Jacob Roundtree, PhD

• Co-Founder
• Lead, Civic Discourse Action Network

Jacob Roundtree is an experienced political theorist and communicator. He is currently an assistant editor at the interdisciplinary journal Critical Review, where he has helped organize special issues on themes in the field of intellectual history, as well as a postdoctoral fellow in the Johns Hopkins Center for Economy and Society. Jacob earned his PhD at Harvard in political theory, and primarily writes on political epistemology and modern intellectual history. In addition to his primary research on the history of social theory’s encounter with the problem of social complexity, Roundtree is especially concerned with the contemporary problems of public ignorance, ideology, propaganda, elite dogmatism, and political polarization. He views these phenomena as the great obstacles to achieving a rational democratic society. Jacob is especially passionate in regards to dealienating the people from academic and research institutions, and argues that the benefits of research must be more accessible and utilizable by the public. He has taught courses on democracy, the politics of truth, Marxism, German Idealism, Conservatism, race and politics, and the politics of technology.