Jeffrey Edward Green
Biographic Data
| ID | 3627469 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jeffrey Edward Green |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jeffrey Edward |
| FAMILY NAME | Green |
| SIGNATURE | GREEN J E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Pennsylvania |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4426-0616 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 44 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Liberalism as Self-Help
This article offers a critical engagement with Alexander Lefebvre's Liberalism as a Way of Life, which argues that liberalism is not merely a framework for political institutions but a comprehensive ethical orientation saturating modern life. While Lefebvre defends liberalism as both pervasive and normatively admirable, the article questions this dual claim, probing the limits of liberalism's cultural ubiquity and the viability of a liberal good …
Ten Theses on Machiavelli
Machiavelli can be read as a plebeian thinker supportive of plebeian institutions that, as such, differentiate the few from the many and aim to regulate and burden the few. Yet, like numerous contemporary plebeian thinkers, Machiavelli is mostly silent about the moral transgressiveness required by the advocacy of plebeian institutions and ideas. The theses offered here argue that advocates of plebeianism will need, like the Machiavellian prince, …
Self-reliance without self-satisfaction: Emerson, Thoreau, Dylan and the problem of inaction
The idea of self-reliance is important not only because it is often taken to be definitive of the ethics of democratic individualism, but because its greatest theorists have been uncommonly forthright about a problem that, though familiar to ordinary civic experience, frequently gets ignored: that self-reliant individuality is a basis for not fully supporting otherwise endorsed social justice causes. This article turns to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Hen…
Bob Dylan at the March on Washington: Prophet of the Bourgeoisie
Bob Dylan’s performance at the 1963 March on Washington is often interpreted as reflective of the same kind of commitment to social justice manifested by other leading participants at the March. However, I argue that whereas other leading participants at the March tended to organize their appeals around the expectation of a “militant progressivism” fully committed to fighting injustice, Dylan’s role at the March is distinct because it addresses t…
Has Inequality Led to a Crisis for Liberalism
The growing wealth gap has eroded support for liberal democracy by exposing its unfulfilled egalitarian promises. A renewal of civic obligations could be the best defense against creeping plutocracy
The Shadow of Unfairness: A Plebeian Theory of Liberal Democracy
In this sequel to his prize-winning book, The Eyes of the People, Jeffrey Edward Green draws on philosophy, history, social science, and literature to ask what democracy can mean in a world where it is understood that socioeconomic status to some degree will always determine opportunities for civic engagement and career advancement. Under this shadow of unfairness, Green argues that the most advantaged class are rightly subjected to compulsory pu…
Liberalism and the Problem of Plutocracy: Liberalism and the Problem of Plutocracy: Jeffrey Edward Green
Figuring Out Democracy
Political Theory as Both Philosophy and History: A Defense Against Methodological Militancy
This essay defends a broad, eclectic, and inclusive kind of political theory against methodological militants who would restrict political theory's permissible purview. It rejects the idea—frequently voiced by exponents of both analytic-philosophic and historicist methodologies—that philosophical and historical analyses are necessarily two separate enterprises that ought to be kept distinct, not just conceptually but as a matter of scholarly prac…
Solace for the Frustrations of Silent Citizenship: The Case of Epicureanism
Insofar as no democratic society can fully realize norms of free and equal citizenship, citizens in such regimes are likely to experience some degree of discontent with their political lives. This raises a second purpose for democratic theory beyond the usual focus on improving democratic institutions: the psychological issue of how ordinary citizens might find solace in the face of disappointment. Democratic theory is capable of providing solace…
Symposium: Edited by Richard Avramenko and Melissa Schwartzberg
Analysing legislative performance: A Plebeian Perspective
Legislative performance can be understood in terms of results (the quality of the laws enacted) or in terms of the literal performativity of legislators (the quality of their appearances on the public stage). This article examines two different ethical frameworks for evaluating legislative performance in this latter, performative sense: a deliberative model, which restricts just political performances to deliberative exchanges among citizens, and…
Rawls and the Forgotten Figure of the Most Advantaged: In Defense of Reasonable Envy toward the Superrich
This article aims to correct the widespread imbalance in contemporary liberal thought, which makes explicit appeal to the "least advantaged" without parallel attention to the "most advantaged" as a distinct group in need of regulatory attention. Rawls's influential theory of justice is perhaps the paradigmatic instance of this imbalance, but I show how a Rawlsian framework nonetheless provides three justifications for why implementers of liberal …
On the Co-originality of Liberalism and Democracy: Rationalist vs. Paradoxicalist Perspectives
When the commitment to liberal rights conflicts with the commitment to democratic procedures, which side ought to prevail? Whereas rights foundationalists hold that rights trump procedures and democratic positivists hold that procedures trump rights, theorists of co-originality affirm both rights and procedures as coeval, equally valid commitments within a liberal democracy. But the notion of co-originality itself can be interpreted in two differ…
