Geoffrey Brennan (September 15, 1944–July 29, 2022) was an Australian

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

. He was professor of philosophy at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

, professor of political science at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jam ...

, and faculty member in the Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS) at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

. He was the Director of the Research School from 1991-1996. Trained as an

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

, Brennan collaborated extensively with

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winner

James M. Buchanan James McGill Buchanan Jr. (; October 3, 1919 – January 9, 2013) was an American economist known for his work on public choice theory originally outlined in his most famous work co-authored with Gordon Tullock in 1962, ''The Calculus of Consen ...

and became the first non-American president of the

Public Choice Public choice, or public choice theory, is "the use of economic tools to deal with traditional problems of political science".Gordon Tullock, 9872008, "public choice," '' The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics''. . Its content includes the ...

Society in 2002. Brennan published widely on rational actor theory, philosophy, and economics, and sat on the editorial board of the academic journal '' Representation''. He held academic positions in several related departments at Australia National University and

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

. With Loren Lomasky he won the

American Philosophical Association The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarl ...

's Gregory Kavka Prize in Political Philosophy for the paper "Is There a Duty to Vote?" He was also awarded an honorary doctorate in Economics (Dr. oec. h. c.) from the University of St. Gallen in 2002, the Distinguished Fellow Award of the

Economic Society of Australia The Economic Society of Australia (ESA) is the peak body for Australian economists. It was established in 1925 and has branches in all states and the ACT. The current president is Matthew Butlin from Victoria The ESA gives the Young Economist Awa ...

in 2013, and the Gutenberg Teaching Award of

Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 s ...

(Germany) in 2018. Brennan was a golfer, and a semi-professional singer (for some years a national recitalist with the ABC). In 2022 Brennan died in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

of complications from

acute leukemia Acute leukemia or acute leukaemia is a family of serious medical conditions relating to an original diagnosis of leukemia. In most cases, these can be classified according to the lineage, myeloid or lymphoid, of the malignant cells that grow unco ...

Bibliography

*''The Power to Tax'' (1980) (with

) *''The Reason of Rules'' (1985) (with

) *''Democracy and Decision: The Pure Theory of Electoral Preference'' (Cambridge University Press, 1993) (with Loren Lomasky). *''Politics and Process: New Essays in Democratic Theory'' (Cambridge University Press 1989) (ed., with Loren Lomasky). *''Democratic Devices and Desires'' (2000) (with Alan Hamlin) *'' The Economy of Esteem'' (2004) (with

Philip Pettit Philip Noel Pettit (born 1945) is an Irish philosopher and political theorist. He is the Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values at Princeton University and also Distinguished University Professor of Philos ...

) *''Collected Works of James Buchanan'' (ed., with Hartmut Kliemt and

Robert Tollison Robert D. Tollison (1942–October 24, 2016) was an American economist who specialized in public choice theory. Education A native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, Tollison attended local Wofford College where he earned an A.B. in business admin ...

)

References

External links

Geoffrey Brennan's profile at ANUGeoffrey Brennan's profile at UNC/Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty Duke University faculty 20th-century Australian philosophers 21st-century Australian philosophers 1944 births Living people {{australia-philosopher-stub