My name is David O'Brien. (You can reach me at dobrien6 [at] wisc [dot] edu) 

Since 2024, I've been an assistant professor of educational policy studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 2019-2024, I was an assistant professor of philosophy and political economy at Tulane University. Prior to my appointment at Tulane, I received my Ph.D. in philosophy from UW-Madison. In 2022-23, I was a faculty fellow-in-residence at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, and in 2021-22, I was the director of the Center for Ethics and Public Affairs at Tulane's Murphy Institute. 

I work in the philosophy of education, with a focus on understanding how the values of liberty, equality, and community bear on educational justice. I also specialize in moral and political philosophy, with a focus on understanding the structure and prospects of telic egalitarianism--i.e., the view that it is sometimes non-instrumentally bad if there is inequality in how well different lives go. 

By following the links above, you can find more information about my research and teaching. You can also download my CV.

(The image at the top of the page is a photograph I took in Wisconsin on my favorite kind of day.)