On the Difference Between a Pupil and a Historian of Ideas
This essay takes up the fundamental question of the proper place of history in the study of political thought through critical engagement with Mark Bevir's seminal work, The Logic of the History of Ideas. While I accept the claim of Bevir, as well as of other exponents of the so-called "Cambridge School," that there is a conceptual difference between historical and non-historical modes of reading past works of political philosophy, I resist the s…
Learning How Not to Be Good
Three Theses on Schumpeter: Response to Mackie
The Eyes of the People
For centuries it has been assumed that democracy must refer to the empowerment of the People's voice. This pioneering book makes the case for considering the People as an ocular entity rather than a vocal one, arguing that it is both possible and desirable to understand democracy in terms of what the People gets to see, instead of the traditional focus on what it gets to say. The Eyes of the People examines democracy from the perspective of every…
Max Weber and the Reinvention of Popular Power
Political scientists are not generally accustomed to treating Max Weber's unusual account of democracy–plebiscitary leader democracy–as a genuine democratic theory. The typical objection is that Weber's account of democracy in terms of the generation of charismatic leadership is not really a democratic theory at all, because it contains no positive account of popular power: specifically, that it presents democracy in such a fashion that there is …
Political Theory as Both Philosophy and History: A Defense Against Methodological Militancy
This essay defends a broad, eclectic, and inclusive kind of political theory against methodological militants who would restrict political theory's permissible purview. It rejects the idea—frequently voiced by exponents of both analytic-philosophic and historicist methodologies—that philosophical and historical analyses are necessarily two separate enterprises that ought to be kept distinct, not just conceptually but as a matter of scholarly prac…
Analysing legislative performance: A Plebeian Perspective
Legislative performance can be understood in terms of results (the quality of the laws enacted) or in terms of the literal performativity of legislators (the quality of their appearances on the public stage). This article examines two different ethical frameworks for evaluating legislative performance in this latter, performative sense: a deliberative model, which restricts just political performances to deliberative exchanges among citizens, and…
Liberalism and the Problem of Plutocracy: Liberalism and the Problem of Plutocracy: Jeffrey Edward Green
Rawls and the Forgotten Figure of the Most Advantaged: In Defense of Reasonable Envy toward the Superrich
This article aims to correct the widespread imbalance in contemporary liberal thought, which makes explicit appeal to the "least advantaged" without parallel attention to the "most advantaged" as a distinct group in need of regulatory attention. Rawls's influential theory of justice is perhaps the paradigmatic instance of this imbalance, but I show how a Rawlsian framework nonetheless provides three justifications for why implementers of liberal …
On the Difference Between a Pupil and a Historian of Ideas
This essay takes up the fundamental question of the proper place of history in the study of political thought through critical engagement with Mark Bevir's seminal work, The Logic of the History of Ideas. While I accept the claim of Bevir, as well as of other exponents of the so-called "Cambridge School," that there is a conceptual difference between historical and non-historical modes of reading past works of political philosophy, I resist the s…
Symposium: Edited by Richard Avramenko and Melissa Schwartzberg
Three Theses on Schumpeter: Response to Mackie
On the Co-originality of Liberalism and Democracy: Rationalist vs. Paradoxicalist Perspectives
When the commitment to liberal rights conflicts with the commitment to democratic procedures, which side ought to prevail? Whereas rights foundationalists hold that rights trump procedures and democratic positivists hold that procedures trump rights, theorists of co-originality affirm both rights and procedures as coeval, equally valid commitments within a liberal democracy. But the notion of co-originality itself can be interpreted in two differ…
Learning How Not to Be Good
Max Weber and the Reinvention of Popular Power
Political scientists are not generally accustomed to treating Max Weber's unusual account of democracy–plebiscitary leader democracy–as a genuine democratic theory. The typical objection is that Weber's account of democracy in terms of the generation of charismatic leadership is not really a democratic theory at all, because it contains no positive account of popular power: specifically, that it presents democracy in such a fashion that there is …
The Eyes of the People
For centuries it has been assumed that democracy must refer to the empowerment of the People's voice. This pioneering book makes the case for considering the People as an ocular entity rather than a vocal one, arguing that it is both possible and desirable to understand democracy in terms of what the People gets to see, instead of the traditional focus on what it gets to say. The Eyes of the People examines democracy from the perspective of every…
Three Theses on Schumpeter: Response to Mackie
Learning How Not to Be Good
On the Co-originality of Liberalism and Democracy: Rationalist vs. Paradoxicalist Perspectives
When the commitment to liberal rights conflicts with the commitment to democratic procedures, which side ought to prevail? Whereas rights foundationalists hold that rights trump procedures and democratic positivists hold that procedures trump rights, theorists of co-originality affirm both rights and procedures as coeval, equally valid commitments within a liberal democracy. But the notion of co-originality itself can be interpreted in two differ…
