Headshot of Matthew Young

Matthew Young

Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Policy

Department: Political Science and Public Policy

Location: No Building Available
Mailing address: 2333 Campus Box ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ, NC 27244

Brief Biography

Matthew H. Young is Assistant Professor of Political Theory at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ. He teaches courses in political theory and ethics, with particular interests in American Political Thought, the ethics of war, religion and politics, law, civil discourse, and PPE (philosophy, politics, and economics). 

His primary research project focuses on toleration, or the art of living together through intractable disagreements. He is currently completing a book manuscript on apocalyptic ways of thinking and the development of religious toleration in early modernity. He is the author of several journal articles and book chapters on toleration, multiculturalism, and the liberty of conscience. A second book manuscript, entitled What We Owe To Our Elders, considers the political philosophy and ethics of old age and intergenerational obligation in society.
 

News & Notes

Education

Ph.D., The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2022
M.A., The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2019
B.A. Political Science, Economics, and Philosophy, Berea College, 2017

Employment History

Assistant Professor of Political Theory
ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ (2023 - )

Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer
The Civil Discourse Project
Duke University (2022-2023)

Lecturer and Teaching Fellow
Department of Political Science
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2019-2022)

Teaching Assistant
Department of Political Science
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2017-2019)

Current Projects

In addition to my current book manuscript on toleration, I am developing a book manuscript on the political ethics of intergenerational obligation (in other words, what we owe to the elderly within a society on a social and political level). Another project reads the agrarian essayist Wendell Berry alongside Black Nationalist thinkers like Kwame Ture and Malcolm X to present a critique of the market society's effect on local rural and urban communities. 

As an ongoing pedagogical project begun while in the Civil Discourse Project at Duke University, I am developing a curriculum aimed at helping college professors and high school teachers foster a classroom environment that helps students find their unique voice while participating in fearless conversations on morally and politically charged topics. 

Publications

“Roger Williams,” with Teresa Bejan, in The Princeton Anthology of American Political Thought, eds. Nicholas Buccola, Susan McWilliams Barndt, and Roosevelt Montás (Princeton University Press, forthcoming).

“Multiculturalism and Toleration,” with Jeff Spinner-Halev in Research Handbook on Multiculturalism, ed. Geoffrey Brahm Levey (Andrew Elgar Publishing, forthcoming).

“‘To Hope, and To Wait’: Roger Williams and the Eschatological Roots of Toleration.” History of Political Thought, Vol. XLIII. No. 1. Spring 2022.

Personal Information

Professor Young lives in Chatham County with his wife, Camille, three kids, and a dog named Maia. When not reading, teaching, and thinking about political theory, he enjoys cooking, weightlifting, playing music, and tending to all manner of growing things.

Awards

Review of Politics Award for best paper in normative political theory, Midwest Political Science Association, 2022

Student Undergraduate Teaching and Staff Award, The University of North Carolina, 2021
A student-nominated and judged award recognizing the top 0.5% of instructors at UNC.