Alex Sager

Portland State University, University Studies and Philosophy, Portland, Oregon

Chair of Philosophy, Fall 2017-present
Associate Professor, 2015-present
Assistant Professor, 2009-2015

Education

Ph.D. in Philosophy, University of Calgary, Calgary 2009
Masters of Arts in Philosophy, Columbia University, New York, 2001
Bachelor of Arts in Honours Philosophy, Concordia University, Montreal 1999

Publications

Monograph

• Against Borders: Why the World Needs Free Movement of People (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2020)
• Toward a Cosmopolitan Ethics of Mobility: The Migrant’s Eye View of the World (Palgrave Pivot, 2018)

Books: Edited

• The Humean Mind (Routledge, co-edited with Angela Coventry, Forthcoming)
• The Ethics and Politics of Migration: Core Issues and Emerging Trends (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2016)
• Business in Ethical Focus, Second Edition (Broadview Press, co-edited with Fritz Allhoff and Anand Vaidya, 2016)
• Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will: Kai Nielsen’s Selected Political Philosophy (with David Rondel and Kai Nielsen) (University of Calgary Press, 2012)
• Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought: Essential Readings, Broadview Press, 2012 (General Editor with Andrew Bailey, Samantha Brennan, Will Kymlicka, Jacob Levy, and Clark Wolf)
• Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought, Volume 1: From Plato to Nietzsche, Broadview Press, 2008. (Editorial Coordinator and General Editor with Andrew Bailey, Samantha Brennan, Will Kymlicka, Jacob Levy, and Clark Wolf)
• Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought, Volume 2: The 20th Century and Beyond, Broadview Press, 2008. (Editorial Coordinator and General Editor with Andrew Bailey, Samantha Brennan, Will Kymlicka, Jacob Levy, and Clark Wolf)

Journal Articles

• Sager, Alex. 2018. “Private Contractors, Foreign Troops, and Offshore Detention Centers: The Ethics of Externalizing Immigration Controls.” APA Newsletter on Hispanic/Latino Issues in Philosophy 17 (2): 12–15.
• “Immigration Enforcement and Domination: An Indirect Argument for Much More Open Borders,” Political Research Quarterly, 70(1), 2017.
• “Liberation Pragmatism: Dussel and Dewey in Dialogue” (co-authored with Albert Spencer), Contemporary Pragmatism, 13(4), 2016.
• “Methodological Nationalism, Migration, and Political Theory,” Political Studies, 64(1), 2016.
• “Productive Justice and Compulsory Service,” (commentary on Gillian Brock and Michael Blake, Debating Brain Drain), Ethics and Global Politics, 9, 2016.
• “Ghoshal’s Ghost: Financialization and the End of Management Theory” (co-authored with Gregory Daneke) Philosophy of Management, 14(1), 2015.
• “Immigration, Ethics, and the Hermeneutics of Suspicion: Methodological Reflections on Joseph Carens’ The Ethics of Immigration,” Ethical Perspectives, 21(4) 2014.
• “Normative Ethics after Pragmatic Naturalism,” Metaphilosophy, 45(3), 2014.
• “Reframing the Brain Drain,” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 17(5), 2014 [reprinted in Akakpo, Crispino E. G., and Patti Tamara Lenard, eds. 2015. New Challenges in Immigration Theory. Abingdon: Routledge.]
• “Political Rights, Republican Freedom, and Temporary Workers,” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 17(2), 2014
• “The Hanford Advisory Board: Participatory Democracy, Technology, and Representation,”  (co-authored with Alex Zakaras), Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 4(2), 2014
• “Hume and Contemporary Political Philosophy,” (co-authored with Angela Coventry), European Legacy, 5, 2013
• “Agricultural Workers in Mexico and the United States,” (with Florencio Posadas Segura (principal author) and Maria Sager), Journal of Workplace Rights, Vol. 14, No. 4, 2009.
• “Culture and Immigration: A Case for Exclusion?” in John R. Rowan, ed., Social Philosophy Today: International Law and Justice, Volume 23, 2008.

