David James
My research interests include classical German philosophy together with responses to it, such as the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, and the tradition in social and political philosophy that can be traced from Rousseau through Kant, Fichte and Hegel to Marx.
Selected publications
Books
- Property and its Forms in Classical German Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2023).
- Practical Necessity, Freedom and History: From Hobbes to Marx (Oxford University Press, 2021).
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Fichte’s Republic: Idealism, History and Nationalism (Cambridge University Press, 2015).
- Rousseau and German Idealism: Freedom, Dependence and Necessity (Cambridge University Press, 2013; Chinese translation 2024).
- Fichte’s Social and Political Philosophy: Property and Virtue (Cambridge University Press, 2011; Chinese translation 2016).
Edited books
- (With Keith Ansell-Pearson) The Empathetic Emotions in the History of Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2025).
- Hegel’s Elements of the Philosophy of Right: A Critical Guide (Cambridge University Press, 2017; Chinese translation 2025).
- (With Günter Zöller) The Cambridge Companion to Fichte (Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Articles and book chapters
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‘Adorno’s Critique of Fichte’s Idealism: An Appraisal’, Archiv für die Geschichte der Philosophie (forthcoming) Adorno’s Critique of Fichte’s Idealism: An Appraisal
- ‘The Social Truth of Schopenhauer’s “Metaphysics of Pity”: Compassion and Critical Theory”, European Journal of Philosophy (forthcoming) The Social Truth of Schopenhauer's ‘Metaphysics of Pity’: Compassion and Critical Theory - James - European Journal of Philosophy - Wiley Online Library
- ‘Fichte’s Social Division of Labour and its Relation to his Idealism’, European Journal of Philosophy 33(3) (2025): 942-957 Fichte's Social Division of Labour and Its Relation to His Idealism - James - 2025 - European Journal of Philosophy - Wiley Online Library
- ‘Rousseau on the Natural Goodness of Pity’, in Keith Ansell-Pearson and David James (eds.), The Empathetic Emotions in the History of Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2025).
- ‘Rousseau and Kant on the Moral Value of Compassion’, Kantian Review 29(4) (2024): 551–568 Rousseau and Kant on the Moral Value of Compassion | Kantian Review | Cambridge Core
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‘Compassion, Egoism and Selflessness: Schopenhauer’s Problematic Debt to Rousseau’, in David Bather Woods and Timothy Stoll (eds.), The Schopenhauerian Mind (London: Routledge, 2023).
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‘The Relevance of Personality, Slavery, and Property to the Question Whether Hegel Seeks to Justify Colonial Oppression’, The Review of Metaphysics 76 (2023): 587–610.
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‘Situating the Enlightenment in Herder’s Philosophy of History’, Journal of the Philosophy of History 16(3) (2022): 247–270.
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‘The Idea of Universal Monarchy in Fichte’s Practical Philosophy’, in Giovanni Pietro Basile and Ansgar Lyssy (eds.), Freedom and System in Kant and Fichte (London: Routledge, 2022).
- ‘Marx’s Genealogy of the Idea of Equality’, European Journal of Philosophy 27(4) (2020): 898-911.
- ‘From Kant to Sade: A Fragment of the History of Philosophy in the Dialectic of Enlightenment’, British Journal for the History of Philosophy 26(3) (2018): 557-577.
