Chris Bertram's Home Page

I'm Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Head of Department at the University of Bristol where I've  been  since 1988. Previous locations include the University of Essex, the LSE and Magdalen College Oxford. I teach mainly political philosophy, though I've been known to lecture on philosophy of social science and even on Descartes.   My book Rousseau and The Social Contract has just appeared (September 2003) in  Routledge's Philosophy Guidebooks series (North American publication date, November 5th 2003). 

I'm a member of the Rousseau Association. Aside from that, my main research interests are in modern social contract theory, in theories of justice and in public justification, especially given imperfect human cognitive faculties. I was until recently the editor of Imprints: A Journal of Analytical Socialism, now (2002) in its seventh year of publication and before that was once on the editorial committee of New Left Review, before resigning, along with nearly everyone else.  These days I find the description 'egalitarian liberal' fits me better than 'socialist', but there's lots of complicated autobiographical, cultural  and theoretical stuff there which I won't go into here.

Outside of professional life I'm interested in music and try to get to see Welsh National Opera whenever they come to town but I've been listening to a lot more jazz recently. I am also keen on architecture and urban design, leading me to be active in Bristol Civic Society. I'm also an ardent Liverpool fan, though I sometimes go and watch Bristol City.

Some recent  writings available on the web:

• Political Justification, Theoretical Complexity, and Democratic Community (Ethics, Vol. 107, No. 4. (Jul., 1997), pp. 563-583. - via JSTOR subscription may be needed).
• Afghanistan: A Just Intervention
  
• Bristol and Burke
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "The General Society of the Human Race" (CB trans.)
• Institutionalizing the Difference Principle