David Lay Williams

David Lay Williams is a Professor of Political Science at DePaul University, specializing in political theory and the history of political thought. His research focuses on how historical thinkers grappled with the challenges of their times, particularly emphasizing economic inequality and its role in shaping political thought. His current work explores this intersection through essays on figures such as Adam Smith, Alexis de Tocqueville, Karl Marx, and the concept of meritocracy.

Williams’ most recent book, The Greatest of All Plagues: How Economic Inequality Shaped Political Thought from Plato to Marx (Princeton University Press, 2024), examines the influence of inequality in the works of thinkers including Plato, Jesus, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, and Karl Marx. The book has been reviewed in outlets such as the Washington Post, The Nation, and Nature and was named one of the best books of the year by the New Statesman and Counterpunch.

Williams has also written extensively on the political philosophy of the 18^th century Genevan philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, including two books, Rousseau’s Platonic Enlightenment (Penn State, 2007) and Rousseau’s ‘Social Contract’: An Introduction (Cambridge, 2014), as well as many essays and edited volumes. 

In addition to his scholarly work, Williams occasionally contributes articles to mainstream publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and Time Magazine. He has held fellowships at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Institute for Research in the Humanities and DePaul’s Humanities Center and was the Wicklander Fellow at DePaul’s Driehaus College of Business in 2016–2017. From 2017 to 2021, he served as co-editor of Political Research Quarterly.