Altman & Wellman

contemporaryAnalytic Political Philosophy

Andrew Altman and Christopher Heath Wellman are contemporary analytic political philosophers who have collaborated extensively on liberal theories of rights, political legitimacy, and international justice. Altman, based at Georgia State University, specializes in legal and political philosophy, while Wellman, at Washington University in St. Louis, focuses on political obligation, secession, and immigration ethics. Together they co-authored foundational work on the liberal theory of international justice and the moral grounding of human rights.

Notable Achievements

Co-authored A Liberal Theory of International Justice (2009), defending state sovereignty alongside individual rights

Developed a collaborative framework grounding human rights in political legitimacy and liberal principles

Extended Lockean social contract theory to contemporary questions of representative governance and property regulation

Advanced debates on secession, self-determination, and the moral limits of state authority

Positions & Arguments(1)

Democracy & Governance

claim

Locke's argument for representative institutions deciding property regulation and taxation moves toward a genuinely democratic conception of legitimate authority.