Stephen K. White (born 1949), is James Hart Professor of Politics at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. His research focuses on

critical Critical or Critically may refer to: *Critical, or critical but stable, medical states **Critical, or intensive care medicine * Critical juncture, a discontinuous change studied in the social sciences. *Critical Software, a company specializing i ...

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

and

political theory Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and legitimacy of political institutions, such as states. This field investigates different forms of government, ranging from d ...

philosophy of social science Philosophy of social science examines how social science integrates with other related scientific disciplines, which implies a rigorous, systematic endeavor to build and organize knowledge relevant to the interaction between individual people and ...

, and

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (album), an album by Saint Etienne * Continen ...

political thought. He has contributed to several scholarly works on

Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas ( , ; ; born 18 June 1929) is a German philosopher and social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere. Associated with the Frankfurt S ...

, including ''The Cambridge Companion to Habermas'', which he edited. He is also a past editor of the journal ''

Political Theory Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and legitimacy of political institutions, such as states. This field investigates different forms of government, ranging from d ...

''. Recently, White's research has focused upon the concept of

weak ontology In computer science, a weak ontology is an ontology that is not sufficiently rigorous to allow software to infer new facts without intervention by humans (the end users of the software system). In other words, it does not contain sufficient lit ...

, which he uses to describe a non- foundationalist approach to normative affirmation extrapolated from the works of

George Kateb George Anthony Kateb is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics, Emeritus, at Princeton University. Life Kateb earned his A.B., A.M. and Ph.D. at Columbia University and was a Junior Fellow at Harvard University. He then taught at Amhe ...

, Charles Taylor,

Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American feminist philosopher and gender studies scholar whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In ...

, and

William E. Connolly William Eugene Connolly (born 1938) is an American political theorist known for his work on democracy, pluralism and capitalism. He is the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. His 1974 work ''The Terms o ...

Education

White received his Ph.D. from the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

in 1980.

Selected bibliography

Books

* * * * * * * Scudder, Mary & White, Stephen (2023). ''The two faces of democracy: Decentering agonism and deliberation''. Oxford University Press.

Edited books

* * *

Journal articles

References

External links

White's University of Virginia Faculty Page
1949 births Living people University of Virginia faculty CUNY Graduate Center alumni American political philosophers 20th-century American philosophers Critical theorists Ontologists American philosophers of social science Philosophers from Virginia Habermas scholars {{US-philosopher-stub