Daniel Jacobson, currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan, will take up directorship of the Bruce D. Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization beginning this fall. In addition to serving as the Benson Center听director, Jacobson is the newly appointed Bruce D. Benson Endowed Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado Boulder.
The newly endowed professorship is named in honor of University of Colorado President Emeritus Bruce Benson, who retired in 2019 after 11 years at the helm.听The professorship was made possible by generous gifts to the Bruce D. Benson Legacy Endowment Fund.
Daniel Jacobson works on a range of topics in ethics, moral psychology, aesthetics, and the moral and political philosophy of J. S. Mill. He has published extensively on issues concerning sentimentalism, the philosophy of emotion, and freedom of speech. Jacobson was Project Leader of The Science of Ethics, a three-year project funded by the John Templeton Foundation. His essay, 鈥淯tilitarianism without Consequentialism: The Case of John Stuart Mill,鈥� was chosen by听The Philosophers鈥� Annual听as one of the ten best philosophy articles published in 2008.听Jacobson is co-editor (with Justin D鈥橝rms) of the volume,听Moral Psychology and Human Agency: Philosophical Essays on the Science of Ethics听(Oxford University Press). Jacobson and D鈥橝rms are currently working on a collaborative book project,听Rational Sentimentalism, and have published a series of articles developing their view.
Jacobson has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Council of Learned Societies, and the听Princeton University Center for Human Values. He founded and heads the Freedom and Flourishing Project, which is dedicated to exploring and developing the classical liberal tradition, defending freedom of speech, and increasing political diversity in academia.听
Jacobson holds a PhD听from the University of Michigan and a BA from Yale University.听A welcome event for Daniel Jacobson will take place this fall.听