James Otteson

James Otteson earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame in 1990. His sophomore year was spent abroad studying at the Universität Innsbruck in Innsbruck, Austria.

After completing his undergraduate degree, he attended the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, earning a MA in Philosophy in 1992. He then joined the Philosophy Department at the University of Chicago, receiving a PhD in 1997.

Upon graduating from Chicago, he took a position in the Philosophy Department at the University of Alabama, where he began as an assistant professor, received tenure, and rose to become department chair. In 2007, he accepted a position as joint professor of philosophy and economics, and director of the honors program, at Yeshiva University in New York City, New York. In 2013, he moved to Wake Forest University, and in 2020, he returned to his alma mater and joined the faculty at the University of Notre Dame.

At Notre Dame, Otteson is the John T. Ryan Jr. Professor of Business Ethics, the Rex and Alice A. Martin Faculty Director of the Notre Dame Deloitte Center for Ethical Leadership, and Faculty Director of the Business Honors Program.

He has held visiting scholar positions at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center, then located at Bowling Green State University; at the Centre for the Study of Scottish Philosophy, then located at the University of Aberdeen; at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities at the University of Edinburgh; in the Economics and Philosophy Departments at the University of Missouri-St. Louis; and in the Government Department at Georgetown University. He has also taught in the Economics Department at New York University.

Otteson lectures widely on Adam Smith, classical liberalism, political economy, business ethics, and related issues, including for the Fund for American Studies, the Adam Smith Society, the Acton Institute, the Institute for Humane Studies, the Edwin J. Feulner Institute, the Fraser Institute, and the Tikvah Fund.

Publications

• "Democracy and People Over Profit", Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy, 18
• "The Levellers and the Origins of Modern Political Economy", Social Philosophy and Policy, 37
• "Escaping the Social Pull: Nonconformists and Self-Censorship", Society, 2019
• "Opting Out: A Defense of Social Justice", The Independent Review, 24, 2019
• "The Misuse of Egalitarianism in Society", The Independent Review, 22, 2017

Books

• "The Essential David Hume", Fraser Institute, 2021
• "The Ethics of Wealth Redistribution", (With Steven McMullen), Routledge, 2021 - Accepted (awaiting publication)
• "Seven Deadly Economic Sins: Obstacles to Prosperity and Happiness Every Citizen Should Know", Cambridge University Press - Accepted (awaiting publication)
• "Honorable Business: A Framework for Business in a Just and Humane Society", Oxford University Press, 2019
• "The Essential Adam Smith", Fraser Institute, 2018
• "The End of Socialism", Cambridge University Press, 2014
• "What Adam Smith Knew", Encounter, 2014
• "Adam Smith", Bloomsbury, 2013
• "Actual Ethics", Cambridge University Press, 2006
• "Adam Smith's Marketplace of Life", Cambridge University Press, 2002