Curriculum Vitae
Jedediah Purdy
Associate Professor of Law
Duke University School of Law
Towerview Road and Science Drive
Durham, NC 27708
Telephone: (919) 613-7077
E-mail: purdy@law.duke.edu
Education
- J.D., Yale Law School, 2001
- B.A., summa cum laude in Social Studies
Harvard College, 1997
Employment and Fellowships
- Visitor, Harvard Law School, spring 2010 (anticipated)
- Visiting Associate Professor, Yale Law School, 2008-09 (anticipated)
- Assistant Professor of Law, Duke Law School, 2004-2007
- Visiting Assistant Professor, Harvard Law School, Spring 2007
- Fellow, Safra Center for Ethics, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2006-07
- Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard Law School, 2004
- Law Clerk, Hon. Pierre N. Leval, Second Circuit Court of Appeal, 2002-2003
- Fellow, New America Foundation, 2001-2002
- Summer Associate, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison, 2002
- Summer Associate, Natural Resources Defense Council, 2000
- Writing Fellow, The American Prospect, 1997-1998
Books
- Aspects of Mastery: Property, Freedom, and the Legal Imagination (under contract, Yale University Press)
- A Tolerable Anarchy: Rebellion and Tradition in the American Vision of Freedom (forthcoming 2009) (Knopf)
- Democratic Vistas: Reflections on the Life of American Democracy (editor) (2004), Yale University Press
- Being America: Liberty, Commerce, and Violence in an American World (2003), Knopf
- For Common Things: Irony, Trust, and Commitment in America Today (1999), Knopf
Academic Articles, Reviews, and Essays
- "Climate Change and the Limits of the Possible," forthcoming in Duke Environmental Law and Policy Forum.
- "Presidential Language and the Constitutional Community," chapter in Law and Democracy in the Empire of Force (James B. White and H. Jefferson Powell, eds.) (forthcoming, U. Mich. Press)
- “The Private-Law Origins of Sovereign Power: Trusteeship, Agency, and Wardship” (with Kimberly Fielding), forthcoming in Law & Contemporary Problems (2007)
- “People as Resources: Recruitment and Reciprocity in the Freedom-Promoting Approach to Property,” 56 Duke Law Journal 1047 (2007)
- “Property and Empire: Conquest, Expropriation, and the Law of Colonialism,” 75 George Washington Law Review 1701 (2007)
- “The New Biopolitics: Demography, Autonomy, and Nationhood,” 2006 Brigham Young University Law Review 889 (2006)
- “The Promise (and Limits) of Neuroeconomics,” 58 Alabama Law Review 1 (2006)
- “Completing the Civilizing Argument” (Comment on Carol Rose’s 2005 Childress Lecture), 50 St. Louis University Law Review 735 (2006)
- “The American Transformation of Waste Doctrine: A Pluralist Interpretation,” 91 Cornell Law Review 563 (2006)
- “The Limits of Courage and Principle” (review of Michael Ignatieff’s The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror), 104 Michigan Law Review 1501 (2006)
- “A Freedom-Promoting Approach to Property: A Revived Tradition for New Debates,” 72 University of Chicago Law Review1237 (2005).
- “The Ethics of Empire, Again,” 93 California Law Review 1773 (2005)
- “A World of Passions: How to Think About Globalization Now,” Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies (Summer 2004)
- “Liberal Empire: Assessing the Arguments,” Ethics and International Affairs Vol. 17, No. 2 (2003); reprinted in Global Institutions and Responsibilities (Christian Barry and Thomas Pogge, eds.) (Blackwell Press 2005)
- “The Values of the Market” (book review), Ethics and International Affairs Vol. 16, No. 2 (2002)
Courses
- Climate Change and the Law, Duke Law School, 2007-08
- Property and Constitutional Order, Harvard Law School, spring 2007
- Property, Duke Law School, spring 2005 and 2006, fall 2007
- Property and Constitutional Order, Duke Law School, fall 2005 and 2007
- Environmental Ethics, Duke Law School Readings in Ethics, 2007-08
- Worlds Without Law, Duke Law School Readings in Ethics, 2005-06
- Law in an Unjust World, Duke Law School Readings in Ethics, 2004-05
- Environmental Law: History, Politics, Culture, Yale Law School and School of Forestry, spring 2000
- Environmental Politics and Policy, Century Foundation Summer Institute, Williams College, summer 1999
Lectures and Presentations
- "Climate Change: Political Limits and Possibilities," Duke Environmental Law and Policy Forum on Climate Change, Fall 2007
- "Endogenous Preferences, Institutional Design, and Freedom," Duke Law Faculty Workshop, Fall 2007
- “Contexts, Choices, and Values: Freedom and Institutional Design,” UC Hastings Law School, April 18, 2007.