Chapters

• “Reclaiming Cosmopolitanism through Migrant Protests.” In Migration, Protest Movements and the Politics of Resistance. A Radical Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism, edited by Tamara Caraus and Elena Paris. Routledge. Forthcoming.
• “Ethics and Migration Crises.” In The Handbook of Migration Crises, edited by Cecilia Menjívar, Immanuel Ness, and Marie Ruiz. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Forthcoming
• “Introduction to the Ethics of Migration,” in The Ethics and Politics of Immigration: Core Issues and Emerging Trends, 2016
• “Methodological Nationalism and the ‘Brain Drain’,” in The Ethics and Politics of Migration: Core Issues and Emerging Trends, 2016
• “A Brief Guide to Thinking about Business Ethics,” in Business in an Ethical Perspective, Second Edition, 2016
• “Student Designed Deliberative Forums as a Pedagogical Method,” in Laker et al., eds., Civic Pedagogies in Higher Education: Teaching for Democracy in Europe, Canada and the U.S., Palgrave Macmillan, 2014
• “Philosophy of Leisure,” The Routledge International Handbook of Leisure Studies, Tony Blackshaw, ed., Routledge, 2013.
• “Immigration, Class, and Global Justice: Some Moral Considerations/Implications” in Micheline Labelle, Jocelyne Couture and Frank Remiggi eds. La communauté politique en question. Regards croisés sur l’immigration, la citoyenneté, la diversité et le pouvoir, UQAM Press, 2012
• “The Humean Elements of Rawls’s Political Philosophy” (co-authored with Angela Coventry), in Ilya Kasavin, ed. David Hume and Contemporary Philosophy, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012.
• “Kai Nielsen’s Political Philosophy: A Critical Introduction ,” co-authored with David Rondel in Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will (University of Calgary Press, 2012)
• “Brain Drain, Health, and Global Justice,” in Rebecca Shah, ed., The International Migration of Health Workers: Ethics, Rights, and Justice, Palgrave-McMillan Ltd. 2010, pp.103-117.

Encyclopedia Articles

• “Migration,” in The Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics, editor-in-chief, Ruth Chadwick, Elsevier, 2012

Book Reviews

• Bryan W. Van Norden, Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto, Columbia University Press 2017, in LSE Review of Books Blog
• Bernardo Zacka, When the State Meets the Street: Public Service and Moral Agency, Harvard University Press, 2018, in LSE Review of Books Blog
• Julie Rose, Free Time, Princeton University Press, 2016, forthcoming, in Ethics
• James C. Scott, Against the Grain, Yale University Press, 2017, in LSE Review of Books Blog
• William Maley, What is a Refugee?, 2017, in Europe Now
• Amy Allen, The End of Progress: Decolonizing the Normative Foundations of Critical Theory, 2016, in LSE Review of Books Blog
• Thomas Nail, Theory of the Border, Oxford University Press, 2016, in LSE Review of Books Blog
• Reece Jones, Violent Borders, Verso Books, 2016, in LSE Review of Books Blog
• David Miller, Strangers in Our Midst, Harvard University Press, 2016, in LSE Review of Books Blog
• Interrogating the Migration Industry Review of Ruben Andersson Illegality Inc. and Amy Nethery and Stephanie J. Silverman eds. Immigration Detention The migration of a policy and its human impact
• Ian Shapiro, Politics against Domination, Harvard University Press, 2016 in LSE Review of Books Blog
• Ryu Susato, Hume’s Sceptical Enlightenment, Oxford, 2015, in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (co-authored with Angela Coventry)
• James Hampshire, The Politics of Migration. Cambridge, 2013 in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Vol. 20, No.4, 2012
• Jason Brennan, Why Not Capitalism? Routledge, London and New York, 2014, in Marx and the Review of Books
• Luis Martínez Andrade, Religion without Redemption: Social Contradictions and Awakened Dreams in Latin America, Pluto Press, London, 2015, in Marx and the Review of Books
• Vivek Chibbers, Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital. Verso, London and New York, 2013 in Marx and the Review of Books.
• Raymond Geuss, A World Without Why . Princeton, NJ, 2014 in Marx and the Review of Books
• Gerard Casey, Libertarian Anarchy: Against the State. Continuum, London, 2012 and David Graeber, Revolutions in Reverse: Minor Compositions. London and New York, 2011 in Marx and the Review of Books.
• Enrique Dussel, Ethics of Liberation in the Age of Globalization and Exclusion. Durham: Duke University Press, 2014 in Marx and the Review of Books
• Henry A. Giroux, America’s Education Deficit and the War on Youth. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2013 in Marx and the Review of Books
• Ryan Pevnick, Immigration and the Constraints of Justice. Cambridge, 2011 in Journal of Politics, Vol. 74, No.3, 2012.
• Jeffrey Edward Green, The Eyes of the People. Oxford, 2010 in Essays in Philosophy, Vol. 13, No.2, 2012.
• William D. Casebeer, Natural Ethical Facts: Evolution, Connectionism, and Moral Cognition. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003 in Dialogue, 44, 2005

