Jack Crittenden

Jack Crittenden joined the ASU faculty in 1988. He received his bachelor's degree in political science from Tufts University, his master's in developmental psychology from Harvard University, and his doctorate in political theory from the University of Oxford. Professor Crittenden is the author of three books: Beyond Individualism (1992), Democracy's Midwife (2002), and Wide as the World (2011). He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, as well as a Spencer Post-Doctoral Fellowship. Jack is also a founding member of the Integral Institute and currently serves on its Board of Directors.

His research and teaching center on political theory and the human condition. His recent research has focused on civic education, deliberative democracy, and cosmopolitan identity. He is currently working on a book manuscript on direct, deliberative democracy. Future work will revolve around what Voltaire called the two poles of life: politics and spirituality, as he explores the political implications of the neuroscience of religion, especially mysticism, and an Emersonian practical idealism, especially in its existential form. In his work he will continue his attempts to bend genres by combining fiction and exposition.

He continues to be skeptical of most things, including the value of short biographical blurbs.