this theory of ethics is superior to its major competitors and can defend itself against those who claim that there is no ethical knowledge.
 

Fernando Tesón (S.J.D., Northwestern University School of Law) was appointed Tobias Simon Eminent Scholar of Law at Florida State University College of Law in 2002.  Prior appointments include Willard Pedrick Distinguished Scholar, Professor of Law and Affiliate Professor of Philosophy at Arizona State University, and visiting professorships at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Cornell Law School, and Oxford, among others.  He has also served as a diplomat in the Argentine Foreign Service.  His previous publications include Rational Choice and Democratic Deliberation: A Theory of Discourse Failure (Cambridge University Press, 2006), co-authored with Guido Pincione, Humanitarian Intervention: An Inquiry into Law and Morality (Transnational Publishers, 3rd Ed., 2005), and A Philosophy of International Law (Westview Press, 1998).  While visiting the Policy Center, Professor Tesón will be working on a book project tentatively titled A Classical-Liberal Theory of International Justice, co-authored with Loren Lomasky.

Scott Yenor, Associate Professor of Political Science, Boise State University

Scott Yenor (Ph.D., Loyola University Chicago) is an associate professor of political science at Boise State University.  He will be working on a book project on the treatment of the family in modern political thought during his stay in Bowling Green.  He has had numerous articles published, and has contributed to several edited volumes.  He also has a book under review for publication.