George Sher is a moral philosopher and political philosopher who has taught at Rice University

Rice University

William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

 since 1991. He chaired the department from 1993 - 2000.

Sher earned his bachelors degree at Brandeis University

Brandeis University

Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...

 and his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 in 1972. His work has largely focused on liberalism

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

, perfectionism

Perfectionism (psychology)

Perfectionism, in psychology, is a belief that a state of completeness and flawlessness can and should be attained. In its pathological form, perfectionism is a belief that work or output that is anything less than perfect is unacceptable...

, and issues in moral psychology

Moral psychology

Moral psychology is a field of study in both philosophy and psychology. Some use the term "moral psychology" relatively narrowly to refer to the study of moral development. However, others tend to use the term more broadly to include any topics at the intersection of ethics and psychology and...

. He is married to essayist and novelist Emily Fox Gordon.

Works by George Sher

Desert, Princeton University Press, 1987; paperback, 1989.

Beyond Neutrality: Perfectionism and Politics, Cambridge University Press, 1997. Chinese edition (Hebei People's Publishing House) forthcoming.

Approximate Justice: Studies in Non-Ideal Theory, Rowman and Littlefield, 1997.

In Praise of Blame, Oxford University Press, 2006.

Who Knew? Responsibility Without Awareness, Oxford University Press, 2009.

External links

• http://philosophy.rice.edu/content.aspx?id=71