General Audience

• Long Live Leisure! It’s Time to Make Space for What We Value in Life. CBC Ideas, February 20, 2020.
• “The Case for Making Immigration Boring Again,” Tag, You’re It: Voices on Immigration, Portland State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, February 2020.
• Prescription for Justice, Immigration: Ethics and Philosophy
• The Only Reasonable Philosophy of Immigration is a Radical Philosophy of Migration, Radical Philosophy Magazine, July 2, 2018,
• The Perversity of External Immigration Enforcement, crImmigration Blog, June 12, 2018,
• Are We Biased by Methodological Nationalism? Talking Migration Podcast, February 16, 2018.
• Focusing on Migration’s ‘good’ or ‘bad’ Influences on Your Country Alone Can Be a Harmful Oversimplification. LSE US Center. January 13, 2017.
• Bureaucracy and Domination: An Indirect Argument for Open Borders. Open Borders, December 12, 2016.
• “The Refugee Crisis & The Responsibility Of Intellectuals.” The Critique, September 13, 2016.
• “A Plea for (the Philosophy of) Leisure”, Philosophy Now (October/November 2010)
• “Interview with Kai Nielsen on Political Philosophy,” (with David Rondel) in Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will

Honors, Grants, and Fellowships

• John Eliot Allen Outstanding Teaching Awards, 2014-15
• PhD dissertation Immigration, Rights, and Equality nominated for 2009 CGS/UMI Distinguished Dissertation Award in Humanities and Fine Arts
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Scholarship (May 2007-May 2008)
• Columbia University Fellowship (Doctoral Program) (Completed MA)
• Faculty Enhancement Grant, Portland State University, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall to Spring 2014-15
• Faculty Development Award, Portland State University, Winter 2010, 2011, 2012
• FRINQ Internationalization Grant, Portland State University, Summer 2011, 2014
• Course Development Grant, Portland State University, Summer 2010 (New FRINQ theme: Globalization)

Governance and Other Professionally Related Service

Governance Activities for the University, College, Department

• Portland State University, Budget Committee (Fall 2015-Spring 2016)
• Departmental By-Law Committee, Chair (Fall 2015-Spring 2016)
• External Review Committee (Fall 2014-Spring 2016)
• Philosophy Department Curriculum Committee, Member (Fall 2009-Fall 2012), Chair (Fall 2012-Spring 2016)
• Philosophy Department Merit Pay Committee, Member (Fall 2012)
• Philosophy Department Assessment Committee, Member (Fall 2012-Spring 2016)
• Philosophy Department Fixed-Term Promotion Committee, Member (Fall 2012- Fall 2013)
• Application reviewer for UNST Mentor Program (2012)
• Advisory Board, Portland Center for the Public Humanities (September 2010-September 2011)

Professionally-related Service

• Series Editor, Broadview Guides to Business and Professional Ethics (2009-2013)
• UNST Pathways Design Group (Spring/Summer 2014)
• Morality Cluster Coordinator (Fall 2010 to Fall 2012)
• Retention Committee, Portland State University (Summer 2010)
• Portfolio Review Committee, Portland State University (June 2010, 2011)
• Library liaison for Philosophy Department, Portland State University (Fall 2009-present)
• UNST Working Group on Writing (Winter, Spring 2012)
• Conference Coordinator for Fall 2007 University of Calgary Philosophy Department Graduate Conference
• Graduate student representative to faculty, Columbia University Philosophy Department, 2000-1
• Referee for American Political Science Review; Athabasca University Press; Canadian Philosophical Association (2011 and 2012); Cengage Learning; Contemporary Political Theory; De Ethica; Developing World Bioethics; European Journal of Political Theory; Journal of Applied Philosophy; Journal of Environment Values; Hume Studies; Journal of Politics; Journal of International Political Theory; Journal of Leisure Research; Law and Philosophy; Oxford University Press; Perspectives on Politics; Politics, Groups, and Identities; Political Studies; Polity; Res Publica; Social Philosophy Today; Socialist Studies; Taylor and Francis; University of Georgia Press; Western Canadian Philosophical Association; World Leisure Studies

Community Outreach

• Oregon High School Ethics Bowl
  • Founder and Conference Organizer, 2015 Oregon Ethics Bowl
  • Co-Conference Organization, 2016
  • Organization Committee, Judge, 2017
• Oregon Humanities, Conversation Project leader, 2014-16: The Other Crisis in Education
• Advisor and seminar leader for assistant coaches for 2014 Regional Ethics Bowl teams from Columbia River High and Jesuit High School
• Advisor, PSU Coordinator, LEP High School Philosophy Club, 2014
• Advisor, PSU Coordinator, Childpeace Montessori K-5 Philosophy Curriculum, 2015
• “Whatever Happened to Leisure, the Mother of Philosophy?” Philosophy Café, Powell’s Books, Portland, OR, November 2010