{{Short description|American political theorist}} {{Infobox academic | name = Jacob T. Levy | occupation = Political theorist | education =[[Phillips Exeter Academy]] [[Brown University]] (B.A. in Political Science)[[Princeton University]] (M.A., Ph.D. in Politics)
[[University of Chicago Law School]] (LL.M.) | discipline = Political Theory | workplaces = [[McGill University]] [[Niskanen Center]] (Senior Fellow) [[Institute for Humane Studies]] (Senior Fellow) | notable_works = ''The Multiculturalism of Fear'' ''Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom'' }} '''Jacob T. Levy''' is an American [[Political philosophy|political theorist]] and Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory at [[McGill University]]. Levy is the coordinator of McGill's Research Group on Constitutional Studies and was the founding director of McGill's Yan P. Lin Centre for the Study of Freedom and Global Orders in the Ancient and Modern Worlds.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jacob Levy|url=https://www.mcgill.ca/politicalscience/jacob-levy|access-date=2021-06-14|website=Political Science|language=en}}</ref> Levy is also a Senior Fellow at the [[Niskanen Center]] and the [[Institute for Humane Studies]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Jacob T. Levy, Author at Niskanen Center|url=https://www.niskanencenter.org/author/jacob-t-levy/|access-date=2021-06-14|website=Niskanen Center|language=en}}</ref> He is known for his expertise on multiculturalism, liberalism, and pluralism.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jacob T. Levy|url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KVZL4RUAAAAJ&hl=en|access-date=2021-06-13|website=scholar.google.com}}</ref>
== Education ==
Levy is an alumnus of [[Phillips Exeter Academy]]<ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Exonians in Review |url=https://issuu.com/exeterbulletin/docs/sp15_digitalbulletin/25 |magazine=The Exeter Bulletin |date=Spring 2015|page = 23|access-date=June 24, 2021}}</ref> and holds a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in Political Science from [[Brown University]], an [[Master of Arts|M.A.]] and [[Ph.D.]] in Politics from [[Princeton University]], and an [[Master of Laws|LL.M.]] from the [[University of Chicago Law School]].<ref name=":2" />
== Thought ==
=== Multiculturalism === Levy is one of the foremost experts on the political theory of [[multiculturalism]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Kukathas|first=Chandra|date=2003-07-01|title=Jacob Levy, The Multiculturalism of Fear|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/374014|journal=Ethics|volume=113|issue=4|pages=891–895|doi=10.1086/374014|s2cid=171340410|issn=0014-1704|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In his book ''The Multiculturalism of Fear'', Levy argues that a political theory of multiculturalism must be primarily concerned neither with celebrating ethnic identities nor with overcoming them, but with reducing dangers such as state violence toward cultural minorities and war between ethnic groups.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Snow|first=Nancy E.|date=2002|title=Book Review: The Multiculturalism of Fear|journal=International Migration Review|volume=36|issue=3|pages=942–943|doi=10.1111/j.1747-7379.2002.tb00111.xc|s2cid=220356823|issn=|doi-access=free}}</ref> Levy's influential argument draws on the work of [[Judith N. Shklar|Judith Shklar]], who famously argued that the primary concern of liberalism is to explain how the evils of cruelty and terror can be averted. Levy shares Shklar's emphasis on averting cruelty and terror in his approach to multiculturalism.<ref name=":0" />
=== Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom === Levy's book ''Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom'' examines two approaches to the relationship between individuals, intermediate groups, and states that feature prominently in [[Liberalism|liberal thought]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Kuznicki|first=Jason|date=August 2017|title=Book Review: Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom, by Jacob T. Levy|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0090591715627320|journal=Political Theory|language=en|volume=45|issue=4|pages=570–573|doi=10.1177/0090591715627320|s2cid=152001612|issn=0090-5917|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The first approach, which Levy calls pluralist, is wary of the central state and friendly toward local, customary, voluntary, or intermediate bodies, communities, and associations. The second approach, which Levy refers to as rationalist, is committed to intellectual progress, universalism, and equality before a unified law. Liberals with the rationalist mindset tend to view intermediate groups with skepticism, seeing their distinctions and inequalities as arbitrary, irrational, and inimical to freedom. They tend to be more friendly to the central state, viewing it as a means of protecting individuals against the local tyrannies of religious and ethnic groups, closed associations, families, and other intermediate bodies.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hertzberg|first=Benjamin|date=2016-05-01|title=Rationalism, pluralism, and freedom|journal=Contemporary Political Theory|language=en|volume=15|issue=2|pages=e18–e21|doi=10.1057/cpt.2015.41|s2cid=141882074|issn=1476-9336|doi-access=free}}</ref>
Levy argues that the debate between the rationalist and pluralist mindsets cannot be resolved, and that liberal political theorists should refrain from attempting to synthesize the rationalist and pluralist approaches. According to Levy, both mindsets provide insights about freedom that should not be ignored.<ref name=":1" />
== Selected bibliography ==
=== Books ===
* ''The Multiculturalism of Fear'' (Oxford University Press, 2000) * Jacob T. Levy and Iris Marion Young, eds., ''Colonialism and Its Legacies'' (Rowman and Littlefield, 2011) * James E. Fleming and Jacob T. Levy, eds., ''Nomos LV: Federalism and Subsidiarity'' (New York University Press, 2014) * ''Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom'' (Oxford University Press, 2014) * Daniel M. Weinstock, Jacob T. Levy, and Jocelyn Maclure, eds., ''Interpreting Modernity: Essays on the Work of Charles Taylor'' (McGill-Queens University Press, 2020)
===Book chapter=== * {{cite book |last1=Levy|first1=Jacob T. |editor1-last=Brennan |editor1-first=Jason |editor2-last=van der Vossen |editor2-first=Bas |editor3-last=Schmidtz |editor3-first=David |editor3-link=David Schmidtz|title=The [[Routledge]] Handbook of Libertarianism |date=2018 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] Group |location=London and New York |isbn=978-0367870591 |pages=22–33 |chapter=Part I: Libertarianism and other Theories; Ch. 2: Toward a Non-Lockean Libertarianism }}
== References ==
{{reflist}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levy, Jacob T.}} [[Category:American political philosophers]] [[Category:Academics from Quebec]] [[Category:Multiculturalism in Canada]] [[Category:Phillips Exeter Academy alumni]] [[Category:Brown University alumni]] [[Category:Princeton University alumni]] [[Category:University of Chicago Law School alumni]] [[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]