Alexander Schaefer

Alexander Schaefer joins The Murphy Institute and the Department of Philosophy as an Assistant Professor, effective July 2026. Prior to his appointment at Tulane, he served as an assistant professor of philosophy at the University at Buffalo and a visiting researcher in the Department of Economics at New York University. He also held a postdoctoral research fellowship at New York University's Classical Liberal Institute. He earned his PhD at the University of Arizona, where he completed his dissertation under the supervision of David Schmidtz.

Schaefer’s research focuses on social complexity and the social contract. His work aims to put philosophy in direct dialogue with social science, situating his scholarship within the interdisciplinary subfield of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE). As a member of the Murphy Core Faculty, he contributes to the Center for Ethics’ interdisciplinary research and teaches courses in the Undergraduate Program in Political Economy.