Teresa Bejan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Awards | BIAPT Early Career Prize (2020), Philip Leverhulme Prize (2021) |
| Education | |
| Education | University of Chicago (BA), University of Cambridge (MPhil), Yale University (PhD) |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | 21st-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Political philosophy |
| Institutions | University of Oxford |
| Main interests | political theory,toleration,egalitarianism,civil discourse |
| Website | https://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/person/teresa-bejan |
Teresa M. Bejan is an American political theorist and author. She is a professor of political theory in the department of politics and international relations at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Oriel College,moving to Oxford from the University of Toronto in 2015. [1]
She received her PhD with distinction from Yale University in 2013 and won the American Political Science Association's 2015 Leo Strauss Award for the best doctoral dissertation in political philosophy. [2] She holds degrees from the University of Chicago and University of Cambridge.
Her 2017 book Mere Civility:Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration,published by Harvard University Press, [3] [4] examines contemporary handling of civility,disagreement and freedom of speech in the light of arguments by the 17th-century thinkers Thomas Hobbes,John Locke and Roger Williams. She argues in Mere Civility that Roger Williams' approach of open disagreement with,and even expression of contempt for,opponents is a stronger basis for a liberal and inclusive society than the approaches of Hobbes or Locke,on the grounds that both Hobbes and Locke see a role for suppression and exclusion in building a tolerant society. [3]
Bejan gave the Balzan-Skinner lecture at the University of Cambridge on 22 April 2016,entitled Acknowledging Equality,in which she questioned modern conceptions of equality through examining 'ideas of equality as a political principle,a religious commitment,and a social practice in seventeenth-century England.' [5]
In the aftermath of Donald Trump's election as president,Bejan argued against the use of calls for civility by both Trump's supporters and opponents as a way to silence those who disagree with them. [6]
In 2021 Bejan was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Politics,in recognition of the international impact of her research. [1]
