Andrew Smith, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Office: 5041 MacAlister Hall
Phone: (215) 895-2434
Email: afs52@drexel.edu

Education

• B.A., Philosophy and Political Thought, Muhlenberg College
• M.A., Philosophy, Stony Brook University
• Ph.D., Philosophy, Stony Brook University, 2007

Biography

My current work focuses on several related issues in democratic theory, including evaluating what should motivate citizens to engage in public deliberation when faced with deep disagreement; assessing how to overcome psychological, cognitive, and institutional inhibitors to deliberative engagement; and considering how to promote more effective and efficient democratic governance in the face of entrenched special interests. My first book—The Deliberative Impulse: Motivating Discourse in Divided Societies (Lexington Book, 2011)—focuses on the first of these issues. Recent articles have appeared in the Journal of Social Philosophy, Southwest Philosophy Review, the Journal of Speculative Philosophy, and Social Theory and Practice.

I teach courses on social and political philosophy and ethics.