Dennis C. Rasmussen
political theorist
Contact
Welcome. I’m a Professor of Political Science and the Hagerty Family Fellow at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, as well as co-director of SU's Political Philosophy Program. My research focuses on the history of political thought, particularly the Enlightenment and the American founding.
I’m the author of six books, including The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought, which was shortlisted for the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award and named a best book of the year in The Guardian, Bloomberg, Project Syndicate, Australian Book Review, and Five Books; Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America's Founders, which was named a best politics book of the year in the Wall Street Journal; and Frederick Douglass's American Founding: How the Nation's Fiercest Critic Embraced the Constitution, which is forthcoming in fall 2026. I'm currently working on an intellectual biography of Jean-Jacques Rousseau for Basic Books.
I’m the author of six books, including The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought, which was shortlisted for the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award and named a best book of the year in The Guardian, Bloomberg, Project Syndicate, Australian Book Review, and Five Books; Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America's Founders, which was named a best politics book of the year in the Wall Street Journal; and Frederick Douglass's American Founding: How the Nation's Fiercest Critic Embraced the Constitution, which is forthcoming in fall 2026. I'm currently working on an intellectual biography of Jean-Jacques Rousseau for Basic Books.