Candice Delmas
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Political Science
Candice Delmas (the ‘s’ in Delmas is pronounced) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion and the Department of Political Science. Before joining Northeastern, Delmas was an assistant professor of philosophy at Clemson University. She received a Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston University, an M.A. in philosophy from Georgia State University, a Master 2 in ethics and politics from Université Paris IV Sorbonne, and a B.A. (Licence and Maîtrise) from Université Paris X Nanterre. She works in moral, social, political, and legal philosophy, with a special focus on the ethics of civil and uncivil disobedience. Her book, A Duty to Resist: When Disobedience Should Be Uncivil (Oxford University Press, 2018) was translated in Mandarin Chinese and French. With Avia Pasternak, she co-edited a volume on The Ethics of Uncivil Protest and Resistance, which is currently in production (Oxford University Press). She is also the author of a Cambridge Element book on Civil and Uncivil Disobedience (forthcoming at Cambridge University Press). Her current research project is on the ethics of resisting criminal (in)justice in the street, courtroom, and prison.
At Northeastern, she mainly teaches Contemporary Political Thought (POLS 2332), Social and Political Philosophy (PHIL 2303), and Philosophical Problems of Law and Justice (PHIL 2301). In Summer 2025, and (hopefully!) for the next few years, she is leading a Dialogue of Civilizations in France: Philosophical and Legal Perspectives on Free Speech and Protest in France.
She co-organizes the Northeast Workshop to Learn About Multicultural Philosophy (NEWLAMP), a summer institute designed to equip teachers with the competency to integrate modules on traditionally underrepresented areas of philosophy in their undergraduate courses. She hosted NEWLAMP at Northeastern in 2022 and in 2024 when it was a NEH Summer Institute.
In production. “Désobéissance civile,” Manuel de théorie politique, dir. Aurélia Bardon et Benjamin Boudou, Éditions Bruylant.
In production. “Political Obligations and Unjust States,” in The Oxford Handbook of Political Obligation, George Klosko (ed.), Oxford University Press, chap. 29.
In production. “A Plea for Collaborative Student Assignments,” in The Art of Teaching Philosophy, Brynn F. Welch (ed.), Bloomsbury Publishing.
2025. “How to Diagnose Prisons’ Failures: Three Perspectives on Officers’ Responsibilities,” Journal of Applied Philosophy. Early View: https://doi.org/10.1111/japp.70005
2025. “Civil Disobedience,” in The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory, Richard Bellamy and Jeff King (eds.), Cambridge University Press, chap. 24, pp. 397–416.
2025. “Non-Ideal Theory and Resistance,” in The Routledge Handbook of Non-Ideal Theory, Hilkje Charlotte Hänel and Johanna Müller (eds.), Routledge, chap. 15, pp. 206–219.
2024. “The Right to Hunger Strike,” American Political Science Review 118(2): 848–861.2022. With Sean Aas, “Homophobia and ‘Conversion’ Therapies,” in The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Sex and Sexuality, Clare Chambers, Brian Earp, and Lori Watson (eds.), Routledge, chap. 28, pp. 404–417.
2024. “Beaten, Silenced, Caged: The Costs of Activism,” Symposium on Erin R. Pineda’s Seeing Like an Activist: Civil Disobedience and the Civil Rights Movement,” The Review of Politics, 86(3): 382–385.
2023. With Kimberley Brownlee, “Civil Disobedience,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2023 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2023/entries/civil-disobedience/>.
2023. “In Defense of Uncivil Disobedience,” in Uncivil Disobedience: Theological Perspectives, David Gides (ed.), Fortress Academic Press, chap. 1, pp. 15–36.
2021. “(In)Civility,” in The Cambridge Companion to Civil Disobedience, William Scheuerman (ed.), Cambridge University Press, chap. 8, pp. 203–230.
2020. “From Resistance to Protest: The Paradigm Shift in Theories of Civil Disobedience,” in “Theorizing the Politics of Protest: Contemporary Debates on Civil Disobedience,” withÇigdem Çıdam, William E. Scheuerman, Robin Celikates et al.,Contemporary Political Theory, https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-020-00392-7
2020.”Uncivil Disobedience,” NOMOS LXII: Protest and Dissent, ed. Melissa Schwartzberg, New York University Press (2020): 9-44.
2019. “Civil Disobedience, Punishment, and Injustice,” in ThePalgrave Handbook of Applied Ethics and the Criminal Law, Kimberley Kessler Ferzan and Larry Alexander (eds.), Palgrave MacMillan: 167-188.
2018. “Désobéissance civile et dénonciation gouvernementale: Le cas d’Edward Snowden,” Éthique Publique 20, 2.
2018. “Is Hacktivism the New Civil Disobedience?” Raisons Politiques 69, 1: 63-81.
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Education
Ph.D., 2012, Philosophy, Boston University
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Contact
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Address
406 Renaissance Park
360 Huntington Avenue,
Boston, MA 02115 -
Office Hours
Mondays 2:30-4:30pm
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Dialogues
Related Stories
Philosophical Problems of Law and Justice
PHIL 2301
Focuses on general questions about the law: What is the nature and proper scope of the law? How should the law be enforced and are there alternatives to punishment? How can laws be properly interpreted? Examples of legal controversies are related to the theories studied.
