Robert Devigne

Political Theory
Professor and Chair
Ph.D., Columbia University, 1990

Biography

Robert Devigne studies and teaches political philosophy. Devigne writes essays on Plato, Nietzsche, Mill and others that examine the relation between ancient and modern philosophy and how seminal philosophers have understood the proper relation of philosophy, politics, and religion. Among his essays are "Plato, Nietzsche & Strauss," "The Legacy of Michael Oakeshott," "Reforming Reformed Religion: J. S. Mill's Critique of the Enlightenment's Natural Religion," and "Cultivating the Individual and Society: J. S. Mill's Use of Ancient and Romantic Moralities." These essays and others have appeared in American Political Science Review, Political Theory, History of Political Thought, Political Studies, and other journals and edited volumes.

In addition to his doctoral work at Columbia, Devigne also completed graduate and post-graduate studies at Yale, Oxford, and Stanford.

Tufts University has conferred the Liebner Prize and the U.N.I.T.E. Award on Professor Devigne for excellence in teaching.

Publications & Working Papers

Books

• Reforming Liberalism: J. S. Mill's Use of Ancient, Religious, Romantic and Liberal Moralities, Yale University Press, 2006
• Recasting Conservatism: Oakeshott, Strauss, and the Response to Postmodernism, Yale University Press, 1994 (published in paperback in 1997)

Recent Articles and Book Chapters

• "Strauss and Straussianism: From the Ancients to the Moderns?" Political Studies, forthcoming: October, 2009.
• "Building Bridges to the Continent: J. S. Mill's Theory of Justice," History of Political Thought XXIX (Winter 2008): 635-661.
• "J. S. Mill and the Politics of Liberty and Wisdom," in The Bicentennial Conference: John Stuart Mill, 1806-2006, eds. Valentin Muresan and Christian Ducu, Bucharest: Bucharest University Press, 2008: 146-180.
• "Cultivating the Individual and Society: J. S. Mill's Use of Ancient and Romantic Dialectics" History of Political Thought 27 (Spring 2006): 91-121
• "Reforming Reformed Religion: J. S. Mill on the Enlightenment's Natural Religion." American Political Science Review 100 (February 2006): 15-27

Copyright Department of Political Science, Tufts University. All rights reserved.