January 2009

Well, I finally finished my dissertation and now it’s available online for anyone to read.

I actually defended it on December 2nd. My committee approved it under the condition that I make some revisions, which is not an unusual occurrence. They mainly wanted me to flesh out and clarify some things in chapters five and nine. So after some procrastination (a bad habit) over the holidays I got around to doing the revisions. My dissertation advisor quickly approved the revisions and then, for the final step, I mailed off a hard copy to the graduate school editor for approval of formatting and such. She approved my explicitly anti-statist dissertation for uploading to LSU’s database on coronation day. ) I’ll be graduating in May.

And so, without further ado, you can download a pdf copy of my dissertation from my website (direct link) or LSU’s Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Library.

Abstract

My dissertation builds on the recent work of Douglas Rasmussen, Douglas Den Uyl and Roderick Long in developing an Aristotelian liberalism. It is argued that a neo-Aristotelian form of liberalism has a sounder foundation than others and has the resources to answer traditional left-liberal, postmodern, communitarian and conservative challenges by avoiding certain Enlightenment pitfalls: the charges of atomism, an a-historical and a-contextual view of human nature, license, excessive normative neutrality, the impoverishment of ethics and the trivialization of rights. An Aristotelian theory of virtue ethics and natural rights is developed that allows for a robust conception of the good while fully protecting individual liberty and pluralism. It is further argued that there is an excessive focus on what the State can and should do for us; politics is reconceived as discourse and deliberation between equals in joint pursuit of eudaimonia (flourishing, well-being, happiness) and its focus is shifted to what we as members of society can and should do for ourselves and each other.

• Chapter One: Introduction
• Chapter Two: Eudaimonia and the Right to Liberty: Rights as Metanormative Principles
• Chapter Three: Eudaimonia, Virtue and the Right to Liberty: Rights as Both Metanormative Principles and Interpersonal Normative Principles
• Chapter Four: Eudaimonia and the Basic Goods and Virtues
• Chapter Five: Liberal and Communitarian Conceptions of Society
• Chapter Six: The New Left and Participatory Democracy
• Chapter Seven: Immanent Politics and the Pursuit of Eudaimonia
• Chapter Eight: Free Markets and Free Enterprise: Their Ethical and Cultural Principles and Foundations
• Chapter Nine: Conclusion

My two master’s theses are also available online:

M.A. Thesis in Philosophy (December 2006)

• “Aristotelian-Liberal Autonomy” (It can also be found at LSU’s Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Library.)

M.A. Thesis in Political Science (August 2004)

• “Tyranny, Natural Law, and Secession” (My manifesto!…er, I mean Master’s Thesis. It’s long as theses go, but virtually guaranteed to blow your socks off unless you are already a radical libertarian. Can be found at LSU’s Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Library.)