Daniel Engster

As a political philosophy professor, one of my main goals is to help my students to understand the texts of classic and contemporary thinkers and apply this knowledge to their lives and social circumstances. The classes I teach focus on a wide variety of different thinkers and eras - Ancient and Medieval Political Philosophy, Modern Political Philosophy, American Political Thought, Contemporary Political Theory — but are all ultimately organized around a number of fundamental ethical and political questions: What is a good life for human beings? What obligations do we have to others? What is the nature of a just society? In all of my classes, I challenge students to come up with their own answers to these questions so that they can better understand their social and political world, gain more conscious control over their lives and decisions, and become better persons and citizens.