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Dooley Publishes “States of Nature and Social Contracts”

Kevin Dooley, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the department of Political Science and Sociology, recently published “States of Nature and Social Contracts” (Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers, July 2021). The book examines liberalism’s most common thought experiments, the state of nature, and the social contract. The first five chapters examine the dominant thinkers who have used these metaphors as a means of justifying a free, fair, and open society. The last chapter critiques these ideas through three different lenses: conservatism, feminism (gender theory), and critical race theory. This combination of perspectives makes the book unique in the field of political theory.

This is Dooley’s fourth book and second in the field of political philosophy. 

Cover of Prof. Dooley's new book