David O’Brien received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2019. He then served as an assistant professor at Tulane University and was the director of Tulane’s Center for Ethics and Public Affairs in 2021-2022 and a faculty fellow-in-residence at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University in 2022-23. He specializes in the philosophy of education, with a focus on understanding how the values of liberty, equality, and community bear on educational justice. His other areas of expertise include ethics and political philosophy, with a focus on understanding the moral significance of distributive inequality. O’Brien’s publications have appeared in venues such as the Journal of Moral Philosophy, the Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, Theory and Research in Education, and the Journal of Applied Philosophy.
Select Publications
- O'Brien, D. (2024). Teaching with puzzles. In Brynn Welch (Ed.), The Art of Teaching Philosophy: Reflective Values and Concrete Practices Bloomsbury Academic https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/art-of-teaching-philosophy-9781350404816/.
- O'Brien, D., Castro, C., & Schwan, B. (2023). Egalitarian machine learning. Res Publica, 29(2), 237-264. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-022-09561-4.
- O'Brien, D. (2023). Equality of opportunity and higher education. In Mitja Sardoc (Ed.), Handbook of Equality of Opportunity Springer https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-52269-2_91-1.
- O'Brien, D. (2023). Fairness, autonomy, and the right to higher education. Theory and Research in Education, 21(1), 88-92. https://doi.org/10.1177/14778785231160094.
- O'Brien, D. (2023). Fairness, care, and abortion. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 40(4), 658-675. https://doi.org/10.1111/japp.12661.
- O'Brien, D. (2022). Children, partiality, and equality. Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, 23(1), 59-85. https://doi.org/10.26556/jesp.v23i1.1539.
- O'Brien, D. (2022). Conservatism reconsidered. Journal of the American Philosophical Association, 8(1), 149-168. https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2020.50.
- O'Brien, D. (2022). How far can political liberalism support reforms in higher education? 2022 Social Theory and Practice, 48(4), 713-744. https://doi.org/10.5840/soctheorpract2022812173.
- O'Brien, D. (2021). Inequality: do not disperse. Utilitas, 33(2), 193-203.
- O'Brien, D., & Schwan, B. (2021). Wrongfulness rewarded? A normative paradox. Synthese, 199, 6897-6916. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-021-03098-4.