Edmund Tweedy Flanigan
Ph.D. Candidate in Political Theory
Department of Government
Harvard University
Curriculum Vitae (April 2020)
Google Scholar | PhilPeople
Welcome
I am a doctoral student in the Government Department at Harvard University, studying issues in contemporary moral and political philosophy. In 2019-2020 I am a Graduate Fellow at the EJ Safra Center for Ethics.
My dissertation research focuses on the moral foundations of the state-subject relationship and on the political ethics of the oppressed. As part of this project, I have written on the permissibility of violent protest, the standing of the state vis-à-vis the oppressed, and the nature of duty to obey the law and the law's authority. Beyond the dissertation, my other work has been on the topics of value comparability and climate ethics.
I have an A.B. in philosophy from Georgetown University and an M.Phil. in political theory from the University of Oxford, where I wrote a thesis on climate change and future generations.
Papers
2020. ‘Do We Have Reasons to Obey the Law?,’ Journal of Ethics & Social Philosophy, 17(2): 159-197.
2018. ‘The Small Improvement Argument, Epistemicism, and Incomparability,’ with John Halstead, Economics & Philosophy, 34(2): 199-219.
Work in progress
‘From Self-Defense to Violent Protest’
‘Futile Resistance as Protest’
Unpublished
2011. ‘On Discount Rates in the Cost-Benefit Analysis of Climate Change.’ MPhil Thesis Chapter. Department of Politics, University of Oxford.
Teaching
Graduate Seminars
‘Ethical Foundations of Political Thought’ (Gov 2088)
Fall 2018, co-taught with Michael Rosen
Undergraduate Seminars
‘EJ Safra Center for Ethics Undergraduate Fellows Research Seminar’
Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, co-taught with Danielle Allen
‘Topics and Resources in Political Theory’ (Gov 63)
Spring 2018, co-taught with Cheryl Welch
As Teaching Fellow
‘EJ Safra Center for Ethics Undergraduate Fellows Seminar’ (Gov 94saf)
Spring 2018, Spring 2019, for Arthur Applbaum
‘Dissent and Disobedience in Democracies’ (Gov 1038/DPI 218)
Spring 2019, for Arthur Applbaum
‘Theory and Practice of Republican Government’ (ER 44)
Fall 2017, for Daniel Carpenter
‘Foundations of Political Theory’ (Gov 10)
Spring 2017, for Eric Beerbohm
‘Ethics, Biotechnology, and the Future of Human Nature’ (Gov 1093)
Fall 2016, for Michael Sandel & Douglas Melton
‘Money, Markets, and Morals’ (ER 39)
Fall 2015, for Michael Sandel