1952 – 2020
Gerald Gaus (1952–2020) was an American political philosopher and professor at the University of Arizona, renowned for his rigorous work in liberal political theory, public reason, and the foundations of social morality. He developed an influential account of public justification grounded in the diversity of individual evaluative frameworks, arguing that legitimate social rules must be justifiable across a wide range of reasonable moral perspectives. His later work critically examined the limits of ideal theory in political philosophy.
Developed a comprehensive framework of public justification in 'The Order of Public Reason' (2011), grounding social morality in agent-relative contractualism
Introduced the 'Open Society' model, emphasizing how moral and political rules must be justifiable across diverse evaluative perspectives
Critiqued idealized political philosophy in 'The Tyranny of the Ideal' (2016), arguing that ideal theory can distort practical reform
Advanced formal modeling of contractualist agreement, including analysis of how segmented choice can undermine rational justification
Founded and directed the PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) program at the University of Arizona