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Robert B. Talisse
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Political Science
Contact Information
Email: robert.talisse@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Furman Hall 017-A
Phone: (615) 343-8671
Fax: (615) 343-7259
Degrees
M.A. (1995) New York University
Ph.D. (2001) City University of New York Graduate School
Research Area
Robert Talisse specializes in contemporary political philosophy, with an emphasis on democratic theory. In addition, he pursues special topics in pragmatism and contemporary analytic philosophy.
Talisse is the editor of the journal Public Affairs Quarterly.
Current Research
- Talisse’s current research focuses on the social epistemology of democracy. Recent work has focused on political justification, public reason, legitimacy, epistemic norms in political discourse, group polarization, political argumentation, fanaticism, and public ignorance.
- Current CV.
Recent Courses
In the Spring of 2008, Talisse will be co-teaching (with John Goldberg of the Vanderbilt Law School) a graduate seminar on Responsibility and Global Justice. Past graduate seminars include: Deliberative Democracy, Democracy and Religious Conviction, and Political Theory after Rawls. At the undergraduate level, Talisse regularly teaches a course in formal logic and various courses in social and political philosophy.Publications
- Democracy and Moral Conflict, Cambridge University Press (2009)
- Pragmatism: A Guide for the Perplexed (with Scott Aikin), Continuum (2008)
- A Pragmatist Philosophy of Democracy, Routledge (2007)
- Democracy After Liberalism, Routledge (2005)
- “Towards a Social Epistemic Comprehensive Liberalism,” Episteme (forthcoming, 2008).
- “A Folk Epistemic Justification of Democracy,” in Truth and Public Space, R. Tinnevelt and K. Vanhemelryck, eds., Springer (forthcoming, 2008)
- “Kitcher on the Ethics of Inquiry” (with Scott Aikin), Journal of Social Philosophy, 38.4(2007): 654-665, with a response by Philip Kitcher, "Reply to Talisse and Aikin"
- “Democracy and Ignorance," Critical Review 18.4(2007): 453-466
- “Two Democratic Hopes,” Contemporary Pragmatism, 4.2(2007): 19-28, with a response by Robert Westbrook
- “From Pragmatism to Perfectionism,” Philosophy & Social Criticism33.3 (2007): 387-406
- “Two Forms of the Straw Man” (with Scott Aikin), Argumentation 20.3(2006): 345-352
- “Social Epistemology and the Politics of Omission,” Episteme 2.II (2006)
- “Deliberative Democracy Defended,” Res Publica 11.2 (2005): 185-199
- “Liberalism, Pluralism, and Political Justification,” Harvard Review of Philosophy, XIII.2 (2005): 57-72
- “Deliberativist Responses to Activist Challenges,” Philosophy & Social Criticism, 31.4 (2005): 423-444
- “Does Public Ignorance Defeat Deliberative Democracy? ,” Critical Review, 16.4 (2005): 455-463.
- “Can Value Pluralists be Comprehensive Liberals?,” Contemporary Political Theory, 3.2 (2004): 127-139 (with a response by William Galston)



