Complex systems are made up of large numbers of diverse, interdependent, and adaptive agents that interact over time. These systems of interaction exhibit positive and negative feedbacks, emergent properties, path dependence, novelty, and sensitive dependence on initial conditions. As a result, they are difficult to predict and, consequently, to control.  I aim to explore the philosophical implications of conceptualizing society as a complex, adaptive system…

“Is Justice a Fixed Point?” (American Journal of Political Science), criticizes traditional answers to the question What is Justice? for failing to take seriously the dynamic features of social-moral systems. An early version of this paper won the PPE Society’s Gerald Gaus Memorial Essay Prize.

“Coping with Complexity: A Theory of Hayekian Interventionism” (book chapter) — examines Hayek’s ambivalent attitudes towards state intervention.

“Hayek’s Twin Ideas” (Cambridge Journal of Economics) — examines Hayek’s theory of cultural evolution in light of contemporary complexity theory.

“Reasonable but Nonliberal: Another Route to Polycentrism” (The Philosophical Quarterly) — focuses on polycentricity as a means of realizing various Rawlsian desiderata for a well-ordered society under conditions of deep diversity.

In Progress

“Polycentricity and Adaptation: A Multilevel Selectionist Approach” (revise and resubmit) — analyzes the capacity of polycentric structures to facilitate group-beneficial adaptations. 

“The Problem of Complexity and the Emergence of Polycentric Political Order” (under review) — my co-author, Dries Daems, and I argue that polycentricity can be viewed as a response to the heavy information-processing demands faced by states under conditions of social complexity.