David Stevens

Contact

• workRoom C107 Law and Social Sciences
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• work0115 95 14529
• fax0115 95 14859
• david.stevens@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

I have been at Nottingham since 2000, having previously held positions at Brunel University and Brown University.

Expertise Summary

I am interested in a variety of questions within the broad field of normative political philosophy/theory. In particular, this includes questions about social justice, certain aspects of rational choice theory, and other areas of applied ethics (such as education, information technology, and environmentalism). An overarching theme of my work has been the proper place of religion within politics and society.

I welcome doctoral research applications in the following areas; the foundations of liberalism; Rawlsian political philosophy; social justice; political liberalism; anti-perfectionism; just war theory; the philosophy of education; rational choice and religion.

Teaching Summary

I teach within the fields of ethics and contemporary political theory/philosophy.

My main teaching contributions are within the areas of:

1. Social and global justice

2. Normative political theory

3. The ethics of killing and saving lives

Research Summary

My research is within the field of moral and political philosophy, in particular I am interested in the proper relationship between conceptions of the good (such as religious and ethical conceptions)… read more

Selected Publications

• STEVENS, D. and O'HARA, K., 2015. The Devil's Long Tail: Religious and other radicals in the internet marketplace Oxford University Press and Hurst Publishers.
• DAVID STEVENS and MATTHEW CLAYTON, 2015. Is the Free Market Acceptable to Everyone? Res Publica: A journal of social and political philosophy. 1-20
• DAVID STEVENS, 2014. Creating Greener Citizens: Political Liberalism and a Robust Environmental Education Studies in Philosophy and Education. 33(5), 545-562
• STEVENS, D., 2011. Reasons to be fearful, one, two, three: the "preventing violent extremism" agenda British Journal of Politics and International Relations. 13(2), 165-188

• View all publications

I am interested in supervising PhD dissertations in the areas of:

• Liberal egalitarian political theory
• Rawlsian political philosophy
• The overlap of normative political philosophy and the philosophy of education.

I have supervised a number of successful PhD projects in these areas.

Current Research

My research is within the field of moral and political philosophy, in particular I am interested in the proper relationship between conceptions of the good (such as religious and ethical conceptions) and the role of the liberal democratic state, though my interests extend to questions of social justice more generally. My research can be broken down into three main areas:

1. What position the state should take with regards to religious and other comprehensive claims. Particularly, Rawlsian political liberalism, anti-perfectionism, children's education, religious disobedience.

2. Understanding how the marketplace of religious ideas works. Particularly, explanations of religious group membership, radicalization and extremism, rational choice explanations, and how the new information technologies change and mitigate these dynamics.

3. Social justice. Particularly, questions of socioeconomic distribution, Rawlsian justice as fairness, equality of opportunity and education, environmental justice.

I am also interested in (though publish less frequently on) ethical and moral questions, such as killing and harming, just war theory, nationality and the structure of moral obligations.

Future Research

I continue to work on questions of religion and its place within modern democratic societies, as well as other questions on social justice and ethics, as well as within the field of the philosophy of eduction.

• 2020. In: O'HARA KIERON and HILDEBRANDT MIRIELLE, eds., In Defence of “Toma”: Algorithmic Enhancement and a Sense of Justice Edward Elgar Publishing.
• STEVENS DAVID, 2019. The Poverty of Contractarian Moral Education Journal of Moral Education. 48(4), 501-514
• DAVID STEVENS and MATTHEW CLAYTON, 2018. What's the Point of Religious Education? Theory and Research in Education. 16(1), 65-81
• DAVID STEVENS, 2018. Further Thoughts on Talking to the Unreasonable Res Publica. (In Press.)
• STEVENS, D. and O'HARA, K., 2015. The Devil's Long Tail: Religious and other radicals in the internet marketplace Oxford University Press and Hurst Publishers.
• DAVID STEVENS and KIERON O'HARA, 2015. Echo Chambers and Online Radicalism: Assessing the Internet's Complicity in Violent Extremism Policy and Internet.
• DAVID STEVENS and MATTHEW CLAYTON, 2015. Is the Free Market Acceptable to Everyone? Res Publica: A journal of social and political philosophy. 1-20
• DAVID STEVENS, 2014. Creating Greener Citizens: Political Liberalism and a Robust Environmental Education Studies in Philosophy and Education. 33(5), 545-562
• 2013. Nozick. In: Encyclopedia of Modern Political Thought CQ Press, Washington. (In Press.)
• CLAYTON, M. and STEVENS, D., 2013. When God commands disobedience: political liberalism and unreasonable religions Res Publica: A Journal of Moral, Legal, and Social Philosophy. n/a(n/a), n/a
• 2012. From Deliberative Democracy to Utopophobia: : Themes from Estlund’s Democratic Authority Political Studies Review. 10(1),
• STEVENS, D., 2011. Reasons to be fearful, one, two, three: the "preventing violent extremism" agenda British Journal of Politics and International Relations. 13(2), 165-188
• STEVENS, D., 2010. Political Ideas in Practice: Problem-solving Political Theory. In: BAKER, G., FALK-WHYNES, J. and SIDOROVITCH, A., eds., Teaching for Integrative Learning: Innovations in University Practice 3. Centre for Integrative Learning. 126-136
• STEVENS, D., 2009. In Extremis: a self-defeating element in the 'Preventing Violent Extremism' strategy The Political Quarterly. 80(4), 517-525
• O'HARA, K. and STEVENS, D., 2009. The Devil's long tail: religious moderation and extremism on the Web IEEE Intelligent Systems. 24(6), 37-43
• STEVENS, D and OHARA, K, 2007. Democracy, Ideology and Process Re-Engineering: Realising the Benefits of e-Government in Singapore. In: SHADBOLT, N and KALFOGLOU, Y, eds., Advanced Knowledge Technologies Southampton: AKT.
• O'HARA, K.M. and STEVENS, D.M., 2006. inequality.com: power, poverty and the digital divide Oxford: Oneworld.
• O'HARA, K. and STEVENS, D., 2006. Democracy, ideology and process re-engineering: realising the benefits of e-government in Singapore WWW2006 15th International World Wide Web Conference. Available at: <http://www.w3c.org.hk/www2006/papers/re-eng_sg.pdf>
• STEVENS, D.M., 2005. Justice. In: Political Concepts: A Reader and Guide 1st. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. 15-28
• CLAYTON, M. and STEVENS, D.M., 2004. School choice and the burdens of justice Theory and Research in Education. 2(2), 111-126
• STEVENS, D., 2003. Reasonableness and inequality in Rawls's Defence of Global Justice Acta Politica. 38(3), 231-253
• STEVENS, D., 2003. Crossing moral 'no-man's land'? Res Publica. 9(3), 303-314
• STEVENS, D., 1999. The Case of the Chingford Skinhead: John White on Education and Special Obligations between Fellow Nationals Journal of Philosophy of Education. VOL 33(NUMBER 3), 353-370