Daniel E. Little (born 1949) is professor of philosophy at the

University of Michigan-Dearborn 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 States, ...

and professor of sociology and public policy at the

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. He previously served as the Chancellor for the University of Michigan-Dearborn (2000-2018).

Biography

Daniel Little earned two undergraduate degrees in philosophy and mathematics from the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

in 1971 and a Ph.D in philosophy from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1977. After his time at Harvard University, Little served in faculty positions at the

University of Wisconsin-Parkside A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

, Wellesley College, Colgate University, and

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering ...

. He served as vice president for academic affairs at Bucknell University between 1996 and 2000. His areas of specialization and competence include the philosophy of

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

, social and political philosophy, and Asian studies. He is an active scholar and has written and lectured extensively on the foundations of the social sciences. His 2003 book is ''The Paradox of Wealth and Poverty'', a discussion of the ethical issues raised by economic development in the third world. More recent books include ''New Contributions to the Philosophy of History'' (2010) and ''New Directions in the Philosophy of Social Science'' (2016). He is actively involved in the metropolitan Detroit community and served on non-profit boards in Michigan concerned with civil rights, race relations, and improving inter-group understanding. He currently serves on the boards of the Michigan League for Public Policy and the Michigan College Access Network, with previous board service with New Detroit, City Year Detroit, the Detroit Urban League, Detroit Public Television, and the Detroit Zoological Society. He is a core faculty of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) program through the University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Publications

* 1986 ''The Scientific Marx'' * 1989 ''Understanding Peasant China'' * 1991 ''Varieties of Social Explanation'' * 1995 ''On the Reliability of Economic Models'' (edited) * 1998 ''Microfoundations, Method, and Causation'' * 2003 ''The Paradox of Wealth and Poverty'' * 2010 ''New Contributions to the Philosophy of History'' * 2010 ''Future of Diversity: Academic Leaders Reflect on American Higher Education'' (edited with Satya Mohanty) * 2016 ''New Directions in the Philosophy of Social Science''

Notable articles

Philosophy of Economics
Daniel Little's entry in the ''Routledge Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Science''
Philosophy of History
(entry in the ''Standard Encyclopedia of Philosophy'')
Analytical Sociology and the Rest of Sociology
(''Sociologica'' 2012)

References

External links

Understanding Society
blog
University of Michigan-Dearborn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Daniel 20th-century American philosophers Living people University of Michigan faculty University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Harvard University alumni University of Michigan–Dearborn people Colgate University faculty Bucknell University faculty Philosophers of social science University of Wisconsin–Parkside faculty 1949 births