Gerald Gaus Explained

Gerald Francis "Jerry" Gaus (1952 – 19 August 2020^[1]) was an American philosopher and the founding editor of the academic journal Politics, Philosophy & Economics.^[2] His last academic post was as the James E. Rogers Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona.^[1] His books include Public Reason and Diversity: Reinterpretations of Liberalism (2022), The Open Society and Its Complexities (2021), The Tyranny of the Ideal: Justice in a Diverse Society (2016), The Order of Public Reason (2011), On Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (2008), Contemporary Theories of Liberalism (2003), Political Concepts and Political Theories (2000), Justificatory Liberalism (1996), Value and Justification: The Foundations of Liberal Theory (1990), and The Modern Liberal Theory of Man (1983).

Summing up his views on the modern state of ethical discussion in terms of present philosophy, Gaus remarked,

The Tyranny of the Ideal

His 2016 book The Tyranny of the Ideal: Justice in a Diverse Society is a critical treatise about ethical idealism in the context of heterogeneous modern cultures. Gaus argues that an overriding emphasis on ideal social states causes individuals to wish for impossible political perfection and thus lose their sense of what constitutes practical policy advocacy as well as logical choices during elections. Gaus gives other warnings such as that people can lose their sense of how much has already been achieved and how well current situations have become in certain circumstances. In general, Gaus advocates for compromise and incremental socio-political reform.^[3]

Praise for the book appeared from scholarly publications such as Perspectives on Politics.^[4] Interest also appeared in the popular media, an example being the Vox.com news website.^[3]

Publications

Books

• Book: Benn. Stanley I.. Gaus. Gerald F.. 1983. Public and private in social life. London; New York. Croom Helm

  St. Martin's Press

  . 0709906684. 9533001.
• Book: Gaus , Gerald F. . 1983. The modern liberal theory of man. London; New York. Croom Helm

  St. Martin's Press

  . 0312540833. 9197467. 10.4324/9780429278723. 153671330.
• Book: Gaus , Gerald F. . 1990. Value and justification: the foundations of liberal theory. Cambridge, UK; New York. Cambridge University Press. 0521375258. 20392630. 10.1017/CBO9780511625046. registration.
• Book: Gaus , Gerald F. . 1996. Justificatory liberalism: an essay on epistemology and political theory. New York. Oxford University Press. 0195094409. 31867389. registration.
• Book: D'Agostino. Fred. Gaus. Gerald F.. 1998. Public reason. The international research library of philosophy. 21. Aldershot, Hampshire, UK; Brookfield, VT. Ashgate Publishing. 1855219549. 37567285.
• Book: Gaus , Gerald F. . 1999. Social philosophy. Explorations in philosophy. Armonk, NY. M. E. Sharpe. 1563249480. 39013721. 10.4324/9781315700717.
• Book: Gaus , Gerald F. . 2000. Political concepts and political theories. Boulder, Colo.. Westview Press. 0813333318. 43607401. registration.
• Book: Bosanquet , Bernard . Bernard Bosanquet (philosopher). 2001. 1923. The philosophical theory of the state and related essays. 4th. Key texts. Edited by Gerald F. Gaus and William Sweet. South Bend, Ind.. St. Augustine's Press. 1890318655. 42391538.
• Book: Gaus , Gerald F. . 2003. Contemporary theories of liberalism: public reason as a post-Enlightenment project. London; Thousand Oaks, CA. SAGE Publications. 0761961380. 50782568. 10.4135/9781446218754.
• Book: Gaus. Gerald F.. Kukathas. Chandran. Chandran Kukathas. 2004. Handbook of political theory. London; Thousand Oaks, CA. SAGE Publications. 0761967877. 53192013. 10.4135/9781848608139.
• Book: Gaus , Gerald F. . 2008. On philosophy, politics, and economics. Wadsworth philosophical topics. Belmont, CA. Thomson Wadsworth. 9780495008989. 154753827. registration.
• Book: Favor. Christi. Gaus. Gerald F.. Lamont. Julian. 2010. Essays on philosophy, politics & economics: integration & common research projects. Stanford, CA. Stanford Economics and Finance. 9780804762540. 438054922.
• Book: Gaus , Gerald F. . 2011. The order of public reason: a theory of freedom and morality in a diverse and bounded world. Cambridge, UK; New York. Cambridge University Press. 9780521868563. 567165746. 10.1017/CBO9780511780844.
• Book: Gaus. Gerald F.. D'Agostino. Fred. 2013. The Routledge companion to social and political philosophy. Routledge philosophy companions. New York. Routledge. 9780415874564. 707965867. 10.4324/9780203092231.
• Book: Gaus , Gerald F. . 2016. The tyranny of the ideal: justice in a diverse society. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University Press. 9780691158808. 926820221. j.ctt21c4v4g. 10.1515/9781400881048. registration.
• Book: Turner. Piers Norris. Gaus. Gerald F.. 2018. Public reason in political philosophy: classic sources and contemporary commentaries. New York. Routledge. 9780415855594. 1000526922. 10.4324/9781315110868.
• Book: Gaus , Gerald F. . 2021. The open society and its complexities. Philosophy, politics, and economics. Oxford; New York. Oxford University Press. 9780190648978. 1235904621. 10.1093/oso/9780190648978.001.0001.
• Book: Gaus. Gerald F.. Thrasher. John. 2021. Philosophy, politics, and economics: an introduction. Updated and expanded. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University Press. 9780691211251. 1276789270.
• Book: Gaus , Gerald F. . 2022. Public reason and diversity: reinterpretations of liberalism. Edited by Kevin Vallier. Kevin. Vallier. Cambridge, UK; New York. Cambridge University Press. 9781316512593. 1296529980. 10.1017/9781009067867. 253017238.

See also

• American philosophy
• List of American philosophers
• List of University of Arizona people

Notes and References

1. Web site: Weinberg . Justin . Gerald Gaus (1952–2020) . The Daily Nous . 20 August 2020 . 18 August 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221206015746/https://dailynous.com/2020/08/20/gerald-f-gaus-1952-2020/ . 2022-12-06 . live.
2. Web site: In Memoriam: Jerry Gaus (1952–2020) . PPE Society . 3 February 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221127193047/https://ppesociety.org/in-memoriam-jerry-gaus/ . 2022-11-27 . live.
3. News: How political idealism leads us astray . August 4, 2016 . April 4, 2020 . Will Wilkinson . Will . Wilkinson . . https://web.archive.org/web/20160805181542/https://www.vox.com/2016/8/4/12376522/political-idealism-enemy . 2016-08-05 . live.
4. Web site: The Tyranny of the Ideal . 2016 . press.princeton.edu . April 7, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200408001624/https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691158808/the-tyranny-of-the-ideal . 2020-04-08 . live.