- “Some Chords of Freedom,” Conference on “Law and Democracy in the Empire of Force,” University of Michigan Law School, April 13, 2007
- “Property and Empire: Rereading Johnson v. M”intosh, Harvard Law School History Colloquium, April 12, 2007
- “American Freedoms: Presentation of a manuscript in progress,” New America Foundation, January 2007
- “Private-Law Concepts in the Theory of Sovereignty,” University of North Carolina Law School, March 2006
- “Reign of Witches? Constitutionalism and the Politics of Fear,” Yale Club of New York City, January 2006
- “American Culture and World Politics,” SAIS Conference on Trans-Atlantic Relations, Austin, TX, November 2005
- “People as Property: On Being a Resource and a Person,” faculty workshop, University of Georgia Law School, November 2005
- Panelist, “The Future of the Supreme Court,” Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University, October 2005
- Respondent, Carol Rose’s “Privatization – The Road to Democracy?” St. Louis University Law School, September 2005.
- “Is There a Moral Center in America?” New America Foundation annual conference, Berkeley, CA, June 2005
- “People as Resources, People as Ends: Recruitment and the Law of Property,” Future of Political Economy Seminar, United Nations Development Program, New York City, June 2005
- “Why We Get the Politics We Get,” New America Foundation/Atlantic Monthly forum on “The Real State of the Union,” Washington, DC, February 2005
- Panelist, “What the Election Meant,” Sarah Lawrence College, February 2005
- Introducer and moderator, premiere of Gore Vidal’s On the March to the Sea, Reynolds Theater, Duke University, February 2005
- Panelist, “What Will the Election Mean?” Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, October 2004
- “Modern Values in Postmodern Conditions,” German Marshall Fund/Bertelsmann Foundation Conference on Trans-Atlantic Relations, Tremezzo, Italy, October 2004
- “A Freedom-Oriented Approach to Property,” Future of Political Economy Working Group, Barnard College, Columbia University, October 2004
- “Why America Must Not Fail (and How It Might),” American Studies Program, Bonn University, Bonn, Germany, June 2004
- “Being New York,” keynote address, Biennale Bonn cultural festival, Bonn, Germany, June 2004
- “The Social Evaluation of Technology: The Standpoint of Freedom,” Berkman Center on Internet and Society, Harvard University, May 2004
- “Social Interventions into Human Nature: The Case of Property,” Future of Political Economy Working Group, Barnard College, Columbia University, March 2004
- Comment, Noah Feldman’s “Nation-Building: Objectives,” Conference on Justice After War, Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, New York, April 2004
- “Being America: How U.S. Foreign Policy and Consumer Culture Affect Other Societies,” New America Foundation, Washington, D.C., March 2003
- Panelist, “Is There a Trans-Atlantic Divide?” Aspen Institute, Berlin, Germany, November 2002
- Panelist, “Where Is America Going?” Bucerius Law School and Die Zeit, Hamburg, Germany, November 2002
- Panelist, “Globalization and Justice,” American Public Health Association, Philadelphia, November 2002
- “Why We Need Politics,” commencement address, La Sierra University, Riverside, CA, June 2001
- “Irony and Politics,” Emory University Center on Ethics, February 2001.
