Steven B. Smith (born 1951) is the

Alfred Cowles Alfred Cowles III (September 15, 1891 – December 28, 1984) was an American economist, businessman and founder of the Cowles Commission. He graduated from Yale in 1913, where he was a member of Skull and Bones. He was the grandson of Alfred Co ...

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. From 1996 to 2011 he was the Master of

Branford College Branford College is one of the 14 residential colleges at Yale University. Founding Branford College was founded in 1933 by partitioning the Memorial Quadrangle (built in 1917-21) into two parts: Saybrook and Branford. According to Robert Frost ...

at Yale.

Early life and education

Steven Smith was born in 1951. He received his undergraduate degree from

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UT-Chattanooga, UTC, or Chattanooga) is a public university in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1886 and is one of four universities and two other affiliated institutions in the ...

and continued his studies at Durham University (

St Cuthbert's Society St Cuthbert's Society, colloquially known as Cuth's, is a college of Durham University. It was founded in 1888 for students who were not attached to the existing colleges. St Cuthbert's Society is a Bailey college, based on Durham's peninsula nex ...

), where he completed an

MPhil The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

in 1976, with his thesis written on the social and political doctrine of

G. W. F. Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...

Career

In 1981 Steven Smith received his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. He was briefly employed as an assistant professor at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

before his 1984 arrival at Yale, where he was granted tenure in 1990. At Yale, he has served in many prominent administrative positions while continuing his research. His areas of expertise are the history of

political philosophy Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...

and the role of statecraft in

constitutional government A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princi ...

. He has served as Director of Graduate Studies in Political Science, Director of the Special Program in the Humanities, and Acting Chair of Judaic Studies and from 1996-2011 served as the Master of Branford College. He is an honorary member of

Manuscript Society Manuscript Society is a senior society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Toward the end of each academic year 16 rising seniors are inducted into the society, which meets twice weekly for dinner and discussion. Manuscript is reputedly ...

. He has received several awards and prizes including the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize given by

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

and the Lex Hixon ‘63 Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Social Sciences in 2009. Smith describes himself as an East Coast Straussian. His books includ
''Spinoza, Liberalism and Jewish Identity (1997)''
''Spinoza's Book of Life (2003)'', ''Reading Leo Strauss'' (2006), ''The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss'' (2009), ''Political Philosophy'' (2012) and his latest, ''Modernity and Its Discontents'' (2016). He is married and has one son.

References

External links

Yale UniversityAcademic Earth Political Philosophy Course"Introduction to Political Philosophy" - Smith's OpenYale Course
Living people American political scientists University of Chicago alumni Yale University faculty University of Tennessee at Chattanooga alumni 1951 births Spinoza scholars Alumni of St Cuthbert's Society, Durham {{polisci-bio-stub