On the Difference Between a Pupil and a Historian of Ideas
This essay takes up the fundamental question of the proper place of history in the study of political thought through critical engagement with Mark Bevir's seminal work, The Logic of the History of Ideas. While I accept the claim of Bevir, as well as of other exponents of the so-called "Cambridge School," that there is a conceptual difference between historical and non-historical modes of reading past works of political philosophy, I resist the s…
Analysing legislative performance: A Plebeian Perspective
Legislative performance can be understood in terms of results (the quality of the laws enacted) or in terms of the literal performativity of legislators (the quality of their appearances on the public stage). This article examines two different ethical frameworks for evaluating legislative performance in this latter, performative sense: a deliberative model, which restricts just political performances to deliberative exchanges among citizens, and…
Rawls and the Forgotten Figure of the Most Advantaged: In Defense of Reasonable Envy toward the Superrich
This article aims to correct the widespread imbalance in contemporary liberal thought, which makes explicit appeal to the "least advantaged" without parallel attention to the "most advantaged" as a distinct group in need of regulatory attention. Rawls's influential theory of justice is perhaps the paradigmatic instance of this imbalance, but I show how a Rawlsian framework nonetheless provides three justifications for why implementers of liberal …
Symposium: Edited by Richard Avramenko and Melissa Schwartzberg
Figuring Out Democracy
Political Theory as Both Philosophy and History: A Defense Against Methodological Militancy
This essay defends a broad, eclectic, and inclusive kind of political theory against methodological militants who would restrict political theory's permissible purview. It rejects the idea—frequently voiced by exponents of both analytic-philosophic and historicist methodologies—that philosophical and historical analyses are necessarily two separate enterprises that ought to be kept distinct, not just conceptually but as a matter of scholarly prac…
Solace for the Frustrations of Silent Citizenship: The Case of Epicureanism
Insofar as no democratic society can fully realize norms of free and equal citizenship, citizens in such regimes are likely to experience some degree of discontent with their political lives. This raises a second purpose for democratic theory beyond the usual focus on improving democratic institutions: the psychological issue of how ordinary citizens might find solace in the face of disappointment. Democratic theory is capable of providing solace…
The Shadow of Unfairness: A Plebeian Theory of Liberal Democracy
In this sequel to his prize-winning book, The Eyes of the People, Jeffrey Edward Green draws on philosophy, history, social science, and literature to ask what democracy can mean in a world where it is understood that socioeconomic status to some degree will always determine opportunities for civic engagement and career advancement. Under this shadow of unfairness, Green argues that the most advantaged class are rightly subjected to compulsory pu…
Liberalism and the Problem of Plutocracy: Liberalism and the Problem of Plutocracy: Jeffrey Edward Green
Has Inequality Led to a Crisis for Liberalism
The growing wealth gap has eroded support for liberal democracy by exposing its unfulfilled egalitarian promises. A renewal of civic obligations could be the best defense against creeping plutocracy
Bob Dylan at the March on Washington: Prophet of the Bourgeoisie
Bob Dylan’s performance at the 1963 March on Washington is often interpreted as reflective of the same kind of commitment to social justice manifested by other leading participants at the March. However, I argue that whereas other leading participants at the March tended to organize their appeals around the expectation of a “militant progressivism” fully committed to fighting injustice, Dylan’s role at the March is distinct because it addresses t…
Self-reliance without self-satisfaction: Emerson, Thoreau, Dylan and the problem of inaction
The idea of self-reliance is important not only because it is often taken to be definitive of the ethics of democratic individualism, but because its greatest theorists have been uncommonly forthright about a problem that, though familiar to ordinary civic experience, frequently gets ignored: that self-reliant individuality is a basis for not fully supporting otherwise endorsed social justice causes. This article turns to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Hen…
Ten Theses on Machiavelli
Machiavelli can be read as a plebeian thinker supportive of plebeian institutions that, as such, differentiate the few from the many and aim to regulate and burden the few. Yet, like numerous contemporary plebeian thinkers, Machiavelli is mostly silent about the moral transgressiveness required by the advocacy of plebeian institutions and ideas. The theses offered here argue that advocates of plebeianism will need, like the Machiavellian prince, …
Liberalism as Self-Help
This article offers a critical engagement with Alexander Lefebvre's Liberalism as a Way of Life, which argues that liberalism is not merely a framework for political institutions but a comprehensive ethical orientation saturating modern life. While Lefebvre defends liberalism as both pervasive and normatively admirable, the article questions this dual claim, probing the limits of liberalism's cultural ubiquity and the viability of a liberal good …
Political science (18 works) · Politics (16 works) · Sociology (16 works) · Law (15 works) · Law (10 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Democracy (8 works) · Political Philosophy and Ethics (8 works) · Philosophy (7 works)