Professor David Owen BA PhD
Professor of Social and Political Philosophy
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David Owen is Professor of Social and Political Philosophy within the School of Economic, Social and Political Sciences at the University of Southampton where he has worked since 1995.
As a social and political philosopher, my interests range from abstract questions concerning justice, democracy and power to more concrete issues concerning citizenship, multiculturalism and migration in contemporary global politics. I have also worked on post-Kantian traditions of philosophy in Europe and America, especially Nietzsche. In recent years, I have developed interests in how European imperialism and its continuing legacies shape contemporary politics and political thought, and in non-Western traditions of political thought.
I was awarded by BSc (1985) and PhD (1989) from the University of Durham and while at Southampton have been Visiting Professor of Politics (2000& 2008) and of Philosophy (2010) at the Goethe University, Frankfurt. In the first semester of 2020-21 I will be SSS Visiting Professor at the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton.
My recent books include What do we owe to refugees? (Polity, 2020), Prospects for Citizenship, co-authored with Gerry Stoker et al. (Bloomsbury Academic, 2011), Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morality (Acumen, 2007) and two co-edited volumes Multiculturalism and Political Theory (Cambridge University Press 2007) and Recognition and Power (Cambridge University Press, 2007).
I am co-editor of the Critical Powers book series for Manchester University Press and of Citizenship Transitions for Palgrave Macmillan. I also serve on the editorial/advisory boards of European Journal of Political Theory, Journal of Nietzsche Studies, Max Weber Studies, Political Studies and Political Studies Review. From 2013-17 I was Reviews Editor for Political Theory.
I am currently a Co-Investigator of the ESRC-GCRF funded project “ReGHID” directed by Professor Pia Riggirozzi. Previous research work has been funded by the AHRC and by the Excellence Cluster on Normative Orders at the Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main.
Academic Qualifications
- 1989 PhD Durham University
- 1985 BA Durham University
I am Professor of Social and Political Philosophy at the University of Southampton. I have published widely across three main research areas
- Nietzsche and post-Kantian critical theory encompassing post-structuralism and the Frankfurt School
- Problems of Political Community addressing issues of multiculturalism and, especially, migration
- Democratic Theory ranging from foundational to policy-relevant levels of analysis
My current research projects fall into two groups:
- The ethics and politics of migration – with particular focus on refugees, transnational citizenship, and global migration governance.
- Nietzsche and the problem of ethical culture. (I am currently writing a book on Nietzsche for the Oxford University Press Founders of Social and Political Thought series)
My recent books include What do we owe to refugees? (Polity, 2020), Prospects for Citizenship, co-authored with Gerry Stoker et al. (Bloomsbury Academic, 2011), Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morality (Acumen, 2007) and two co-edited volumes Multiculturalism and Political Theory (Cambridge University Press 2007) and Recognition and Power (Cambridge University Press, 2007).
I am co-editor of the Critical Powers book series for Manchester University Press and of Citizenship Transitions for Palgrave Macmillan. I also serve on the editorial/advisory boards of European Journal of Political Theory, Journal of Nietzsche Studies, Max Weber Studies, Political Studies and Political Studies Review. Until recently I was Reviews Editor for Political Theory. I have been Visiting Professor of Politics (2000& 2008) and of Philosophy (2010) at the Goethe University, Frankfurt.