Dennis F. Thompson

Dennis F. Thompson

Alfred North Whitehead Professor of Political Philosophy, Emeritus
Director Emeritus, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics
Dennis F. Thompson

 

Dennis F. Thompson, founding Director of the University Center for Ethics and the Professions (now the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics), is the Alfred North Whitehead Professor of Political Philosophy, Emeritus, at Harvard University, holding appointments in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and in the Harvard Kennedy School. Among his books co-authored with Amy Gutmann are The Spirit of Compromise: Why Governing Demands It and Campaigning Undermines It; Why Deliberative Democracy?; and Democracy and Disagreement. His other books include: Restoring Responsibility: Ethics in Government, Business and Healthcare; Just Elections: Creating a Fair Electoral Process in the United States; Political Ethics and Public Office; Ethics in Congress: From Individual to Institutional Corruption, John Stuart Mill and Representative Government; and The Democratic Citizen: Social Science and Democratic Theory in the 20th Century.

At Harvard, he has served as Associate Provost and Senior Adviser to the President of the University. He also twice acted as Provost on an interim basis. He has also been an adviser to the White House Special Counsel for Ethics and Government Reform, a consultant to the Joint Ethics Committee of the South African Parliament, the American Medical Association, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and the Department of Health and Human Services. He received his BA in philosophy summa cum laude from the College of William and Mary; took first-class honors in philosophy, politics, and economics at Balliol College, Oxford; and received a PhD in political science from Harvard.

 

Current Role

Director