Visiting Faculty Fellow, 2008-09

Assistant Professor, jointly appointed to the Department of Government and the Program on Ethics & Public Life, Cornell University.

Professor Hendrix is interested in moral issues surrounding political authority, property ownership, historical injustice, and political strategy, particularly as they apply to the political claims of Aboriginal peoples in Canada, the United States, Australia, and elsewhere. During his year in residence, Hendrix will be focusing on the moral legitimacy of the different kinds of political strategies available to Aboriginal peoples in pursuing land claims, self-government rights, and cultural recognition. At issue are fundamental normative questions about how political actors can respond to difficult social conditions, and about the degree to which philosophers should presume fair cooperation when engaging in moral evaluation. Are Aboriginal peoples and other social actors always required to make their moral claims in transparent ways to facilitate democratic deliberation, for example, or are they sometimes permitted to use deceptive rhetoric and other strategic means in pursuing their interests? Should Aboriginal property claims be held to the high standards of abstract ideal theory, or instead to the standards of ownership and inheritance dominant in surrounding societies? What methods of moral theorizing should philosophers use in evaluating these kinds of questions, and what are the costs and benefits of different models of normative inquiry?

Hendrix is the author of Ownership, Authority, and Self-Determination (Penn State University Press, 2008), along with a number of articles dealing with Aboriginal issues. He has also written on elements of international law and just war theory.

He received his undergraduate degree from Linfield College, and his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2002. At Cornell, he is a member of the graduate fields of Government and American Indian Studies, and a past Acting Director of the Program on Ethics & Public Life.