The lecture will begin at 7 p.m. at the Brad D. Smith Foundation Hall in the Marshall University Erickson Alumni Center. The program is free and open to the public.
Brennan, considered one of the world’s leading experts on voting and political knowledge, has written four highly regarded books, including “Against Democracy” (Princeton University Press, 2016), “Libertarianism: What Everyone Needs to Know” (Oxford University Press, 2012) and “The Ethics of Voting” (Princeton University Press, 2011). He has lectured all over the world on topics related to political philosophy and libertarianism.
In “Against Democracy,” Brennan contends that rather than providing the competent government to which citizens are entitled, “democracy is the rule of the ignorant and the irrational, and it all too often falls short.” He argues that a new system of government—epistocracy, the rule of the knowledgeable—may be better than democracy.
“Jason Brennan brings a thoughtful and interesting perspective to the lecture series,” said Patricia Proctor, director of the Simon Perry Center for Constitutional Democracy. “One purpose of education is to consider unusual ideas. In the context of our modern ideas about politics and participatory democracy, these ideas certainly fulfill that goal and I expect it to be lively and interesting.”
Brennan is the Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Chair and Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor of Strategy, Economics, Ethics and Public Policy at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He has lectured throughout the United States as well as abroad.