Brett Bourbon, Ph.D.

Brett Bourbon received his Ph.D. from Harvard, where he studied 20th century literature and philosophy. He was a professor at Stanford, and is now a professor at the University of Dallas. He has received many awards, including a Fulbright to the University of Lisbon, a Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Stanford, the Harvard English Scholar award, and the top teaching awards from both the University of Dallas and Stanford. He is also a recurrent visiting professor in The Program of Literary Theory at the University of Lisbon, as well as a member of the Comitato Scientifico Internazionale, Oikos: Centro studi sul Noi politico.

He has has published numerous essays on various philosophical and literary topics. In addition, he has published three books: (1) Everyday Poetics: Ethics, Love, and Logic (Bloomsbury Press, 2022), (2) Jane Austen And the Ethics of Life (Routledge Press, 2022), and (3) Finding a Replacement for the Soul: meaning and mind in literature and philosophy (Harvard UP, 2004).

He is currently writing a book entitled Thinking with Words: A Literary Groundwork, under contract with Routledge Press (with Professor Miguel Tamen). Intermittently, he publishes poems and stories.

Bourbon also works in computational social science and the philosophy of technology. He has published and presented a number of papers on human/computer interfaces, information and misinformation diffusion, and the politics of social media. He is currently writing a book entitled (5) The Kingdom of Gossip—The Internet and Contemporary Social Dynamics, which is under contract with CRC, Division of  Computer Science  (with Professor Renita Murimi) .

Bourbon also works as a strategy and leadership consultant and facilitator. He has worked on successful projects for top international and national technology companies, as well as a host of start-ups. He has also worked as a marketing and strategy consultant and facilitator for institutions of classical education. He was the co-founder of the Masters of Leadership program at the University of Dallas (with J. Lee Whittington), in which he taught two core courses: Critical and Strategic Thinking and Storytelling for Business and Life.