S. Adam Seagrave

Political Philosophy, American Political Thought

Office:
Zulauf Hall 412
815-753-7044
sseagrave@niu.edu

Overview of Scholarly Activity

Adam Seagrave (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science. His research focuses on the central ideas of the American political tradition, including the interrelationships between natural rights, the natural law, and democracy. He has published articles in this area in leading journals of political science, philosophy, history, and biopolitics. Seagrave teaches courses in American political thought, constitutional law, and the history of political thought. In addition to his teaching and research, Seagrave also serves as the managing editor and book review editor for the journal American Political Thought: A Journal of Ideas, Institutions and Culture. 

Selected Publications:

“Self-Ownership vs. Divine Ownership: A Lockean Solution to a Liberal Democratic Dilemma,” American Journal of Political Science 55.3 (July 2011): 710–723. 

“Darwin and the Declaration,” Politics and the Life Sciences, 30.1 (Spring 2011): 2-16.

“Cicero, Aquinas, and Contemporary Issues in Natural Law Theory,” The Review of Metaphysics 62 (2009): 491–523. 

“How Old Are Modern Rights? On the Lockean Roots of Contemporary Human Rights Discourse,” Journal of the History of Ideas 72.2 (April 2011).

“Darwin, Charles.” The Encyclopedia of Political Thought (Wiley-Blackwell), forthcoming.

Review of Robert Taylor’s Reconstructing Rawls: The Kantian Foundations of Justice as Fairness. American Political Thought (Spring 2012).