Jacob Abolafia

Jacob Abolafia

Abolafia

Jacob Abolafia is a PhD candidate in Political Theory. His research interests and publications span the history of political philosophy from antiquity through late modernity. In his dissertation, a comparative study of the origins of penal incarceration in fourth century Athens and 18th century England, he tries to disentangle the history of incarceration from the history of industrialization, focusing on the way democracy, moral theory, and religion inform the possibilities of punishment in society. At Harvard, Abolafia has taught the history of political thought from Plato to Weber, and coordinated the European Philosophy Workshop and the Political Theory Colloquium. He holds a BA in Philosophy from Yale and MPhils in Political Thought and Intellection History and Classics from Cambridge, where he was a Paul Mellon Fellow at Clare College from 2010-2013.

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Graduate Fellows