Gerald Gaus

Gerald Francis "Jerry" Gaus (1952–2020) was an American philosopher and the founding editor of the academic journal Politics, Philosophy & Economics. He is best known for authoring the book The Tyranny of the Ideal: Justice in a Diverse Society, a critical treatise about ethical idealism in the context of heterogeneous modern cultures.[1][2] Princeton University Press published the work in 2016. Gaus has additionally served as the James E. Rogers Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona. His previous books include The Order of Public Reason and Justificatory Liberalism.[1]

In The Tyranny of the Ideal, Gaus makes the argument that an overriding emphasis on ideals causes individuals to wish for impossible political perfection and thus lose their sense of what constitutes practical policy advocacy as well as logical choices during elections. Gaus makes other warnings such as that people can lose their sense of how much has already been achieved and how well current situations have become in certain circumstances. In general, Gaus advocates for compromise and incremental socio-political reform.[2]

Praise for the book appeared from scholarly publications such as Perspectives on Politics.[1] Interest also appeared in the popular media, an example being the Vox.com news website.[2]

Gaus died on 19 August 2020 at age 67.[3]