- “Burke, Tocqueville, Emerson, and Democracy,” Emory University Center on Ethics, February 2001
Essays and Reviews
- "What Realignment Sounds Like," The Guardian (Jan. 30, 2008)
- "Sweet Spot," The Guardian (Jan. 7, 2008)
- "Will the Real Candidate Please Stand up?" The Guardian (Dec. 11, 2007)
- "Intellectual Climate Change" The Guardian (Nov. 20, 2007)
- "Drowning in Lawyers," The Guardian (Oct. 30, 2007)
- "Can't Talk the Talk," The Guardian (Oct. 25, 2007)
- “The New Open Society,” review of Yochai Benkler’s Wealth of Networks and Cass Sunstein’s Infotopia, The American Prospect, October 2006
- “September 11, Five Years After,” Die Zeit, September 2006
- “A Legacy of Wasted Chances,” The Charleston (WV) Gazette, September 2006
- “The New Biopolitics,” Democracy, Summer 2006
- “Democracy and Disaster,” Die Zeit, September 2005
- “A Way in the World,” Duke Alumni Magazine, Spring 2005
- “Neoliberalism at Home,” La Vanguardia, January 2005
- “Where Do Progressives Go Now?” The Principles Project, January 2005
- “Democrats After the Election,” Die Welt, November 2004
- “American Eating, American Politics,” Die Zeit, October 2004
- “Questions for President Bush” (contributor), New York Times op-ed page, October 8, 2004
- “Democratic Conscience, Democratic Sense,” La Vanguardia, October 2004
- “Kerry’s Dilemma,” La Vanguardia, October 2004
- “A Vote for Kerry Is a Vote for the American Dream,” Charleston Gazette, October 2004
- “Freedom’s Next Fight,” review of Lawrence Lessig’s Free Culture, American Prospect, June 2004
- “Suspicious Minds,” The Atlantic Monthly, February 2003
- “The Young American,” Esquire, December 2002
- “Civilization of Violence?” Die Zeit, August 2002
- “The Pure Heart,” Die Zeit, February 2002
- “The Way We Say Goodnight,” Shout, September 2001
- “After Innocence,” Die Zeit, September 2001
- “The Universal Nation,” Prospect (U.K.), October 2001
- “Gary Condit’s Strong, Silent Act,” New York Times op-ed page, August 26, 2001
- “Us and Them,” Die Zeit, August 2001
- “So Sue Me,” review of Philip K. Howard’s Lost Art of Drawing the Line, New York Times Book Review, April 22, 2001
- “Once Again, America Needs to Believe in Its Courts,” New York Times op-ed page, November 26, 2000
- “America’s Crisis of Legitimacy,” Die Zeit, November 2000
- “How to Go to the Polls Twice,” New York Times op-ed page, November 3, 2000
- “Planet Bush, Planet Gore,” American Prospect, November 2000
- “The Dilemma of Irony,” Die Zeit, August 2000
- “The Politics of Adulthood,” New York Times op-ed page, August 9, 2000
- “Shades of Green,” American Prospect, January 2000
- “After Apathy,” American Prospect, December 1999
- “The New Culture of Rural America,” American Prospect, December 1999
- “A Holiday that Plays to Our Strengths,” New York Times op-ed page, November 25, 1999
- “If Only Wishing Made It So,” American Prospect, May 1999
- “From Purity to Politics,” American Prospect, January 1999
- “The Rape of the Appalachians,” American Prospect, November 1998
- “The Age of Irony,” American Prospect, July 1998
- “Wendell Berry: An Appreciation,” Boston Book Review, July 1998
- “Dolly and Madison,” American Prospect, May 1998
- “The God of the Digerati,” American Prospect, March 1998
- “The Chicago Acid Bath,” American Prospect, January 1998
- “The Libertarian Conceit,” American Prospect, November 1997
Academic Honors
- Hoopes Prize, Alexis de Tocqueville Prize, and prize for outstanding thesis in social sciences for Essays in Flesh and Bone: Montaigne
and Liberal Moral Consciousness, 1997 - Junior Phi Beta Kappa, Harvard College, 1996
- Harry S. Truman scholarship, 1996
- Detur Prize (top 3% of first-year class, Harvard College), 1994
Professional Activities and Associations
- Member, New York Bar
- Contributing Editor, The American Prospect
- Member, American Constitution Society Committee on Constitutional Change and Interpretation
- Reviewer, Yale University Press
- Editorial Advisory Board, Ethics and International Affairs
Media Appearances
- Appeared on Morning Edition, The Connection, Talk of the Nation, The Diane Rehm Show, and as a commentator on Morning Edition, among others.
- Profiled in New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Time, Salon, and Glamour, among others.
- Books reviewed in New York Times Book Review, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Review of Books, Foreign Affairs, and Harper’s, among others.
- Designated one of Esquire’s “Best and Brightest Young Americans” (2003) and a “hipster celebrity” by Harper’s (2006).
